WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State baseball team accumulated 26 hits in the doubleheader but was swept by Augustana Thursday afternoon at Loughrey Field. The Warriors dropped the opener 6-3 in the opener, while a comeback bid fell just short in the 12-11 nightcap defeat.
GAME ONE: Augustana 6, WSU 3
After three scoreless innings by both teams, Augustana pushed across a run in the top of the fourth with an RBI groundout. WSU answered back in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by Joe Kubera to plate Andrew Geislinger and knot the score at 1-1.
The Vikings scored a pair of runs in the sixth and scored three more in the seventh thanks in part to a two-run home run to up its lead to 6-1. The Warriors battled back in the bottom of the seventh with another RBI single from Kubera and an RBI double by Mitch Voter, but it wasn't enough as the Warriors fell 6-3.
Brett Herber (1-1) pitched five solid innings despite the loss, allowing six hits and two earned runs.
GAME TWO: Augustana 12, WSU 11
In an evenly-played game that saw a combined 23 runs and 35 hits, the Warriors came up just short in a back-and-forth 12-11 loss.
An RBI double by Mitch Voter and a two-run home run from Taylor Field helped build the Warriors a 4-0 lead after the first inning, but the Vikings battled back with five runs in the top of the second to take a 5-4 advantage. Augie upped the lead to 6-4 in the top of the fourth with a double down the left field line, but the Warriors tied it back up in the bottom of the sixth when Michael Hommes doubled home Field and Tyler Nehring to even it at 6-6.
Augie scored four more runs in the top of the sixth, but so did the Warriors in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI double by Jesus Cazares and a three-run blast from Tyler Nehring that just snuck inside the right field foul pole to even the game at 10-10.
Augustana answered yet again with a home run of its own in the top of the seventh – this one of the two-run variety – to take a 12-10 lead.
The Warriors had a chance to make a late rally in the bottom of the ninth, as Paul Mutch drew a two-out walk, then stole second before scoring on a Mitch Voter double to cut the lead to 12-11 with the tying run on second before Nehring flew out to end the game.
Winona State (13-21, 10-11 NSIC) travels to Sioux Falls, S.D. this weekend to take on the University of Sioux Falls for a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
