MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana baseball (24-9, 8-6) split a Friday double-header earlier today against rival Illinois Wesleyan (16-16, 7-7). After a pregame Senior Day ceremony, the Vikings dropped the first game of the day in a 13-inning marathon. Augustana bounced back in the second game and won a 5-2 contest after a mid-game weather delay.
Both squads started the day in a competitive manner with three and a half scoreless innings. The Vikings got on the board in the fourth inning with an
Alec McGinnis sacrifice fly. The Titans countered in the sixth inning with two runs of their own to take the lead before Augie got back on top.
Chase Maifield delivered a two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to take a 3-2 lead.
Maifield's base hit was the last action the Vikings produced in the first game. Illinois Wesleyan managed a run in the top of the ninth on an Evan Ranneklev single to tie the game and force extra innings. After three more scoreless frames, Ranneklev and Cole Greer scored on a Viking fielding error to take a 5-3 lead. The Titan defense held in the home half and won the first game of the day.
Alex Simon,
Kyle Wise, and Maifield all recorded multiple base hits in the day's first contest. Maifield also drove in two runs to lead the Vikings.
Bryce Luckey took the loss in on the mound with 1.1 innings of relief effort.
The second game of the day started in similar fashion with four scoreless innings. Augustana started the scoring again with a sacrifice fly by
Matt Ozanic to score Zach Vrbancic. The Vikings continued in the following innings and opened an even larger lead.
Jacob Barker walked in a run and both
Alec McGinnis and
Brett Benedetti scored on an error in the sixth. McGinnis then smacked an RBI double to bring
Michael Gattuso in the seventh.
Illinois Wesleyan did their best to rally in the ninth inning with a pair of RBI singles by Dom DiLello and Jalen Ping. The Titans' late-game efforts were too late, however, as Jacob Resuch slammed the door and earned his first save of the season and give Augie the 5-2 victory.
McGinnis went 2-for-3 in the nightcap with an RBI.
Jacob Barker and Ozanic also drove runs in.
Josh Wintroub went eight full innings to earn his seventh win of the year. Wintroub dealt 10 strikeouts with just one walk and four hits allowed while managing his way through a lengthy weather delay.
Viking baseball will travel to Bloomington, Ill. for their next action. Augie and IWU will conclude their regular season series on Monday, May 2.
