Following a 3-0 start to the season that saw them score 40 runs over the three contests, the Augustana baseball team has started to cool off, going 1-3 in the subsequent four games, now sitting at an overall record of 4-3.
The offense has certainly been the strong point for the Vikings. Following the series against Luther College, they currently rank in the top 50 in Division III for runs (59, ranked 41st) and runs per game (9.8, ranked 49th).
The offense doesn’t stop there, as Augustana also ranked 8th nationally in slugging percentage (.623), putting them atop the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) in each of those categories and placing them second in batting average (.361).
Seeing that, in the 2025 season, Augustana ranked eighth in slugging, fourth in total runs and seventh in batting average in the CCIW, this scoring outburst has been a welcome change, and one that sophomore catcher Ryan Theile says comes from their newfound youth.
“Last year, we were returning everyone in the lineup,” Theile said. “They won the conference championship, won again and then got second place, so we thought we would just play the same guys. But going into that first week, that wasn’t the case; our four best hitters were all underclassmen, the top three being freshmen. If you look at the lineup we have this year, it’s a lot of freshmen.”
One of those First-Years, infielder AJ Macak, came into the 2026 season joining his fellow Vikings on 64Analytics’ “Top 10 D3 Baseball Hitters” ranking, slotting in at the three-spot, one behind sophomore outfielder Kaileb Hackman and two ahead of sophomore outfielder Ryan Coon.
Those rankings have been backed by the production of those three, each of which has had incredible seasons so far, heavily contributing to the offensive output, with each of them rocking an on-base plus slugging (OPS) above 1.000.
While those paying attention to the Vikings agree that the offense has been the driving factor in their success, they can also agree that what currently holds them back from seriously battling with a highly competitive CCIW lies on the other side of the ball: defense. That sentiment is echoed by the team, including 2025 All-CCIW infielder, junior Charlie Bergin, as he says that’s what they’re looking to upgrade, especially with the underclassmen.
“The biggest thing we can improve on is defense,” Bergin said. “Right now, our hitting is going great. I know we’re in the top 25 in a couple of categories in the country, so we’ll need to keep that up, but defense wins championships. We have young players, and they’re going to make mistakes, same with the older guys, but if we can become one of the better defensive teams in the country, then we’ll look to win a lot of games.”
While the defense has been a struggle early for the Vikings, their pitching has been just as solid as it was last year, with both iterations of the Vikings sitting in second in the conference in earned run average (ERA) and ranking second this season in batting average against, only trailing Millikin in both categories this season.
Even with the ups of the offense and pitching staff, as well as the defensive woes that need correcting, First-Year pitcher Sebastian Reyes knows that he and teammates need to continue to hold each other accountable, on and off the field.
“Everyone’s holding themselves accountable, and it’s great to see that,” Reyes said. “If I go to the gym right now, I’ll see two or three baseball guys there as well, and that just shows me that they’re serious about the season just as much as I am. They want to not only better themselves, but play a role on this team.”
One of the main factors in retaining that success has been the breakout season of senior starting pitcher Blake Nettleton. In eight more innings pitched this season, he has dropped his ERA by over 11 runs (2.08), and his opponents’ batting average has dipped by .200 points (.133), all to the tune of a 1-0 record to kick off his final year at Augie.
Heading into this season, Nettleton saw his biggest improvement be his trust in himself and his teammates’ shared trust in each other, and that trust pushed him to go out against Westminster College and throw four no-hit innings en route to a 12-1 victory.
“I just have a lot more confidence in myself,” Nettleton said. “I know a lot of the freshmen guys, they have confidence in me … I’ve also been saying to all the hitters that if I only have to go throw four innings and we win by ten every time, I’ll take that all year. That’s what a lot of the pitchers are feeling right now. If we just keep playing like this, it should be a great year.”
The Vikings will next look to travel down to Florida the weekend of March 7 to take on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and Hiram College for the Gene Cusic Classic before hosting the Augustana Invitational the following weekend.
