WINTER HAVEN, Fla. –  Augustana baseball bested St. Olaf on Sunday, defeating the Oles 8-5 in the first of a three-game series to close out the RussMatt Invitational. 

Augie opened against right-hander Sam Lavin, finding success in the first inning as a Kyle Campbell RBI double put the Vikings ahead by one. Following a scoreless second inning from both teams, Augustana added two additional runs in the third on back-to-back RBI singles from Matt Ozanic and Dymitri Kanellakis to move the score to 3-0. St. Olaf responded with two runs in their half of the third to cut the Augie lead to one. 

The Vikings added a run in the fourth inning on a Cole Green RBI single, but the Oles answered with three runs of their own to seize the lead at 5-4. At the top of the sixth, Michael Aragon was hit by a St. Olaf pitch to open the offensive effort. Two at-bats later the Vikings found the equalizer, with Alex Simon grounding out to the first baseman to score Aragon from third. 

With the game tied, Chase Maifield reclaimed the lead for Augustana with a run-producing triple in the top of the seventh. The Vikings added two insurance runs in the eighth, using an RBI double from Simon and a sacrifice fly from Ozanic to push their lead out to three once again. Jacob Reusch capped off his winning effort on the mound, striking out three in the final two innings to secure the win for Augie.

Reusch earned the win after pitching 5.1 innings and striking out seven batters in relief. Augie recorded 12 hits as a team, with Simon, Aragon, and Green each collecting two. Simon and Ozanic each led the team with two runs batted in.

The Vikings improve to 14-3 with the win and will remain in Winter Haven for two more battles against the Oles from March 28-29. The first of the two matchups begins on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. CDT from Chain O'Lakes Complex