Wayne State dropped a twinbill to 24th-ranked Augustana Sunday afternoon at the Chapman Complex in a cold and windy affair, losing 13-2 and 10-1.
Augustana drew first blood in the opener, cranking six runs and seven hits in the opening inning off the arm of Hunter Wienhoff. The Vikings capitalized on Wildcat errors, with all six runs being unearned.
The Vikings continued their offensive production in the second, putting the Wildcats in an early 8-0 hole after two innings. After the leadoff hitter reached on base from a Wildcat error, Will Olson doubled and later scored to extend the Augustana advantage.
Wayne State responded in the bottom of the third after seniors Garrett Graveline and and Jake Lorenzini reached on base to lead off for Wayne State. Graveline came home on an Alex Logelin sacrifice fly to right to put the Wildcats on the scoreboard, and they added another run in the sixth when Lorenzini scored Payton Barnes on an RBI single.
Lorenzini and Miller provided the Wildcats with offense, each grabbing two hits. Lorenzini and Logelin recorded the two RBI for the Wildcats. Wienhoff was credited with the loss.
Wayne State tied the second game at 1-1 in the second on a leadoff solo homer by Andrew Hanson, but the Vikings responded with a run in the third to take the lead for good, then exploded in the sixth for four runs on six hits — four of them bunt singles — to extend their lead to 6-1 and they went on to post the nine-run win.
Cade Herrmann suffered the pitching loss with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched, giving up five hits and four runs. The Wildcats recorded eight hits, highlighted by a solo shot from Hanson in the second inning. Kyle Thompson went 2-for-4 in the contest with a double.
Wayne State (31-15, 22-11 NSIC) wraps up the regular season in a midweek doubleheader at Upper Iowa on Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m.
