FORT MYERS, Fla. – Augustana baseball defeated Pitt-Bradford on Thursday to open their four-game slate at the Gene Cusic Classic, taming the Panthers 17-7 in seven innings.
Augie faced right-hander Trent Bielak on the mound, finding early success as a Matt Ozanic single to right field brought in Alec McGinnis to go up 1-0. Bryce Luckey got the nod for Augustana, getting out of an early jam with a strikeout to leave two Panthers on base. The Vikings scored runs in each of the first four innings, adding one more in the second on an RBI double from Cole Green before a sacrifice fly from Michael Aragon made it 3-0 after innings of play.
Augustana's offense erupted for six in the fourth inning, beginning with Brett Benedetti reaching home on a Panthers error. Following an RBI single from Alex Simon to make it a 5-0 advantage, Kyle Campbell broke things open with a three-run home run to push the lead to eight. Aragon notched the final run driven in, laying down a sacrifice bunt to bring in Ozanic. Pitt-Bradford scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to make the score 9-2.
After a scoreless fifth inning from both teams, Augie regained their momentum in the sixth, scoring eight more runs. Campbell scored on a wild pitch to begin the surge before a Dymitri Kanellakis RBI double brought in Ozanic for his second score of the game. With the Vikings leading by nine, Ethan Sosnowski notched his first career hit and home run in one swing of the bat, launching one over the outfield fence to add two more to Augie's total. After a string of walks, Augie reloaded the bases, allowing Aragon to score on a wild pitch. After a hit batter added another score, Kanellakis snuck a two-RBI single between the first and second basemen to bring in both McGinnis and Simon to cap off the Vikings' scoring. The Panthers cut the Augie lead to 10 in the bottom of the sixth behind five runs, but could not extend the game with a run in the seventh as Augustana earned their sixth straight victory.
Jacob Irwin earned the win for Augustana after tossing two scoreless innings and striking out two batters in relief of Luckey. Each team tallied 10 hits, with Campbell and Kallelakis each leading the Vikings with three runs batted in.
The Vikings improve to 7-2 and will play the Rockford Regents on Friday at 11:00 a.m. for their second game in Florida.
