JACKSONVILLE,  Ill. — The Augustana Vikings continued their non-conference slate on Sunday, weathering the Simpson Storm in a neutral-site contest by a 7-3 final.

The Storm began with two runs in the top of the opening inning against starter Josh Wintroub. Augie responded in the bottom of the frame, beginning with a single from Cole Green in the lead-off spot. After two more runners got on, Green scored on a bases-loaded fielder's choice from Kyle Campbell to cut the Storm deficit in half after one inning of action.

Simpson earned the run back to push their advantage back out to two in the second inning. The two teams exchanged back-to-back scoreless innings before Alex Simon brought in Brett Benedetti on a sacrifice fly at the bottom of the fifth to pull Augie within one.

The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Storm before Augustana exploded for five runs in a busy eighth inning. Simon and Campbell opened the offensive burst, reaching home after a series of throwing errors from Simpson to give Augie the lead. Later in the inning, the Vikings benefited from a hit by pitch to put two men on, setting up a three-run home run from Dymitri Kanellakis to move the score to its eventual 7-3 final.

Wintroub settled in after the first two innings, striking out 12 batters and tossing 77 strikes on 113 pitches. He walked just one batter across seven frames of action. In relief, Bryce Luckey earned the win on the mound for the Vikings, allowing zero runs in the final two innings and allowing just one Simpson hit.

Augustana finished the contest with three hits as a team, with three players batting in runs. Kanellakis was the team leader with three RBI, while Green and Benedetti each added one. A total of seven Vikings scored a run.

The Vikings improve their record to 3-2 and will travel to Topeka, Kan., March 3-5 for a trio of games against Cornell, Luther, and UW-Platteville beginning on Friday.