ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana baseball (8-3) is set for a busy week at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida. Starting tomorrow, Mar. 18, and running through next Friday, Mar. 25, the Vikings will take the field for six non-conference games against several quality opponents.
Augustana will start the week on Friday, Mar. 18 against the Beloit Buccaneers. Beloit enters the weekend with a 2-3 record after five non-league contests.
The Bucs are led by three hitters with .300+ batting averages. Deven Irwin leads the team at .357, James Wicker hits .316, and AJ Fitzpatrick at .300. Fitzpatrick also leads Beloit in slugging with a .600 percentage and is the only Buccaneer with a home run thus far. On the mound, Aiden Phipps, Tommy Murray, and Jacob Sligar have each thrown five full innings. Murray currently owns the team's lowest earned run average at 3.60 while Phipps holds opposing hitters to a .176 average and has a team-best seven strikeouts.
Augustana and Beloit have faced off on four previous occasions dating back to the 1992 season. Augie has won all four previous matchups including the most recent in 2010 by a 6-5 score.
The Vikings' second game of the RussMatt Invitational will be against Coe College of the American Rivers Conference on Saturday, Mar. 19. The Kohawks are currently 3-4 with a pair of wins over UW-Oshkosh and Millikin.
Reid Rausch leads the Coe offensive attack by a wide margin with team-highs in batting average (.421), slugging percentage (.526), and hits (eight). Jacob Brosius has also been a key piece so far for Coe with five runs scored, four steals, and a home run. TJ Deardorff has logged the most inning on the bump with 13 followed by Matthew Mittlemark with 10.2 and Tyce Johnson with 10. Deardorff is one of three Kohawks to earn a victory and has a team-high 12 strikeouts while Johnson holds an impressive 0.90 ERA.
Augustana and Coe have played each other 16 previous times with the Vikings leading the all-time series 11-3. Augustana also won the last two games against the Kohawks in 2005 and 2006.
The Vikings' weekend will continue on Sunday, Mar. 20 with a contest versus the University of Southern Maine. The Huskies currently have a 2-5 record including two losses to local opponents from Webster University and Washington University.
The Huskies' Tom Vesosky and Arlo Pike are currently leading the team at the plate with batting average of .346 and .320, respectively. Vesosky also leads the Huskies in hits with nine, runs scores with six, and doubles with three. Pike leads USM with a .520 slugging percentage. Southern Maine pitching is paced by Bryce Afthim with 12.2 innings pitched and Joshua Joy with 10 innings pitched. Afthim holds opposing hitters to a .222 batting average and has one of the two Huskies' wins.
Sunday's game between Southern Maine and Augustana will be the first-ever between the two teams.
Augustana will take the field against Union College of New York on Tuesday, Mar. 22. The Dutchmen will start their season with a double-header against Wisconsin-Superior on Saturday, Mar. 19 before taking on Augie on Tuesday.
The Vikings' penultimate game at the RussMatt Invitational will be on Thursday, Mar. 24 versus Williams College, The Ephs are currently 1-0 with a road win at RPI earlier this week.
In their first game, Williams' David Driscoll went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Brendan Stannard also had a solid day against RPI going 3-for-5 with three driven in and one scored. On the mound, James Murray earned the win in relief for Williams with three Ks and a walk.
The Williams-Augustana matchup is another first-time contest as both teams have never played each other.
Finally, on Friday, Mar. 25, Augustana will finish play at the RussMatt Invitational against Benedictine. The Eagles are 1-2 this season with a win in their first game of the year against North Park and losses to Transylvania and Webster.
Kevin Bushnell and Steven Salvino are both hitting at a .250 clip to lead Benedictine. Bushnell also leads the team in slugging percentage (.667), hits (three), runs scores (two), doubles (two), home runs (one), and total bases (eight). Salvino has the only walk and is the only Eagle to steal at least one base thus far. On the mound, Justin Sosa leads Benedictine with five innings pitched and a 1.80 earned run average.
Augie and Benedictine have faced off on five previous occasions with the Vikings holding a 4.1 all-time lead. Most recently, Augustana defeated the Eagles 10-8 in 2010.
Live video and live stats are not guaranteed at the RussMatt Invitational. Fans wanting to follow the action should follow Augustana athletics on all social media platforms and routinely check athletics.augustana.edu for updates.
