FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Augustana Vikings baseball team defeated the Scranton Royals and the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats on Saturday to conclude a 3-0 weekend stay at the Gene Cusic Classic.

In the first game on Saturday, the Vikings found an 8-7 victory over the Scranton Royals. The Royals were first to put up runs with two in the first inning, but Augie followed with three of their own. Colton Davis secured an RBI single to bring Alex Simon home before Davis and Grant Biggins scored off of an error to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of the Vikings after an inning of play. In the bottom of the fourth, Biggins drove in Cole Green with a double to push the lead out to two.

Scranton put up three in the top of the fifth, while the first two batters for Augie singled to start the bottom of the fifth. A sac bunt moved the runners over and Green drove in a run with a single to even the score. Moments later, Michael Aragon reached home on a passed ball to take the lead and Simon followed with a single to bring Green home and create a 7-5 score. After the Royals got one back in the sixth, Daniel Mosele homered in the eighth inning to move the score to 8-6. Anthony Sus earned the save in the ninth, stranding two runners on base and ending with a strikeout to secure the 8-7 win. 

Simon led the Vikings in the win with three hits. Brian Fischer earned the win after going five innings with two strikeouts.

In the second game of the day against the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats, the Vikings secured a 16-8 victory. Augie started the game with five runs in the third inning, beginning with an RBI single from Davis. A passed ball brought in the second tally and a Mosele double added two more moments later. Riley Fuller sent Mosele home to take a 5-0 lead. 

The Vikings maintained their momentum into the fourth inning, where Alec McGinnis and Simon tallied a pair of runs after an Ethan Sosnowski single. Biggins was next to run home after a sacrifice fly from Mosele to make an 8-0 score. Augie earned five more in the sixth, with Davis scoring off of a passed ball before Mosele, Sosnowski, and Fuller ran home after an error from the Diplomats. The Vikings moved the differential to 13 after a sacrifice fly from Simon. 

Nearing a win by run rule, Franklin & Marshall used a big seventh inning to extend the game, scoring six times. Augie continued to keep its distance, scoring another in the seventh and two more in the eighth to shut down any comeback threat. Davis and Mosele each added run-scoring hits in the two-run eighth inning.

Davis and Mosele led the Vikings with three hits, with Mosele securing four RBI and Davis and Sosnowski each with two. Chance Carruthers grabbed the win on the mound, striking out eight in 5.1 innings pitched. 

With both wins, Augie moves to 8-3 on the season and will return home on March 16-17 to host Buena Vista and Dominican at the Augustana Invitational.