WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Augustana exploded for 13 runs in the final three innings Friday on its way to a season-opening 16-2 win over Elmira at Chain of Lakes Stadium. The Vikings will take on Brandeis on Saturday, February 22, with first pitch scheduled for 10:00 a.m. EST. Friday's contest dropped the Soaring Eagles to 1-4 on the year.
 
Coach Greg Wallace's club took the lead with a run in the top of the third. Freshman Joe Marcucci (Rolling Meadows HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) led off with a single to left and eventually scored on a Garinder Sarana wild pitch.
 
Augustana extended its advantage to 3-0 with a run each in the fourth and fifth. Junior Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) led off the fourth with a single to center, stole second and third and scored on Griffen Pschigoda's (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) RBI grounder to short. In the fifth, Jacob Barker (Windsor HS, Severance, Colo.) doubled with two outs and later scored on an Elmira error.
 
Viking starter Sam Cregan (Air Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.) went five scoreless frames before the Soaring Eagles touched him for two runs in the sixth. Jack Volpe had an infield hit leading off and Tommy Fogerty and Joey Florio each drove in a run with a single to make it 3-2 after six.
 
Augustana answered right back with a five-run seventh. Senior Sam Beyer (Legend HS, Parker, Colo.) got things started with a leadoff single to center. Jake Huber's (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.) two-run double to left made it 5-2 and Kyle Wise (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) pulled a 1-0 Angus Adams offering over the wall in right for a two-run homer and a 7-2 Viking lead. Senior Michael Nerger (Naperville Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) drove in another run with an infield hit.
 
While relievers Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton, Colo.) and Bryson Prusator (Mendota HS, Mendota, Ill.) were shutting down the Elmira bats, Augustana added a half-dozen runs in the eighth and a pair in the ninth. Wise and Marcucci both had two-run singles in the eighth.
 
Cregan (1-0) gave up four hits and two runs in six innings to earn the win. He walked one and fanned three. Sarana (0-1) suffered the loss despite allowing just three hits and striking out five in a four-inning start.
 
Wise paced a 17-hit Viking attack, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four driven in. Marcucci finished 3-for-5 with two knocked in. Barker, Huber and sophomore Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) had two safeties apiece. Barker scored three times and Huber had three RBI.