Augustana erupted for 17 runs in the fifth and sixth innings with a pair of grand slams as the Vikings handed Wayne State a 25-5 setback Thursday afternoon at the NSIC Baseball Tournament played at the Birdcage in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Wildcats are now 30-21 and face an elimination game this evening at 7 p.m. against St. Cloud State.
Both teams scored unearned runs in the first two innings of the contest. Augustana scored in the bottom of the first thanks to a Wildcat throwing error for their first run while in the top of the second
Quinn McCafferty walked and later scored when senior first baseman
Kaden Young reached on a two-out dropped fly ball by the Augustana first baseman to tie the contest at 1-1.
The rest of the game was controlled by Augustana. The Vikings came up with three runs in the bottom of the third to grab a 4-1 lead.
WSC got one run back in the fourth as sophomore designated hitter
Max Heard doubled to right field and scored on a
Brayden Chaney sacrifice fly to reduce the Viking lead to 4-2.
But the Vikings erupted in the next few innings to put the game out of reach. Augustana scored twice in the fourth and had grand slams in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring eight in the fifth and another nine runs in the sixth to grab a commanding lead.
The Wildcats scored a pair of runs in the eighth as
Keagan McLaughlin's two-run single drove home Chaney (single) and
Braden Cannon (hit by pitch). Augustana matched WSC with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth and WSC closed the scoring in the top of the ninth with one run despite not recording a hit while using two Augustana errors to make the final score 25-5.
Wayne State had five hits in the game. Heard had a double and single to lead the 'Cats.
Chase Douglas, Chaney and McLaughlin each added singles.
The 'Cats used five pitchers in the contest. Starter
Jackson Shelburne (5-4) suffered the loss. Relievers included
Jacob Kneifl,
Clement Febus,
Adam Eggert and
Braden Sweet.
