Baseball 2/28/02 -- Augsburg 4-6, Dubuque (Iowa) 1-5

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/28/02) -- Ryan Krautkremer (Sr., Waseca, Minn.) had four hits, drove in four runs and scored the game-winning run in the second game, and Jeremy Nelson (Fr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) and Nick Rathmann (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) each struck out five batters in their two starts, as Augsburg College opened its baseball season with a doubleheader sweep of the University of Dubuque (Iowa) on Thursday afternoon at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Augsburg won the first game 4-1 and the second game 6-5.

Krautkremer had a run-scoring double and pitched the final third of the seventh inning to pick up the save in the first game. In the second game, he stroked a three-run double in the fifth inning, then tripled and scored the winning run in the seventh, in addition to pitching the seventh inning and striking out three to score the win.

Adam Larson (So., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) drove in Krautkremer with the game-winning run in the second game, as Augsburg improved to 2-0 overall. Dubuque dropped to 0-4 on the season.

Augsburg scored three runs in the first two innings to take a lead in the first game, as Krautkremer drove in Pat Marsh (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) in the first inning, and John Peterson (So., Cumberland, Wis.) doubled to drive in a run and Rathmann drove in a run in the second. After Dubuque scored in the third, as Kaleb VanCleve (Jr., Princeton, Iowa) scored an unearned run, Augsburg put its final run on the board in the fifth, when Peterson scored an unearned run on a throwing error.

Nelson struck out five while walking just one in 6.2 innings of work to score the win, with Krautkremer finishing the game to score the save. Eric Caspers (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa) took the loss for Dubuque, pitching four innings.

In the second game, each team scored three runs in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie. Doubles from Brett Firzlaff (Sr., Dubuque, Iowa) and Curtis Schultz (So., East Dubuque, Iowa) brought in two runs, and a single from Marc Mette (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) brought in another for the Spartans. Augsburg loaded the bases on an error, walk and single, and Krautkremer drove them all in on a double.

Dubuque scored in the sixth, when Corey Parr (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) scored on a grounder against Auggie reliever Russ Bauer (Jr., Faribault, Minn.). But Augsburg added two more runs on a two-run single by Marsh to give the Auggies a one-run lead.

Dubuque tied the game in the top of the seventh, when Mette scored on a passed ball. Augsburg's Krautkremer tripled against Dubuque reliever Andy Schemmel (Sr., West Bend, Wis.) to open the bottom of the seventh, and Larson drove him in with a one-out single to end the game.

Augsburg returns to action with a doubleheader at the Metrodome against Division II Concordia-St. Paul on Tuesday (3/5) at 9:30 p.m.