WAUKESHA, Wis. – Junior Chris Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) picked up both wins Saturday, as Augustana clinched the second seed in the upcoming CCIW Tournament with an 8-7, 5-3 doubleheader sweep of Carroll at Frame Park. Coach Greg Wallace's club wrapped up the regular season with a 26-13-1 overall record and a 15-9 mark in the league. The Pioneers closed the year at 15-25 and 7-17,

respectively.
 
The Vikings will open conference tournament play on Thursday, May 9 in Carol Stream, Illinois. They'll face the winner of the game between the third and sixth seeds at a time to be determined. Pending Sunday's regular season finales, Millikin or Illinois Wesleyan could end up with the third seed, while North Park has already secured the sixth spot.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, CARROLL 7
 
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.), Ryan Grannemann (McHenry West HS, McHenry, Ill.) and Jake Huber (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.) all homered and Augustana rapped out 15 hits in an 8-7 win in the opener.
 
After the guests plated an unearned run in the top of the first, Carroll took advantage of two Viking errors to put up five (two earned) against starter Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.) in the bottom half.
 
Owens homered leading off the fourth to make it 5-2 and Augustana tied it in the fifth. Tyler Nunez (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) doubled to left with one out and moved to third on Huber's single to center. Grannemann followed with a three-run blast, his second of the year, to tie it.
 
Hoban settled in after the first and put up goose eggs until the seventh, when he exited with two on and one out in favor of Refka. After a strikeout and a single, the right-hander retired Adam Baade 3-1 to leave the bags full of Pioneers.
 
Augustana took the lead on Ryan Kairis' (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) two run single in the top of the eighth and Huber's second homer of the year provided a huge insurance run in the ninth. Carroll scored a run in the bottom half of each inning, but sophomore John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) closed things out for his seventh save.
 
Refka got the win to move to 6-1 on the season. Pioneer starter Cameron Godinsky (5-5) suffered the loss. Nunez, Huber and junior Sam Beyer (Legend HS, Parker, Colo.) each had three hits and Grannemann a pair, along with four RBI.
 
AUGUSTANA 5, CARROLL 3
 
The Vikings took the lead on Owens' two-run single in the eighth inning of the nightcap and Beyer squeezed in an insurance run before Hayes came on to earn his eighth save with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
 
Kairis led off the game with a single to right and Nunez gave starter Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) a 2-0 lead with his third homer of the year.
 
Berek threw five scoreless frames before the hosts got to him for three in the sixth. Dylan Callahan's two-run homer was the big hit.
 
In the eighth, Huber reached on a one-out single to center and moved to third on a Grannemann double. Owens' single to center plated them both with the tying and go-ahead runs and knocked out Pioneer starter Andrew Stone. Beyer later squeezed in Owens to make it 5-3.
 
Refka, who came on in the seventh, threw a scoreless eighth before being relieved by Hayes to start the bottom of the ninth. He earned his second win of the day to go to 7-1 on the year. Berek gave up seven hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings. He fanned three without issuing a walk. Stone (2-2) went 7 1/3 and took the loss.
 
Grannemann and Owens each had two of Augustana's nine hits. Owens and Nunez each knocked in a pair of runs.