Baseball 4/20/02 -- St. John's 9-8, Augsburg 2-4

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


ST. CLOUD, Minn. (4/20/02) -- Jamie Louwagie and Matt Pilon drove in three runs apiece in the first game, and Jed Riegelman and Justin Holmgren had three hits and two RBI each in the second game, as St. John's University claimed a sweep of Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Sunday at Faber Field.

The Johnnies won the first game 9-2 and the second 8-4 to improve to 12-13 overall and 6-4 in MIAC play. Augsburg drops to 7-21 overall and 1-9 in the MIAC, having dropped its last nine games in a row, all in league play.

Augsburg was limited to just five hits in each game. Rick Burtzel threw a complete-game victory for the Johnnies in the first game, getting six strikeouts. Matt Johnson threw five innings in the start for the Johnnies in the second game, and Dustin Rector struck out four of the six batters he faced in the final two innings of relief, not allowing a hit or walk.

St. John's scored six runs in the first four innings of the first game, including a two-run double from Louwagie in the third and a three-run homer from Pilon in the fourth.

Augsburg scored a single-run in the fourth, when Dave Sherry (Sr., Hastings, Minn.) drove in Pat Marsh (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) on a groundout, and Travis Akre (Jr., Winona, Minn.) singled home Nick Rathmann (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) in the seventh. Jeremy Nelson (Fr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) took the loss for the Auggies, pitching five innings. Isaac Schmidt (Fr., Luverne, Minn.) pitched two innings of relief.

Augsburg held a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning, but St. John's scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull away for the win. A two-run triple by Riegelman was the key hit of the frame.

A solo home run by Collin Nash (So., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) put the Auggies in front in the first, and a two-run double by Ryan Krautkremer (Sr., Waseca, Minn.), plating Nash and John Peterson (So., Cumberland, Wis.), gave the Auggies the lead in the third. Peterson's run-scoring single in the fourth, bringing home Joe Holman (Jr., Springfield, Minn.), was the final run for the Auggies. Peterson had two hits in the game to lead Augsburg.

Rathmann started and allowed seven earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. Matt Topp (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.) pitched in relief.

Both teams were scheduled to return to conference action on Sunday (4/21), but both doubleheaders have been postponed to Monday (4/22) at 2:30 p.m. because of snow on Sunday. Augsburg is hosting Concordia-Moorhead, while St. John's plays at Carleton.