NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The No. 25 ranked Augustana baseball team battled No. 23 ranked North Central in their second meeting of the season on Saturday, dropping to the Cardinals by a 15-5 final.  

The Vikings faced Justin Rios on the mound, working through two scoreless innings against the left-hander before seizing a 3-0 lead in the third. Brett Benedetti walked prior to Zachary Vrbancic's single to right field, putting two runners on base. A Cole Green sacrifice put two Vikings in scoring position, setting up a sacrifice fly opportunity for Alex Simon to bring in the game's first run.Kyle Campbell added the second run for Augie on a double down the right field line, followed by Matt Ozanic's RBI single to center field the ensuing at-bat to give the Vikings a three-run lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Cardinals erupted for 10 runs to shift the momentum in their favor and establish a seven-run lead. Augustana replied with their final two runs in the top of the fifth inning, starting with Simon and Ozanic earning walks to reach base. Ethan Sosnowski ripped an infield single to score Simon after a Dymitri Kanellakis single put Augie in scoring position. The following at-bat, Alec McGinnis drew a walk to move the Augie runners around the bases and trim the North Central lead to five. The Cardinals claimed the rematch victory after adding five more runs, capped off with two in the bottom of the eighth to end the game by run rule.

Augustana had seven different players record hits in the defeat. Campbell, Ozanic, Sosnowski, McGinnis, and Simon each claimed an RBI. 

With the loss, the Vikings move to 18-6 overall and 3-2 in conference. The team will return home for a CCIW showdown against the Wheaton Thunder on Wednesday, April 12. Start time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. from Swanson Stadium.