Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill.— Chris Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) threw a complete game and the Augustana bats pounded out 20 hits Sunday as Coach Greg Wallace's club completed a three-game sweep of North Park with a 15-2 win at the Holmgren Athletics Complex. The victory lifted the Rock Island Vikings to 23-12 on the season and 11-9 and third place in the CCIW. The Chicago Vikings fell to 15-19 overall and 10-9 in the league. Wallace's bunch now also holds the tiebreaker over its three closest pursuers in the race for a conference tournament berth.
 
The visitors put up two runs in the top of the first. Senior Carter Amundsen (Sheboygan South HS, Sheboygan, Wis.) was hit by a pitch leading off and junior Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) dropped down a bunt for the first of his five hits on the day. Junior Gunnar Haskins (Alleman HS, Moline, Ill.) singled in Amundsen with the game's first run and Kairis made it 2-0 when he scored on a Matt Loeffl (Grayslake Central HS, Grayslake, Ill.) squeeze bunt.

Amundsen's first of four hits plated senior Jack Hallmark (Cherry Creek HS, Englewood, Colo.) in the second to make it 3-0. NPU got to Refka for its only runs in the bottom half. Anthony DiNardo had an RBI double and Richard Silva a run-scoring single.
 
Augustana scored in each of the fifth through eighth innings. Haskin's three-run double in the fifth made it 6-2 and Kairis and Loeffl had RBI doubles in the sixth and seventh, respectively, to extend the lead to 8-2.
 
The Vikings poured across seven more in the eighth. Amundsen's one-out double to left sparked the outburst. Kairis and Loeffl each had an RBI double and junior Ryan Grannemann (McHenry West HS, McHenry, Ill.) drove in two with a single to right. Senior Tyler Nunez (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) added a two-run single and Hallmark singled in the final run.
 
Refka set North Park down in order in the bottom of the eighth to end the contest early. The sophomore right-hander limited NPU to six hits, walked one and fanned five to earn his staff-leading seventh win against just two losses. North Park starter Michael Pritts (4-4) lasted 5 2/3 innings and took the loss.
 
Amundsen (4-for-5 with four runs and an RBI) and Kairis (5-for-5 with three runs and two RBI) accounted for nine of Augustana's season-high 20 hits. Haskins finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four knocked in and Loeffl went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs. Each of those four had two doubles on the day. Everyone in Wallace's lineup had at least one hit and one run scored. Seven of the nine Vikings had at least one RBI.
 
Next up for Augustana is a single game at Millikin on Tuesday, May 1. First pitch in Decatur, Illinois is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.