CARY, N.C. – Augustana University senior Tyler Mitzel tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out 10, in leading the fifth-seeded Vikings to a 5-2 victory over No. 4 seed Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday in the opening game of the 2018 Division II Baseball Championship.

The championship is being held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex, and is being co-hosted by the Town of Cary and the University of Mount Olive.

Mitzel, a Sioux Falls, S.D., resident, needed just 95 pitches to guide his home-state team to a victory in the school’s first championship appearance.

After surrendering a two-run homer to Southern New Hampshire’s Kyle Pangallo in the second inning, Mitzel retired 17 straight Penmen batters before Pangallo doubled with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

That streak was made more impressive by the fact the game was halted by rain for an hour and 43 minutes in the fifth inning, but Mitzel (11-0) returned to the mound and retired SNHU in order on just nine pitches after the delay.

Augustana (49-9) took advantage of three fielding errors by the Penmen in the first inning, two on the very first play of the game, to grab an early 2-0 advantage.

The Vikings tacked on another run in the second inning off SNHU starter Jake Walkinshaw (6-1) on singles by Lucas Barry, JT Mix and Riley Johnson, increasing their lead to 3-0.

Southern New Hampshire (39-16) cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the second when Sam Henrie drew a one-out walk – the only one issued in the game by Mitzel – and Pangallo followed two batters later with a 388-foot blast over the fence in left-center.

The Vikings put a pair of runners on base to begin the third off Southern New Hampshire reliever Wesley Tobin, but Tobin retired the next three batters in order to keep the Penmen within one.

Like Mitzel, Tobin returned to the mound after the long rain delay, but Barry and Mix sandwiched singles around a hit batsman to load the bases, and Johnson delivered a two-run double down the right-field line to give Augustana a 5-2 lead.

From there, the Vikings rode the arm to Mitzel to the win, which advances Augustana into a Monday night winner’s bracket game.

Southern New Hampshire drops into the loser’s bracket, and will play on Monday afternoon.

QUOTES

Augustana

Head coach Tim Huber

“I didn’t know what we would do after that hour and a half rain delay. Tyler said he was feeling good so we let him go. I think he pitched better after the rain delay than he did before it. He had a great game for us.”

“We talked about it during the delay. It was a 50/50 decision. You just don’t ever do that as a starting pitcher. Relief guys do it all the time, but he’s never done that for us. You don’t know what you’re going to get, but he had only thrown 45 pitches. It was one of those scenarios where if he didn’t look good, we would have gotten him out of there fast.”

Starting pitcher Tyler Mitzel

“We were able to carry over the same mentality that we had before the delay. We had the momentum. We had the lead.”

“The change-up has sort of always been my pitch. My breaking ball is not the best, but if I don’t have my fastball, the change-up is something I can always go to. I can throw it in any count. If I get ahead, it can be a putout pitch. That helped me a lot today. I felt like I could locate it with two strikes. I had some confidence.”

Southern New Hampshire

Head coach Scott Loiseau

“Their pitcher did a very good job. He really mixed his pitches. We didn’t really start the game the way we wanted to, coming out and making three errors, letting them get two runs in the first inning. That’s not the way you want to begin the tournament.”

“By the end of the second inning, it was 3-2 game (so we were still in it). But we just didn’t perform well enough. Their kid did a really good job.”

“I still felt good about getting out of the sixth giving up just two runs after having the bases loaded and one out. But we just didn’t make any adjustments in the (batter’s) box today.”

Shortstop Kyle Pangallo

“I wasn’t trying to hit it out. I was just looking to make good contact and I hit it hard. It was amazing. I definitely wasn’t thinking about hitting a homer.”

“He was a good pitcher, but kind of used the same pattern. I got into some hitter’s counts and took advantage of them.”