Baseball 3/27/04 -- Augsburg 7-3, Northwestern-Roseville 0-4

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (3/27/04) -- Jeremy Nelson (Jr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) threw a one-hit shutout for Augsburg College in the first game, but the Auggies could not overcome an early 4-0 deficit in the second game, in splitting a baseball doubleheader with Northwestern College-Roseville on Saturday at Reynolds Field.

Augsburg won the first game 7-0 and lost the second 4-3 to improve to 7-9 on the season. Augsburg has split five of the seven doubleheaders it has played this season, winning the first game and losing the second in each. Northwestern-Roseville is now 9-3 on the year.

Nelson threw just 70 pitches in his complete-game effort in the first game, only allowing one hit -- a sixth-inning single by Davy Nitsch (Sr., Becker, Minn.) -- and allowed just two baserunners, the other reaching on an error in the sixth inning. Nelson did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Meanwhile, Augsburg used a five-run sixth inning, sending eight batters to the plate, to bust the game open. RBI singles by Troy Deden (So., Northfield, Minn.), Taylor Pagel (Jr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) and Jon Kozitza (Jr., North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS), and a run-scoring double by Pat Knafla (Sr., Rice, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS), did the damage for the Auggies.

Deden drove in three runs for the Auggies, going 3-for-4 at the plate. He also had RBI singles in the first and seventh innings. Darren Ginther (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) went 2-for-3, scoring a run.

Gabe Eikum (So., Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) took the pitching loss in the first game for the Eagles, striking out six in four innings of work.

Northwestern built a four-run lead after three innings, as fielder's choices by Jeremy Meyer (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Jon Day (Sr., Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) brought in runs in the second inning, and run-scoring doubles by Matt Rippentrop (Jr., Hector, Minn./Buffalo Lake-Hector HS) and Jesse Eikum (Sr., Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) gave the Eagles a 4-0 lead in the third frame.

Augsburg rallied in the next two innings, as Ginther singled and scored on a groundout by Kozitza in the fourth, while Ricky Schreier (So., Maplewood, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) hit a run-scoring single and Ginther drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

But the Auggies stranded two runners on base in the sixth and grounded into a game-ending double play in the seventh, as the visitors stranded six runners on base in the second game.

Gabe Goedeke (So., Anoka, Minn.) pitched a complete-game victory for the Eagles, allowing seven hits. Ginther pitched a complete game for the Auggies, allowing six hits while striking out one and not walking a batter. Knafla and Ari Keating (Fr., Robbinsdale, Minn./De La Salle HS) had two hits each for the Auggies.

Augsburg opens Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next Saturday (4/3), hosting traditional power St. Thomas in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis. Northwestern-Roseville hosts North Central (Minn.) on Monday (3/29) at 2 p.m.