MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Thursday to break open a tie game with Elmhurst and went on to defeat the Bluejays 7-3 in at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. Coach
Greg Wallace's club moved to 31-7 on the season and 23-7 in the CCIW. The visitors fell to 17-21 overall and 12-18 in the league.
With the score tied at 2-2,
Griffen Pschigoda (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) led off the Augustana sixth with a single to center. Two outs later he got into scoring position by stealing second.
Alec McGinnis (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) then lined a double down the left field line to plate Pschigoda with the go-ahead run.
The Vikings weren't done.
Zachary Vrbancic (Stagg HS, Palos Hills, Ill.) was hit by a pitch and
Michael Gattuso's (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) single to left scored McGinnis and knocked out Elmhurst starter Alex Kielion. Reliever J.D. Knight walked
Alex Simon (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) and
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) both on four pitches. Owens' base-on-balls forced in Vrbancic to make it 5-2. Knight hit
Matt Ozanic (East Leyden HS, Franklin Park, Ill.) with his next pitch, forcing in Gattuso to make it 6-2 before Cole Bozzi came out of the Bluejay pen and fanned Pschigoda to end the inning.
Trey Romay was hit by a
Jacob Irwin (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) pitch leading off the top of the seventh and later scored on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 6-3, but Augustana answered in the bottom half.
Kyle Wise (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) had a leadoff single to left and came around to score when Vrbancic plugged the gap in left center for a double.
Freshman
Addison Southwick (Arvada West HS, Arvada, Colo.) threw a scoreless eighth and
John Hayes (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the victory.
Elmhurst took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run off Viking starter
Max Mead (Lakewood HS, Lakewood, Colo.) in the second. The hosts tied it in the bottom half. Wise,
Brett Benedetti (Cherry Creek HS, Greenwood Village, Colo.) and McGinnis had consecutive one-out singles to load the bases. Wise was out at the plate on Vrbancic's comebacker, but a wild pitch allowed Benedetti come home with the tying run.
Wise had a one-out single in the fourth and put the Vikings up 2-1 when he scored on the front end of a double steal with McGinnis. Carter Truong led off the top of the fifth with a double to left center and later scored on a Romay sacrifice fly to make it 2-2.
Irwin got the win and is now 3-0 in just five appearances this year. Mead went five innings and gave up five hits and two runs (one earned). He walked one and fanned three. Kielion allowed six runs in 5 2/3 innings and dropped to 2-6 with the loss.
Wise finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Benedetti was 2-for-3 and McGinnis 2-for-4. Lorenzo Farino had three hits for Elmhurst.
The teams are scheduled to wrap up the regular season with a doubleheader at Butterfield Park in Elmhurst, Illinois on Saturday, May 15. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
