ROCK ISLAND, Ill.- After cruising to a win earlier this week against Wheaton College, the Rockford University baseball team went back on the road Saturday afternoon to face the Augustana College Vikings. Augustana came in with a 11-3 record and received 28 votes in the most recent Division III baseball rankings. The Regents struggled in both games, dropping the first game 15-1 and the second game 12-3, to fall to 7-6 on the season.

Game one saw Rockford get out to an early lead in the top of the second inning thanks to some miscues by Augustana's defense. Bobby Barrera (Waukegan, Ill.) started the inning by reaching base on catcher's interference. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on another Viking error a couple of batters later. That would be all the scoring for game one for Rockford. Augustana tied the game up in the bottom of the second inning and scored two more runs in the bottom of the third. A ten run fourth inning sealed the game for the Vikings.

Game two did not have a much better result for the Regents. Augustana scored in the bottom of the first inning and added two runs in the third inning. The Vikings then blew the game open with five runs in the fourth inning.

The Regents scored two in the top of the sixth inning. Robert Smith (Bartlett, Ill.) walked with one out. He was followed by Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill.), who hit a two-run home run, his fifth of the year. The Regents added another run the following inning. After Rockford loaded the bases with one out, Smith walked to force in a run. Taggart Venegas (Spring Valley, Ill.) and Bill Fell (Lake Villa, Ill.) combined to throw four shutout innings in relief in game two. 

Rockford has a non-conference game on Wednesday March 25 at 3:00 p.m. at Illinois Tech. Conference play then opens up on Saturday March 28 with a doubleheader against Dominican starting at noon.