ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Senior right-hander
Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.) fanned eight in five innings Saturday and Augustana came from behind in the final three innings to open the 2021 baseball season with a 5-3 win at Fontbonne. The 1-0 Vikings were scheduled to play Nebraska Wesleyan later in the day.
The Griffins got to Hoban for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Braeden Dobbs led off with a homer to left and a dropped third strike, hit batter and Lane Smith single produced another run and a 2-0 Fontbonne lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Luke Meixner led off with a single and eventually scored on Tyler Chambliss' RBI single to right to put the hosts up 3-0.
Griffin starter Luke Summers handcuffed Augustana on two hits before leaving in favor of Jake Jump to start the seventh. Jump walked
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) leading off and hit freshman
Alec McGinnis (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) to put two runners on. One out later,
Jacob Barker (Windsor HS, Severance, Colo.) delivered Helms with a single to center. Freshman
Alex Simon (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) followed with a single to left, plating McGinnis, and
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) laced a two-run double to left to give the Vikings a 4-3 lead.
Sam Cregan (Air Academy Colorado Springs, Colo.) relieved Hoban to start the sixth and pitched around a leadoff single and a hit batter in the bottom of the seventh.
The Vikings left the bases loaded in the top of eighth, but were able to tack on an insurance run in the ninth.
Kyle Wise (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) led off with a single to right and pinch-runner
Michael Gattuso (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) later scored on
Chase Maifield's (Grant HS, Round Lake, Ill.) RBI groundout.
Closer
John Hayes (Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, Colo.) came out of the pen to start the ninth in relief of
Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton, Colo.), who had retired Fontbonne in the eighth. Hayes hit Dobbs with two outs, but fanned Meixner to earn his 10th career save—tied for third-most in school history.
Hoban scattered five hits and allowed two earned runs in his five innings. He walked none and fanned eight. Cregan threw two scoreless frames to earn the win. Owens paced the offense with two doubles in five at-bats and two RBI. Wise had two hits as well. Jump suffered the loss.
