Box Score

MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana rode a six-run third inning to a 7-4 win over Illinois Wesleyan Sunday afternoon at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The Vikings, 20-10 overall and 8-7 in the CCIW, claimed the rubber game of the teams' three-game weekend set and reached the 20-win mark for the 21st consecutive season. The Titans dropped to 18-12 on the season and 9-8 in the league.
 
While sophomore starter Chris Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) was no-hitting IWU through four innings, his teammates were staking him to a 7-0 lead. Senior Matt Loeffl (Grayslake Central HS, Grayslake, Ill.) led off the second with a walk, moved to third on a Clint Ugolini (Badger HS, Lake Geneva, Wis.) single and scored the game's first run on an RBI groundout by senior Tyler Nunez (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.).
 
The hosts erupted for six runs in the third. Senior Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) singled up the middle leading off. One out later, he scored on Jake Huber's (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.) single to make it 2-0. Another walk to Loeffl ended the day for Titan starter Quinn Gudaitis. Reliever Brady Hough lasted just two batters, hitting John Moraski (Kewanee HS, Kewanee, Ill.) before walking Ugolini to force in a run.
 
Hunter Simon came out of the Titan pen and issued a walk to Nunez, pushing across another run. Senior Jack Hallmark (Cherry Creek HS, Englewood, Colo.) then reached on an error, scoring Ugolini and Moraski. Kairis capped the frame with an RBI double to left.
 
Garrett Shea's leadoff single in the fifth was IWU's first hit off Refka, who was making his third appearance in four days. Shea eventually scored on an Eric Kozlowski sacrifice fly and Augustana led 7-1 after four and a half.
 
The Vikings left two runners stranded in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings while the Titans chipped away at the deficit.
 
IWU parlayed three hits, a hit batter and an Augustana error into two runs in the sixth. Gino Cavalieri's RBI double in the eighth cut the deficit to 7-4 and ended Refka's day in favor of Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.). The junior southpaw set down three straight batters to end the inning and worked around two singles in a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the year.
 
Refka—who earned the win in the completion of a suspended game against Elmhurst on Thursday and struck out the side in a perfect inning of relief on Saturday—went seven-plus innings, allowing eight hits and three earned runs to pick up his staff-high sixth win in eight decisions this year.
 
Kairis paced the Viking attack, going 3-for-5 with a run scored and another knocked in. Loeffl scored twice and Nunez drove in a pair.
 
On Wednesday, April 25, the Vikings are back at Swanson/Brunner for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader with North Central.