The Millikin baseball team travelled to Augustana and dropped the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Opener on March 27, 11-10.

Millikin jumped out to a 3-1 lead by manufacturing a run in the top of the second inning after Jon Walters doubled to lead off and ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Frank Bryan. After Augustana tied the game in the second, Millikin responded with two more in the top of the fourth inning on a Kyle Kane two-RBI single.

Millikin struggled in the middle of the game to limit the damage in some big Augustana innings, during which the Vikings scored six and four runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectfully. Six Vikings hits coupled with two Big Blue errors in the fourth inning opened the door for the six run inning. In the bottom of thefourth, Millikin responded with a run on a Mason Bruce single that scored Brent Beals, but Millikin stranded two runners in the inning, part of their nine total runners left on the bases on the day.

Augustana took advantage of three walks and two wild pitches and added three hits to score four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Millikin battled the rest of the game after falling behind 11-4, scoring six unanswered in the remaining innings. The Big Blue cut the lead to 11-7 in the top of the sixth inning on RBI singles by Anthony Bryan, Beals, and Walters. Beals was 4-5 on the day and Walters was 3-5 for the Big Blue. In the seventh inning, Frank Bryan mashed a solo homerun to lead off to make the Viking lead 11-8. Bruce added another homerun in the top of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 11-10. Bruce was 3-5 with three RBI. Millikin was unable to tie the game in the top of the ninth, but did have the tying run on base when the game finished.

Millikin falls to 5-8 on the season and 0-1 in CCIW play. Their next contest is scheduled for 5 p.m. against Wheaton at home on March 29. For updates on Millikin baseball and Millikin athletics, follow @BigBlueBaseball and @MUBigBlue on Twitter.