MOLINE, Ill. – With their backs to the wall in the final innings of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Baseball Tournament championship game, the Augustana Vikings came through in the form of a 6-5 walk-off win in 10 innings over Illinois Wesleyan, Saturday night at Swanson Stadium in Moline, Ill.
 
The decision gave Augustana back-to-back CCIW Tournament titles for the first time in program history. It also halted an historic run from Illinois Wesleyan – the Titans won four consecutive elimination games for the first time since Elmhurst in 1997.
 
Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Augie’s Matt Ozanic tripled to start the frame and scored two batters later on Dymitri Kanellakis’s sacrifice fly for a 5-5 tie. 
 
After AC reliever Addison Southwick worked a perfect top of the 10th, Ozanic played the role of hero again when his ground-ball single through the right side of the infield plated Zachary Vrbanic with the winning run. The Vikings were forced to rally three separate times in the game. 
 
Southwick was the winning pitcher. He didn’t allow a baserunner over the final 2.0 innings. Thomas Bleker had a game-high three hits for the Titans.
 
Earlier Saturday in the 10th game of the tournament, Illinois Wesleyan beat Augie 3-1 to force the winner-take-all nightcap. 
 
IWU scored twice in the first inning on run-scoring hits from Jacob Cyrus and Ethan Burgh and never trailed. Jimmy Gurgone tacked on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.
 
Five Illinois Wesleyan pitchers combined to limit the CCIW’s highest-scoring offense to just one run. Lukas Wenz was the winning pitcher and Luke Costello slammed the door in the ninth to notch his third save of the tournament.
 
Before the start of the first game, IWU’s Evan Huston was honored as the CCIW Elite 26 recipient in baseball, awarded to the student-athlete with the highest grade-point average from the first or second place team in the conference tournament.