WAUKESHA, Wis. – Needing more than the scheduled nine innings, the Augustana Vikings baseball team emerged victorious in an 8-2, 12-inning battle against the Carroll Pioneers on Friday night. Carroll struck first in the bottom of the first inning, plating two runs for their only scoring of the night. After three scoreless frames, the Vikings found a run in the top of the fourth. Kaileb Hackman took the second pitch of the at-bat deep, flying past the left field fence for a solo home run to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Both teams' pitchers and bullpens kept the game scoreless for the next four innings. In the top of the ninth, Lawson Shickel got the offense moving again with a leadoff single. Carson Vitry entered as a pinch runner at first, and Zach Quimby grounded out to the pitcher, allowing Vitry to advance to second. It was the RBI machine Christian Clark who gave the Vikings life, delivering a scorching single to center field that allowed Vitry to race home before the throw, knotting things up at 2-2. Blake Nettleton kept the hosts off the board for one more inning, pushing both teams to the 10th.
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A miniature pitchers' duel emerged as Jack Buckalew took over in the 10th for the Vikings. Over the next two scoreless frames, Buckalew faced just seven batters before the Viking offense came to life one final time.
Riley Hendren got things going with a leadoff walk in the 12th inning, which was promptly followed by a Ryan Coon single to the pitcher, who struggled to field the ball, allowing both runners to move to second and third. Hackman, who homered in the fourth, was intentionally walked, giving Charlie Bergin a no-outs, bases-loaded opportunity to take control late. Bergin delivered with a single to left field, driving in Hendren and giving Augustana their first lead of the night. After a pitching substitution, things continued to trend upward for the visitors as AJ Macak walked to push across Coon. Ryan Theile lined out to record a sacrifice fly, allowing Hackman to make it a three-run game for Augustana. Another walk was all the Pioneers allowed before another late-game pitching change.
Quimby reached first on an error by the first baseman and advanced to second on the same play. Macak scored, and Bergin, trying to beat the throw, was tagged out at home, but the insurance runs were pouring on. Clark added two more RBIs to his total with a single to right field as Quimby and Gabe Kasycke raced home, kicking open the door to an extra-inning blowout, now up 8-2.
That would be the last of the scoring for the evening, as Buckalew struck out three of the final four batters to preserve the victory.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 25-13, 10-8 in the CCIW. They also clinched a berth in next weekend's CCIW tournament, hosted by Millikin. Augustana stays in Wisconsin for the final two games of the regular season, a doubleheader on Saturday, May 2 against Carthage. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 1 p.m.
