Augustana Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. - Zach Hofer smacked a three-run homer and Ryan Schrader added a two-run blast to propel the Elmhurst College baseball team to a 6-4 win over Augustana College.

Elmhurst (10-11, 2-7 CCIW) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Hofer. After Brett Lilley and Mike Kerr drew back-to-back walks, Hofer launched a three-run homer to put Elmhurst up 3-0.

The Bluejays made it 4-0 in the third inning when Kerr scored on a Dan Matkovic sacrifice fly.

Augustana (18-7, 5-4 CCIW) cut into the Bluejays' lead in the fourth inning when T.J. O'Donnell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run.

Elmhurst padded its lead in the bottom of the fourth. After Patrick O'Connor was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Schrader smashed a two-run homer to give Elmhurst a 6-1 lead.

The Vikings chipped the Bluejays' lead down to just two after scoring three runs in the top of the fifth. Eric Izzo, Myles Kurnick, and Joe Moran all drove in a run with base hits in the fifth.

Augustana had scoring changes for the rest of the game, but the Vikings stranded six runners over the final four innings of play. In the ninth inning, the Vikings had runners at second and third with no one out, but Cyrus Rogers fanned the next two batters and then induced Moran to fly out to right to end the game.

Dan Napientek (1-1) earned the win for Elmhurst. He scattered eight hits and four runs over five innings of work. Rogers pitched three scoreless innings of relief to notch the save.

Elmhurst hosts North Central College in a doubleheader on Friday, April 10.