VIRDEN, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings baseball team picked up a non-conference win over the Blackburn Beavers on Saturday, winning in dominating fashion by a score of 22-2 at North Mac High School. The two teams were scheduled to compete in a doubleheader, but due to a delay to start the morning the two teams agreed to one single contest.
After a scoreless opening inning both ways, the Vikings struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the second, benefiting from Dymitri Kanellakas RBI triple before being brought in on a
Michael Aragon single. Kanellakas singled in two more to help fuel a four-run inning, with
Cole Green and
Brett Benedetti accounting for the other two runs knocked in. The Vikings led 6-0 after four innings complete.Â
Augustana broke things open in the fifth, sending 19 batters to the play and tallying 13 runs on seven hits.
Kyle Campbell's double to open the inning got the offensive outburst started, later followed by a two-run single from Aragon for the first runs of the frame. The Vikings went on notch six runs on either singles or walks before Kanellakas secured the inning's second extra-base hit, scoring a run on his double to left-center.
Cole Green and
Alec McGinnis both reached base twice in the fifth and brought in the final three runs of the onslaught on back-to-back singles.
Blackburn earned two of those runs back in the bottom half of the fifth, their only two scored of the game before the Vikings notched three in the top of the seventh to make it a 20-run differential.
Michael Gattuso and
Ethan Sosnowski both had RBI in the inning after each getting hit by a pitch.
Kannellakas led the balanced offensive attack with three hits, four RBI, and four runs scored. A total of five Vikings had multi-hit efforts, with Green the other boasting three.
Harrison Boushele earned the win on the mound, striking out four and not allowing a hit in three innings of work.
With the win, Augie improves to 2-2 on the season. The team will face the Simpson Storm in Jacksonville, Ill. on Sunday at 1 p.m.
