LOVES PARK, Ill. – Augustana bounced back from a 6-5 game-one loss to Wisconsin-Platteville with a 10-2 victory in the nightcap of a neutral site doubleheader Friday. The Vikings improved to 9-3 on the season, while the Pioneers were playing their first two games of the 2019 season. On Saturday, March 16, Coach Kris Kistler's bunch will host UW-Eau Claire in a Carver Field twin bill scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

 

UW-PLATTEVILLE 6, AUGUSTANA 5
 
UW-Platteville rode a five-run fourth to victory in the opener.
 
The Pioneers took a 1-0 lead against Augustana starter Kelcie Fredrickson (Fisher HS, Foosland, Ill.) on Abby Burns' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, but the Vikings answered with three in the top of the second. Haley Ruch (Lincoln-Way North HS, Frankfort, Ill.) drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out double by Taylor Belo (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.). A batter later, Amanda Ray (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) delivered a two-run single to make it 3-1.
 
Hope Moos (Lincoln HS, Hartsburg, Ill.) came out of the Augustana pen in the bottom of the second to work out of a two-on, no-out jam, but Platteville got to her in the fourth. Rachel Bonnell's two-run homer tied the contest and after freshman Erin Smith (Columbine HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) came on to pitch, the Pioneers added runs on an Alejandra Ochoa single, a double by Rachel Martin and an RBI groundout by Shannon Gaul.
 
Ruch led off the sixth with another base-on-balls and scored on an Alyssa Klahn (Lincoln-Way Central, New Lenox, Ill.) single to make it 6-4. Two more walks loaded the bases and brought Burns on to pitch. Dina Falk's (Lake Park HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) single to center pulled the Vikings to within a run, but Burns fanned Ray to end the inning with the bags full.


Burns set Augustana down in order in the seventh to earn the save. UWP starter Ashton Hoeppner (1-0) got the win, with Moos (1-1) taking the loss. Falk went 2-for-3 at the plate. Ray knocked in two runs and Ruch scored twice.
 
AUGUSTANA 10, UW-PLATTEVILLE 2
 
The Vikings scored eight in the first and two in the second in the nightcap and cruised to a 10-2 win in five innings.
 
Augustana's first five batters reached in the top of the first. Singles by Falk , Ray, Carly Wilson (Johnsburg HS, Ringwood, Ill.) and Molly Wrenn (Geneva HS  Geneva, Ill.) got things started, with Wilson and Wrenn's hits knocking in the first two runs. In their second time around, Falk and Wilson each had two-run singles.
 
Gaul drove in a run with a double in the bottom of the first, but the Vikings came right back with two in the second. Ruch led off with a single and scored to make it 9-1 and another RBI single by Falk plated Klahn with Augustana's 10th run.
 
The Pioneers added a run against Ashley Dehmlow (McHenry West HS, Spring Grove, Ill.) in the fifth, but the freshman worked out of a bases-loaded jam to finish off the complete-game win.
 
Falk went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three driven in and Wilson was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Dehmlow gave up four hits in five innings to earn her third win in as many decisions this year. Platteville starter Andra O'Brien (0-1) didn't make it out of the first inning and suffered the loss.