Baseball 4/13/05 -- Augsburg 7-4, Hamline 11-3

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (4/13/05) -- Dan Ryks (Sr., Renville, Minn./Renville County West HS) hit a solo home run and drove in two runs for Hamline University in the first game, and Darren Ginther (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) went 2-for-4 and drove in the eventual game-winning run for Augsburg College in the bottom of the sixth inning of the second game, as the teams split a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at Parade Stadium.

Hamline won the first game 11-7, while Augsburg claimed the second game 4-3. Augsburg is now 12-10 overall, 4-4 in MIAC play, having split each of its four conference doubleheaders so far. Hamline is now 8-15 overall, 1-7 in MIAC play.

Ginther's single through the left side of the infield with two outs in the sixth inning drove home Brian Bambenek (So., St. Charles, Minn.) with the go-ahead run in the second game, giving the Auggies the 4-3 lead and preserving the win for pitcher Jeremy Nelson (Sr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS), who improved to 3-2 on the season with a six-inning, three-strikeout, six-hit effort.

Augsburg's workhorse reliever, Tyler Kraft (So., Savage, Minn./Burnsville, Minn.), came in to pick up his third save of the season with a scoreless seventh inning. Kraft also pitched briefly in the first game, marking the third time he has appeared in both games of an Augsburg doubleheader. Kraft has now pitched in 13 of Augsburg's 22 games this season, including the last four games in a row.

Hamline took an early lead in the second game, as Andrew Bennett (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./St. Paul Academy HS) led off the game with a double to the right-field corner and scored on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Thompson (So., Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) in the first inning.

Augsburg took the lead with runs in the second and third innings, as Troy Deden (Jr., Northfield, Minn.) scored on a wild pitch and Matt Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) hit a run-scoring single to drive home Bambenek.

Hamline tied the game in the fourth, as Brian Kingery (Jr., Atwater, Minn./ACGC HS) singled to drive in a run. Augsburg took the lead back on a Tim Wahl (So., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) sacrifice fly to drive home Johnson in the fifth inning, but Hamline tied the game again in its half of the sixth inning, on back-to-back doubles by Thompson and Owen Waller (Jr., Maplewood, Minn./Tartan HS).

Anders Kronberg (Jr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) started the second game for Hamline and pitched 2.1 innings, striking out three. Reliever Aron Helm (Sr., North Branch, Minn.) took the loss, striking out four in 3.2 innings of work.

Ginther went 2-for-4 for the Auggies in the second game, while Josh Juntunen (Fr., Elk River, Minn.) went 2-for-3 for Hamline.

Hamline scored eight of the first nine runs scored in the first game and never trailed, though Augsburg rallied to cut the lead late in the contest.

Run-scoring singles by Waller and Bennett in the first and second innings gave the Pipers the early lead in the opener, and the Pipers added three more runs in the third on a double by Ryks, single by Josh Juntenen and an unearned run after a Jason Juntenen (So., Elk River, Minn.) fly ball was dropped in the outfield for an error.

Hamline took advantage of five Augsburg errors, as five of the 11 runs charged to Augsburg pitchers were unearned.

After Augsburg scored in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded infield grounder by Taylor Pagel (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.), the Pipers scored three more runs in the fifth to take a commanding lead. Ryks led off the inning with his fourth home run of the season, a solo blast down the left-field line. Kronberg hit a pinch-hit single to drive in a run, and Bennett followed with a run-scoring single.

Augsburg scored four runs in its half of the sixth inning to cut the advantage to 8-5, as Deden plated a run on a single, Andrew Werner (Fr., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS) brought in a run on a sacrifice fly, and Bambenek brought home two runs on a single to left.

A bases-loaded walk and a two-error play brought home three runs for Hamline in the seventh inning, and Augsburg could manage just two runs in the seventh, with Johnson doubling and scoring on a single by Deden, and Ginther scoring on a wild pitch.

Brian Martin (Fr., Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins HS) started and pitched five innings for the Pipers to pick up the win, striking out three while walking two. Andy Gagnon (Sr., Waverly, Minn./HLWW HS) pitched two innings of relief.

Ginther started for Augsburg and lasted just 2.1 innings to take the loss, with Josh Remme (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) pitching 4.1 innings of relief. Adam Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and Kraft also pitched for the Auggies late.

Augsburg has a rescheduled nonconference doubleheader on Thursday (4/14) at 2 p.m. at Viterbo (Wis.), and returns to MIAC play with a doubleheader at Gustavus on Saturday (4/16) at 1 p.m. Hamline also returns to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. with an MIAC doubleheader, hosting St. Mary's at Midway Stadium in St. Paul.