MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Augustana baseball (1-0) started their 2022 season with an impressive 12-2 victory over the Concordia-Chicago Cougars (0-1). The Vikings exploded for three big innings at the plate to cruise to the season-opening win.
 
Starting pitchers Matt Hoban and Cole Carman worked through two scoreless innings before the Vikings struck first. Scoring started for Augie in the third inning when Matt Ozanic sent a single back up the middle to drive Jacob Barker home. Kyle Wise continued the scoring in the third on an RBI groundout to plate Griffen Pschigoda. The momentum did not stop there as Kyle Campbell deposited a homerun over the right-center fence for his first collegiate hit.
 
The Vikings put another three runs on the board just an inning later to extend their lead to 8-0. Ozanic came through with another single to score Alex Simon. Pschigoda joined the action with an RBI groundout of his own while Wise brought the eighth run in on a single to center field.
 
CUC finally broke through in the sixth inning when Brody Mariotti blasted a two-run homer. The Cougar home run was the only offensive output of the game for CUC.
 
Augustana eventually added four more insurance runs in the eighth inning on a pair of single from Barker and Wise, along with a wild pitch.
 
Hoban went 4.2 innings on the mound to start for the Vikings and earned the win. He walked five and struck out eight. Sam Cregan tossed 2.1 innings in relief for Augie while striking out two. Nathaniel Sammer took the ball for the final inning and recorded two strikeout of his own.
 
Barker, Ozanic, and Wise led the Vikings at the dish with a combined six hits and seven runs batted in. Four of those RBI came off the bat of Wise. Kyle Campbell chipped in with three RBI of his own.
 
The Vikings will be back on the diamond in Memphis for the next contest. Augie will face off against 14^th-ranked Webster tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 19 at 10:30 A.M.