Augie baseball extends win streak in sweep over SMSU

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AUGUSTANA) — The No. 14 Augustana baseball team moved their win streak to 18 after a doubleheader sweep over Southwest Minnesota State on Wednesday afternoon at Ronken Field.

The day was highlighted on the first pitch seen by Jack Hines . Hines sent a line drive over the fence in right center for his 18th home run of the season, breaking a program record in the first inning of game one.

The Vikings improve to 35-6 on the year and 26-4 in the NSIC while the Mustangs go to 23-17, 17-14.

Game One: Augustana 11, SMSU 5
The Vikings mashed five home runs and got a solid outing from J.D. Hennen to earn the game one win.

Hines went 3 for 4 with two home runs, three RBI, and three runs scored to power the offense. Tate Meiners had a double and home run while scoring a pair of runs and Nick Banowetz had two hits, including a double.

Drey Dirksen hit a home run and drove in three runs while drawing a walk. Also going yard was Luke Ballweg .

Hennen earned the win, going six innings and striking out seven while allowing a pair of runs to move to 4-0 on the season.

Kolbeck was hit by the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the first. After a strikeout, Hines opened the scoring with his record-breaking blast to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead.

Meiners opened the second inning with a blast of his own to tack onto the lead. The next two batters got out before a Kolbeck infield single kept the inning alive.

After stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error, Kolbeck came home on a sinking line drive to center field.

Hines reached on a bunt to get a pair on and Drey Dirksen sent a rocket to left field to continue the two-out rally. That rally concluded two pitches later when Luke Ballweg mashed a home run of his own to give AU the lead at 8-0.

The Mustangs countered with two in the third inning before Hines lifted his second home run of the game off the scoreboard in right field to grow the lead back to seven at 9-2.

In the fifth, Meiners and Banowetz slugged back-to-back one-out doubles to add a run and Kolbeck singled through the left side with two outs to cap the Viking scoring.

The Mustangs rallied in the seventh inning for three runs to get within 11-5, but Kai Taylor entered the game and forced a pop out to seal the win.

Game Two: Augustana 10, SMSU 3
Banowetz went 3 for 3 with a double and a pair of RBI and Meiners had two hits, a home run, and two RBI to help pace the offense to a game two win.

Ethan Cole earned the win in game two, throwing 1 2/3 innings out of the bullpen and Caleb Kranz struck out five in two innings following Cole to help bridge the staff.

The Mustangs hit a lead-off home run in the second inning to open the scoring. In the bottom of the inning, Dirksen reached on a HBP, Luke Ballweg walked, and Meiners was drilled to load the bases with nobody out. Banowetz delivered with a double, scoring Dirksen and Ballweg and taking the lead at 2-1.

The Mustangs fired back with a run in the fourth inning to tie the game. The offense exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach.

Ballweg walked and Meiners homered to go-ahead 4-2 with nobody out. Sam Siegel and Ragan Pinnow each had one-out singles to get a pair on and Kolbeck doubled in the gap to score Siegel.

Parker Mooney played wall-ball with the scoreboard two pitches later, adding three runs with the blast and giving AU a six run lead. Hines and Dirksen each singled after the home run to get runners on the corners and Hines scored on a Ballweg groundout to cap the scoring and put the Vikings in front 9-2.

AU scored their final run in the eighth inning when Jason Axelberg got all the way to third on a dropped fly ball and came in to score on a Kolbeck groundout. SMSU scored a run in the top of the ninth to bring the game to its final score.

The Vikings move on to a weekend series against the second ranked team in the NSIC in Minnesota State. The teams will open with a Saturday doubleheader with first pitch slated for 1:30 p.m.

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