DECATUR, Ill. – Augustana split a doubleheader Saturday at Millikin, rallying to take game one 2-1 at Workman Family Field before falling 4-2 in the nightcap. The Vikings moved to 25-6 on the year and 17-6 in the CCIW and the Big Blue to 20-10 overall and 13-9 in the league. The teams are scheduled to complete their weekend set with a 1:00 p.m. single game on Sunday, May 2 at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field.
AUGUSTANA 2, MILLIKIN 1
Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.) and
John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) combined on a two-hitter and Augustana scored two runs in the top of the ninth to pull out a 2-1 win in the opener.
Starters Hoban and Adam Zuk had their way for much of the contest, matching goose eggs for seven frames. Each team had just one runner reach scoring position in the first four innings. The Vikings left runners at first and second in the fifth and seventh, but Zuk ended both threats with called third strikes.
Evan Lawrence relieved Zuk to start the eighth. He gave up a two-out double to
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.), but Brett Beals came on in relief and ended the inning with a strikeout.
Millikin put up the game's first run in the bottom of the eighth. Garrett Fritz led off with a single. Pinch-runner Austin Wombacher stole second and scored on Tommy Shaw's single to left. Hayes relieved Hoban and pitched around a hit batter to get the Vikings out of further trouble.
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) walked leading off the top of the ninth and moved to second on
Griffen Pschigoda's (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) sacrifice bunt.
Kyle Wise (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) singled to center, moving Helms to third and knocking out Beals in favor of Jared Buzan.
Buzan fanned the first batter he faced, but pinch-hitter
Chase Maifield (Grant HS, Round Lake, Ill.) singled to center, scoring Helms with the tying run.
Michael Gattuso (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) walked to load the bases and then
Alex Simon (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) drew a base-on-balls to force in pinch-runner
Trevor Moore (Boulder HS, Boulder, Colo.) and give Augustana a 2-1 lead.
Hayes had two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth and got the win to move to 3-0 on the year. Beals (0-2) suffered the loss.
Hoban gave up just two hits in 7 1/3 innings, walking three and fanning four. Zuk allowed four hits in seven shutout innings. Owens was the only player on either team with two hits.
MILLIKIN 4, AUGUSTANA 2
Big Blue starter Caleb Burleigh limited the Vikings to four hits in going the distance in game two. Two of those came in the top of the first, when Owens had a two-out double and
Matt Ozanic (East Leyden HS, Franklin Park, Ill.) followed with an RBI triple to give Augustana a 1-0 lead.
As Burleigh settled in, freshman
Harrison Boushele (Grandview HS, Aurora, Ill.) blanked Millikin until the fourth, when Kyle Kane walked and later scored on a wild pitch.
The Big Blue took a 2-1 lead with an unearned run in the sixth and Kane's two-run single against reliever
Jacob Reusch (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) in the seventh made it 4-2.
The Vikings cut the deficit in half with a run in the eighth. Wise had a one-out single, moved to third on
Alec McGinnis' (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) double to left and scored on a
Zachary Vrbancic (Stagg HS, Palos Hills, Ill.) ground out. However, Burleigh retired the side in order in the ninth to finish the complete-game win.
Burleigh (4-2) walked none and fanned six. Boushele (3-3) gave up just three hits and one earned run in 5 1/3 innings, but suffered the loss. He issued four walks and struck out six.
