By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / Sioux Falls, S.D.

-St. Cloud State Baseball fell in the series finale against No. 15/16/21 Augustana by a score of 16-5 on Saturday. The Vikings picked up the series sweep with the win, as the Huskies put traffic on the bases but were unable to close the gap against Augie.
Augustana opened the scoring just two batters in, as a leadoff single from Brandon Weigel was followed by an RBI double from Carter Heinsch down the left field line. With a runner on third and no one out, Huskies senior starter Bryce Brassfield bounced back by getting a weak groundout and two strikeouts to keep the score 1-0. Brassfield struck out nine batters over five and two thirds innings, tying his career high.

The Vikings would strike for three more in the second, getting two hits and helped out by a pair of Husky errors in the field. The lead would increase to 5-0 with a lone run in the fourth, before SCSU was able to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth.
Redshirt freshman Max Robinson led off with a single and moved to third on a long double by redshirt junior Hayden Frank that crashed off the wall in left-center field. Redshirt senior Liam Moreno was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a pop out, junior Wilmis Castro lifted a fly ball to right-center field for a sacrifice fly to score Robinson. The Huskies would strand the other two runners, however, as a strikeout ended the threat.
The Huskies had a chance to answer again in the seventh, as Moreno and Castro singled, then senior
Wyatt Tweet walked to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Once again, however, Augie escaped trouble with a flyout to right field.
The Vikings put up three runs in the top of the eighth, making it 8-1 on a sac bunt, sac fly, and RBI single from Carter McPeak. With a seven run cushion, the game seemed out of reach for SCSU. However, the Huskies weren’t done yet. In the bottom of the frame, freshman Ryan Cahoon walked and senior Nick Ibrahim singled to right field.

Robinson then went the opposite way, lining a double to the right field corner to score two runs and make it 8-3. After two quick outs, back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Tweet, who came up clutch with a two-run single to right field to cut the lead to 8-5. With the tying run at the plate for the second straight inning, Augie pitching came up with a strikeout to hold the Viking lead.

In the ninth, the bats broke through for Augustana, as the Vikings brought 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs to close things out. Augie opened the frame with three straight singles, including two bunt singles. With one out, Carter Heinsch and Troy Berg lined back-to-back two-run base hits to score the first four runs. Heinsch picked up four hits in the game, and finished the three game series with an incredible stat line of 10-11 at the plate. Cole Goeser added a pinch-hit double that brought home two more runs, before RBI’s from Ryan Clementi and Nate Soelter to round out the scoring.
The Huskies will be back in action next week, traveling to Marshall, Minn. to take on Southwest Minnesota State in a three-game series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 28, starting at 12 p.m. before the final game on Sunday at noon.

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics.