Baseball
Augustana unable to rally, eliminated in tourney: The end of the line came on Saturday afternoon for the Augustana baseball team at the NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point regional.
Having already staved off one elimination game in the morning, the Vikings couldn't duplicate it as they dropped a 9-8 heartbreaker to Webster on Zimmerman Field and were done in the tournament.
Augie jumped out ahead with three runs in the opening two innings fueled by an Alec McGinnis RBI single in the first and a Cole Green run-scoring double in the second, but Webster responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second and blew the game open with a six-run fourth.
Mitch Daniels and Evan Evola each ripped two-run home runs in the frame and Ben Swords capped it with a two-run double. It chased Vikings starter Adam Bendoraitis out of the game and saddled him with his first loss of the season.
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Augie got the deficit to within one on a two-run home run by Matt Ozanic with no outs. It had two runners on and one out, but pinch-hitter Ethan Sosnowski grounded into a double play as the final moment in a 39-9 season.
In the first game of the day against Loras in which the Vikings triumphed 5-4, Green scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to give them the lead for good. Errors by the Duhawks in the sixth was the reason for three Augie runs crossed home plate.
Loras nearly rallied with a three-run eighth fueled by a two-run single off the bat of Max Cullen. Vikings reliever Addison Southwick recorded the final five outs to notch his third save of the season.
McGinnis had four hits against Loras and added two more versus Webster. Chase Maifield and Alex Simon each registered three hits against Webster.
