MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana pulled to within a half-game of Millikin in the CCIW standings with a 10-6 win over the Big Blue Wednesday at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. Coach
Greg Wallace's club improved to 20-5 on the season and 12-5 in the conference, while Millikin fell to 19-5 overall and 12-4 in the league.
The Vikings snapped a 4-4 tie with six runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Matt Ozanic (East Leyden HS, Franklin Park, Ill.) reached on an error and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out wild pitch by Big Blue reliever Evan Lawrence.
Griffen Pschigoda (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) sliced a double down the right field line to score
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.), who had walked.
Jared Buzan came in from the pen and walked
Alec McGinnis (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.).
Zachary Vrbancic (Stagg HS, Palos Hills, Ill.) followed with a pop-fly double that plated Pschigoda and McGinnis came home on a Millikin error.
Michael Gattuso's (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) RBI single made it 9-4 and
Alex Simon (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) capped the inning with an RBI triple to the gap in right center.
Millikin cut the deficit to 10-5 with a run in the top of the sixth, but sophomore lefty
Jacob Reusch (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) came out of the pen and worked into the ninth, surrendering just an unearned run before closer
John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) got the final two outs.
While starter
Sam Cregan (Air Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.) was holding the Big Blue hitless through the first two innings, his teammates gave him a 2-0 advantage with a run in the bottom half of each. Gattuso was plunked leading off the Viking first and later scored on Ozanic's sacrifice fly to center. Helms led off the second with a single through the middle and scored on Gattuso's two-out RBI single.
After Brent Beals' third-inning sacrifice fly cut Millikin's deficit in half, Augustana added a pair of runs in the fourth. Helms started it again, getting hit leading off. Pschigoda drew a walk and McGinnis sacrificed the runners to second and third. Vrbancic plated Helms with a single to left and Gattuso's sac fly to center delivered Pschigoda to make it 4-1.
The Big Blue tied it with three in the top of the fifth. With one out, Beals hit a solo homer to center. A Kyle Kane double knocked out Cregan in favor of
Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton, Colo.) before a walk and Tanner Coleman's RBI single made it 4-3. Andrew Auton's sacrifice fly to center scored Kane with the tying run and set the stage for the Vikings' big bottom half.
Chamberlain went an inning and a third and got the win to move to 2-0 on the year. Reusch allowed just one hit and an unearned run while fanning four in 2 2/3 innings. Lawrence fell to 1-1 with the loss.
Gattuso paced the Viking offense from his leadoff spot. He finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three knocked in. Vrbancic was 2-for-3 with two RBI and Simon also had two hits. Helms scored three times and Pschigoda twice.
Augustana is back in action on Saturday, April 24, hosting Carthage in a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader.
