Baseball 3/11/06 -- Augsburg 6, Loras (Iowa) 0; 2nd game 3-3 tie (9 inn.) 

GAME 1 BOXSCORE 
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


MINNEAPOLIS (3/11/06) -- Andrew Werner (So., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS) went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, leading Augsburg College to a 6-0 victory over Loras College (Iowa) in a nonconference baseball game late Saturday night at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

The 6-0 Augsburg victory came in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader. The second game was not completed due to time constraints at the Metrodome. Augsburg was leading 4-3 after the top of the 10th inning when the game was called at 2:30 a.m. An NCAA ruling later declared the game a "tie" after nine innings, tied 3-3.

Augsburg is now 4-1-1 on the season, while Loras drops to 5-8-1.

Augsburg pounded out 13 hits in the first contest, with eight of the 10 batters seeing action in the game recording at least one hit. Eric Dunivent (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.), Mark Bauer (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) and Brian Bambenek (Jr., St. Charles, Minn.) had two hits apiece.

The Auggies opened the scoring in the second inning, when Werner singled and scored on a wild pitch. The Auggies scored twice in the fourth inning, as Werner led off the frame with a double to right field and came across on a single by Ricky Schreier (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS), and Bambenek singled and scored on a delayed double-steal attempt.

Three more runs came across in the fifth inning, as Nate Jackson (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) hit a ground-rule double and scored on a single by Jeff Stomberg (So., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS), a Werner single plated Stomberg, and a bases-loaded walk drove in another run.

Augsburg starting pitcher Darren Ginther (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) struck out two and allowed six hits and a walk in six innings of work to pick up the win, with Adam Johnson (Sr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) pitching an inning of scoreless relief. Augsburg picked up its second straight shutout and extended its streak of opponent scoreless innings to 17.

Loras starter Dan Cutler (So., Davenport, Iowa/Assumption HS) pitched 4.1 innings, striking out two, with Tim Carty (So., Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead HS) pitching in relief. Dustin Roth (Sr., Burlington, Iowa) and Patrick Reilly (Jr., Iowa City, Iowa) had two hits apiece for the Duhawks.

In the second game, Augsburg took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning, but Loras scored twice in the sixth, on a two-out, two-run triple by Kris Thomas (Jr., Lockpirt, Ill./Providence Catholic HS), to tie the game and force extra innings. The game remained tied until the top of the 10th, when a double by Troy Deden (Sr., Northfield, Minn.) and a sacrifice fly by Jackson drove in Augsburg's Ginther with the go-ahead run.

However, the game was called after Augsburg completed its top half of the 10th inning, as the game reached the four-and-a-half-hour time limit for doubleheaders at the Metrodome at 2:30 a.m. The statistics revert to the last completed inning, the ninth, when the game was tied 3-3.

Augsburg's Werner struck out 10 in seven innings of pitching for the Auggies, with Tyler Kraft (Jr., Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) striking out one in two innings of relief. Matt Barilla (So., Aurora, Ill/Marmion Academy HS) struck out three in 5.1 innings of work for the Duhawks, with RJ Pitlock (Fr., Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South HS) pitching 4.2 innings of relief.

Augsburg had 12 hits in the game, with Ginther going 3-for-5 with a double, and Schreier, Deden, Jackson and Mike Zaun (So., Mendota Heights, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) collecting two hits apiece. Thomas went 2-for-4 for the Duhawks, driving in all three Loras runs in the second game.

Augsburg will be back in action with 10 games during Spring Break week at the Greater Phoenix Invitational in Mesa and Chandler, Ariz. The Auggies' first doubleheader in Arizona will be on Sunday, March 19, facing Allegheny (Pa.) at 12:30 p.m. Loras returns to action on Friday, March 24, hosting Wheaton (Ill.) in a doubleheader at 1 p.m.