MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana jumped on top 4-0 in both ends of a doubleheader with Carthage Saturday and held on to sweep the Firebirds 12-6 and 4-3 at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The Vikings improved to 22-5 overall and 14-5 in the CCIW. The visitors fell to 11-14 on the year and 6-12 in the league. The teams are scheduled to play a single game in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Monday, April 26.
AUGUSTANA 12, CARTHAGE 6
Augustana took advantage of Carthage errors to plate two runs each in the first and third innings.
Michael Gattuso (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) led off the bottom of the first with an infield hit and came all the way around to score when the Firebirds made an errant throw on
Alex Simon's (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) sacrifice bunt. Simon scored on a
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Simon led off the third with a double and scored on a
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) sacrifice fly. Benedetti reached on a Carthage miscue and scored on Helms' single through the middle to make it 4-0.
The guests got on the board against
Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.) in the fourth on an RBI double by Colton Klein, but the Vikings added two more in the sixth to go up 6-1. Helms and
Griffen Pschigoda (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) started the frame with consecutive singles and scored on a
Zachary Vrbancic (Stagg HS, Palos Hills, Ill.) sacrifice fly and a Gattuso single, respectively.
Two Augustana errors led to a pair of Firebird runs in the seventh, but
Jacob Reusch (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) came on in relief and left the bases loaded.
The Vikings added six runs in the eighth and would ultimately need them.
Alec McGinnis (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) and Vrbancic started things with back-to-back bunt singles and both scored on Owens' two-run single to center. Later in the inning,
Chase Maifield (Grant HS, Round Lake, Ill.) greeted reliever Troy Siranovic with a pinch-hit grand slam to right, his second homer of the season.
Reusch got the first two outs in the top of the ninth, but then ran into trouble. Carthage eventually plated three runs, but
Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton, Colo.) came on to close things out.
Hoban (4-2) gave up just one earned run and fanned eight in 6 2/3 innings to get the win. Firebird starter Keith Kutzler (3-3) suffered the loss.
Helms finished 3-for-3 with two RBI. Gattuso and Simon had two hits apiece and Simon scored three times. Maifield knocked in four runs and Owens three.
AUGUSTANA 4, CARTHAGE 3
Augustana put three runs on the board without a hit in the nightcap. Carthage's Dante Guarascio held the Vikings hitless through three innings, but four walks, two hit batters and two errors allowed them to plate two in the second and one in the third.
Freshman
Harrison Boushele (Grandview HS, Aurora, Colo.) blanked the Firebirds for six innings, allowing four hits, walking one and fanning 11 before exiting in favor of Chamberlain. After Chamberlain threw a scoreless top of the seventh,
Matt Ozanic (East Leyden HS, Franklin Park, Ill.) walked, stole second and later scored on a wild pitch in the bottom half to make it 4-0.
Chamberlain walked the first two batters in the eighth, prompting Coach
Greg Wallace to call on closer
John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.). One out later, Klein hammered a homer over the right field fence to get Carthage within a run. Hayes retired the next two batters though and pitched around two singles in the ninth to earn his sixth save.
Boushele (3-2) got the win. Guarascio, who allowed just two hits and one earned run and struck out nine in five innings, fell to 2-2 with the loss.
