Baseball 4/3/04 -- Augsburg 4-0, St. Thomas 3-6

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (4/3/04) -- With a three-run rally in the sixth inning, Augsburg College broke an 11-season, 22-game losing streak to the University of St. Thomas with a 4-3 victory in the first game of a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Parade Stadium. The Tommies gained the split of the doubleheader with a 6-0 win in the second game.

Jeremy Nelson (Jr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) threw 106 pitches in six-and-a-third innings of work to pick up the first-game victory for the Auggies, striking out three while walking three and allowing seven hits.

With the split, Augsburg is now 8-10 overall and 1-1 in MIAC play. Augsburg has split six of the eight doubleheaders it has played this season, winning the first game and losing the second in each split. Entering the doubleheader ranked No. 11 in the initial American Baseball Coaches Association Division III national poll, St. Thomas is now 15-3 overall and 1-1 in MIAC play, ending a five-game winning streak.

Augsburg's last victory over St. Thomas was a 4-2 triumph in the second game of a doubleheader on April 8, 1992 at Parade Stadium. St. Thomas had swept each of the next 11 doubleheaders of the Auggies, winning by four runs or more in 20 of the 22 games in the winning streak.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning of the first game, Augsburg's Andy Nelson (So., Waseca, Minn.) led off the frame with a double to the right-center gap. Darren Ginther (So., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) singled to move Nelson to third, and St. Thomas coach Dennis Denning pulled starter Ryan Asher (So., Leawood, Kan./Blue Valley North HS) for reliever Brian Krause (Jr., Appleton, Wis./North HS). A single by Collin Nash (Sr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) brought in Nelson, and after a walk, Taylor Pagel (Jr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) reached on a fielding error, with two runs scoring.

After a single and walk, Augsburg coach Keith Bateman pulled Jeremy Nelson for reliever Tyler Kraft (Fr., Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) who earned his first collegiate save, as Augsburg caught two Tommies on stolen-base attempts in the final frame.

An RBI fielder's choice by Jordan Roering (So., North St. Paul, Minn.) brought home Josh Howard (Jr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) with a run in the second inning for St. Thomas, but Augsburg tied the game in the third on a run-scoring double by Ginther, plating Ricky Schreier (So., Maplewood, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS). St. Thomas scored in the fourth on a run-scoring double by Zach Goldberg (So., Wichita, Kan./Wichita Heights HS) and on a single by Howard in the fifth.

Ginther went 2-for-2 to lead the Auggies, who had just six hits in the first game. Howard went 2-for-4 for the Tommies, while Casey Garven (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Holy Angels HS) went 2-for-3. The Tommies stranded seven runners on base in the first game.

The second game was all St. Thomas, as the visitors scored in each of the first five innings and pounded out 11 hits off of three Auggie pitchers. Ryan Boudewyns (Sr., Cooper City, Fla.) went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in a run, while Brett Olson (Jr., St. James, Minn.) and Howard went 2-for-4 each.

Olson tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, while a groundout by Mike Kuzinar (So., Lakeville, Minn.) drove in Boudewyns in the second. A sacrifice fly by Garven and a run-scoring double by Boudewyns plated runs for the Tommies in the third. An infield single by Howard brought in a run in the fourth, and Boudewyns doubled and scored on a balk in the fifth.

Mike Ramthun (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) struck out five while allowing just two hits and three walks in five innings of work to score the win for the Tommies, with Alex Pflepson (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo HS) striking out two in two innings of relief.

Ginther started and took the loss, pitching four innings. Chris Schroeder (Fr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington HS) and Adam Johnson (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) pitched in relief for the Auggies.

Augsburg stranded 10 runners on base in the loss, but were limited to just four hits, including a double by Ginther.

Augsburg returns to action on Monday (4/5) at 3 p.m., with a nonconference single game at Minnesota-Morris. Both teams have MIAC doubleheaders next Wednesday (4/7) at 2:30 p.m., with Augsburg hosting Bethel and St. Thomas hosting Macalester.