A Late Surge in the 10th Inning
The No. 17 Augustana baseball team edged No. 29 Northwest Missouri State 12‑10 in a marathon 10‑inning contest on Thursday, securing a spot in the next round of the NCAA tournament.
Early in the game, Troy Berg opened the scoring with a two‑out, two‑run triple that put the Vikings ahead 2‑0, but the Bearcats answered with two runs in the bottom of the first and added three more in the second to seize a brief lead.
Kobe Eikmeier’s three‑run blast to left‑center later evened the score at 5‑5, and a run in the third and another in the fourth extended Northwest’s advantage to 7‑5.
Nate Soelter’s double and subsequent groundouts cut the deficit to one, but Jake Lundquist’s two‑run triple to left‑center in the later innings restored the Vikings’ lead at 8‑7.
The game remained tightly contested through the ninth, with both sides leaving runners on base before slipping into extra innings.
In the tenth, Ragan Pinnow and Berg walked, Eikmeier reached on a fielder’s choice, and after a double steal put both in scoring position, Lundquist delivered a ground‑rule double that scored the pair, giving Augustana a 10‑8 edge.
Weigel followed with a single that added another run, and although the Bearcats hit a two‑run home run in the bottom of the tenth, the Vikings held on for a 12‑10 final score.
Relief pitcher Mariano Gomez surrendered six runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings, but the bullpen steadied the ship, with Adam Diedrich earning his first win of the season after closing out the final five outs.
Augustana will now travel to face host Pittsburg State at 6 p.m. on Friday, with the winner advancing to the sub‑region final.