Baseball 4/26/03 -- Hamline 4-14, Augsburg 3-4

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


MINNEAPOLIS (4/26/03) -- Dan Ryks (So., Renville, Minn./Renville County West HS) hit a grand-slam home run and a three-run homer to drive in seven runs in the second game, and Andy Seliga (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) hit a solo home run in the first game, leading Hamline University to a sweep of host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Parade Stadium.

Hamline won the games 4-3 and 14-4 to improve to 17-14 overall, 8-6 in MIAC play. Augsburg drops to 9-20-2 overall and 4-12 in MIAC play, having dropped its last seven games in a row and 10 of its last 12.

Hamline pounded out 26 hits in the doubleheader -- seven in the first game and 19 in the second.

Ryks provided half of Hamline's offense in the second game with two swings of the bat -- a grand slam in the second inning and a three-run shot in the fourth inning, both to left field.

Meanwhile, teammates Nate Dammann (Jr., Maynard, Minn./MACCRAY HS), Owen Waller (Fr., Maplewood, Minn./Tartan HS) and Tyler Schultz (Fr., Rollingstone, Minn./Lewiston-Altura HS) had run-scoring doubles for the Pipers. Dammann, Ryks and Waller went 2-for-4, along with Geoff Henderson (Sr., St. Francis, Minn.), who drove in two runs.

Jason Grussendorf (Sr., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) went 4-for-4, scoring twice and driving in a run. Andy Gagnon (So., Waverly, Minn./Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted HS) scored three runs.

Rab Wagener (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) struck out three and allowed three runs in six innings of work to pick up the second-game victory for Hamline.

Augsburg scored single runs in each of the final four innings, as a run came in on an error in the fourth, Tyler Suter (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) drove in a run on a single in the fifth, Pat Knafla (Jr., Rice, Minn./Sauk Rapids Rice HS) brought a run home on a single in the sixth and Collin Nash (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) plated a run on a single in the seventh.

After Seliga's solo homer in the second inning of the first game, the Pipers clinched the victory with a three-run fourth frame. Grussendorf doubled and later scored on a fielding error, and Henderson tripled home another run. Waller singled to drive in the third run of the inning.

Augsburg cut the lead in the bottom of the fourth, as a sacrifice fly by Taylor Pagel (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.) plated a run after a double by Knafla.

In the seventh, Augsburg had its best chance to win, scoring two runs on a single by Pat Marsh (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and a single by M.J. Iverson (Sr., New Germany, Minn./Norwood-Young America Central HS). Augsburg had the potential tying run on third and the potential winning run on second with one out, but after a strikeout and close groundout ended the game.

Anders Kronberg (Fr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) pitched 6.1 innings to gain the win, striking out four. Isaac Tyroler (So., Milwaukee, Wis./Shorewood HS) gained the save, getting the final two outs.

Seliga went 2-for-3 for the Pipers, while Henderson went 2-for-4. Augsburg was paced by Marsh and Iverson, who each went 2-for-4, and Jon Kozitza (Jr., North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS), who went 2-for-3.

Both teams return to MIAC action on Sunday (4/27) at 1 p.m., with Augsburg playing at St. Olaf and Hamline hosting Macalester at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, Minn.