Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire were unable to put Augustana College away in its final at bat and the Vikings went on to win 3-2 win in 13 innings on Tuesday.
Knox scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 2-1 lead against Augie, ranked #22 in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 national poll.
Senior Michael Schroeder (Glenview, IL, Glenbrook South) led off with a walk. He's a big reason why the Prairie Fire weren't trailing going into the home half of the eighth. Schroeder, who entered the game at second base in the sixth inning, made a fantastic play on a ground ball that was hit to his right and appeared to be well out of his reach. However, Schroeder plucked the ball out of the dirt and threw the runner out – stranding a man at third for Augie.
After reaching on the walk, Schroeder stole second base and was sacrificed to third by junior Jackson White (Grayslake, IL, Grayslake Central), who laid down a perfect bunt. Following an intentional pass to senior Caleb Weaver (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) to set up a potential force out opportunity, junior Erik Smoy (Hoffman Estates, IL, Hoffman Estates) hit into a fielder's choice that scored Schroeder for the one run Knox lead. Smoy stole second base but he was thrown out trying to swipe third to end the inning.
The Prairie Fire used their sixth pitcher of the game in the top of the ninth. Sophomore Nathaniel Grady (Antelope, CA, Oakmont), an all-conference starting pitcher, took the mound for his first relief appearance of the season.
The first hitter for the Vikings raced around to second base when Knox committed an error on a ground ball. A wild pitch moved the runner to third with nobody out. An unassisted out to first base on a grounder scored the run that tied the game at 2-2 with one out and a runner on third. Grady escaped the jam by getting the next two batters to ground out. Augie scored the tying run without a hit as Knox had two of its six errors in the inning and two of the pitching staff's six wild pitches.
Senior Matt Lee (Fullerton, CA, Servite) singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning but he was doubled up at first base on a hard hit line drive to second base by senior Kyle Walenga (San Francisco, CA, Waldorf).
The Prairie Fire (12-8) managed just one hit between the 10th and 13th innings against Augustana relievers Brandon Bollman and Rick Erickson (3-0), who earned the win. The two combined to pitch 5 2/3 shutout innings and allow just two hits, two walks, and strike out eight.
The Vikings (21-5) scored what turned to be the game-winning run in the top of the 13th off of Lee, the eighth Knox pitcher of the game who made his first appearance of the season and threw a solid four innings.
Kurt Schmidt led off with a single and stole second base. Lee struck out the next batter for the first out. Schmidt stole third and then came around to score when first-year catcher Blake Newberg (Moline, IL, Rock Island Alleman) threw the ball away trying to catch Schmidt at third base.
A second Augustana player singled in the inning and advanced to third base on an error and a wild pitch. Lee and the Prairie Fire stranded the runner on a strike out and a ground ball back to the pitcher to get out of the inning without any more damage.
Knox went down in order in the home half of the 13th inning.
The Prairie Fire got off to a good start with a run in the first inning. White singled with one out, Weaver doubled for the only extra-base hit of the game, and Smoy scored White on an RBI groundout.
Augie tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the sixth off junior Bryan Leslie (Richmond, IL, Richmond-Burton). Schmidt drove in Jacob Van Duyne, who singled with one out. Van Duyne stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch before crossing home plate on Schmidt's single.
The Vikings stole six bases in the game while Knox had two.
Lee (0-1) suffered the loss on the mound for Knox. He surrendered an unearned run, four hits, one walk and struck out three batters.
Augie outhit the Prairie Fire 7-6. Smoy was 2-for-5 with two runs batted in and a stolen base. Lee went 2-for-4 at the plate with a walk.