MOLINE, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings baseball team defeated the Monmouth Scots on Thursday in eight innings with a 20-10 final score. 

The Vikings were the first to cross home plate in the bottom of the opening inning after Ryan Coon scored off of an error by the Scots before Grant Biggins ran home on a passed ball. 

In the top of the second, Monmouth grabbed the advantage after putting up five runs before Augie tallied five of their own in the bottom half. Coon got the rally started after a single to center field before Riley Hendren was hit by a pitch. A single by Biggins loaded the bases, setting up a go-ahead grand slam for Kaileb Hackman during the next at-bat. Augie later added one more to its total in the frame following a bases-loaded walk issued to Ryan Theile. The Vikings led 7-2 after two innings of action.  During the bottom of the third, Hendren crossed home after a solo home run to move the score to 8-5. In the following inning, Augie tallied two more after a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Alex Simon, and continued their scoring streak in the fifth with a Theile RBI single. Monmouth put up four runs in the sixth to get within two at an 11-9 score. 

In a big seventh inning, the Vikings scored seven runs without the benefit of a hit. The team saw runs cross home plate via walks, hit batters, an error, and a balk to run away with an 18-9 advantage. The Scots obtained another run in the eighth, but a single by Biggins down the right-field line brought two runs home to secure the 20-10 victory.

The Vikings collected 12 hits in the win, with four different players posting multi-hit efforts. Hackman led the way with four runs batted in, while Jack Buckalew earned the win on the mound after pitching three innings and striking out three batters. 

With the win, Augie improves to 9-7 on the season and will head to Naperville on Sunday for their conference opener against North Central.