FORT MYERS, Fla. – Augustana jumped in front 6-0 after two innings Sunday and then rode the pitching of
Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) and
Vince O'Meara (Alleman HS, Moline, Ill.) to a 10-3 win over Plymouth State at Terry Park. Coach
Greg Wallace's club wrapped up its spring sojourn to Florida with a 9-2-1 record, while the Panthers suffered their first loss after two wins to start the spring.
Senior Connor Berek went five solid
innings Sunday to earn his first win as
Augustana defeated Plymouth State
10-3 in Fort Myers, Florida.
Berek set PSU down in order in the top of the first and his teammates staked him to a lead with a run in the bottom half. Freshman
Josh Barker (Windsor HS, Severance, Colo.) drew a leadoff walk from Tyler Brown and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
A leadoff single by freshman
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) ignited a five-run Viking second.
Will Troia (Boylan HS, Rockford, Ill.) doubled in Helms and
Ryan Grannemann (McHenry West HS, MacHenry, Ill.) drove in a run with a single. Three more came home as the result of two Panther errors and Augustana led 6-0 after two innings.
After three scoreless frames, Berek allowed two runs in the fourth. Josh Goulet led off with a double and scored Plymouth State's first run on Geoff Kayo's sacrifice fly. Joe Routhier singled in Ryan Boldwin to make it 6-2.
Tyler Nunez's (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) leadoff double and two more Panther miscues led to an Augustana run in the bottom of the fourth and PSU answered an unearned run in the top of the fifth.
O'Meara came on to start the top of the sixth and shut the door on the Panthers, allowing just one base runner and retiring the last 10 batters he faced in a four-inning relief stint.
The Vikings added three insurance runs in the eighth.
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) had a two-run single and another run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Troia.
Berek got the win to even his record at 1-1. He gave up five hits and three runs (two earned), walked one and fanned five in five innings. O'Meara allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out five and earning his first save. Brown gave up seven runs (four earned) in four innings and dropped to 1-1 with the loss.
Jake Huber (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.), Grannemann and Owens each had two of Augustana's 10 hits. Nunez scored three times.
Wallace's crew is scheduled to play its 2019 home opener on Thursday, March 21 against Cornell. First pitch at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field is set for 7:00 p.m.
