Despite closing the series with a 15-7 loss to North Central College, the Augustana Vikings snagged the first two games and claimed a series win against the Cardinals. They now sit at 6-4 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play, good enough for sole possession of third place with a handful of series remaining, preparing themselves for a return to contention.

After a blazing 13-4 start to the season, one that not only saw them travel to Florida twice and dominate their competition with a 7-1 record, but also included Head Coach Greg Wallace recording his 800th win with Augustana, the Vikings had to quickly shift their focus after they opened up conference play with two tough losses against Wheaton College. 

When looking at their respective records, many would have likely predicted a Vikings series win, if not a sweep of the Thunder. However, baseball is as unpredictable a sport as there can be, and, as sophomore outfielder Ryan Coon said, it can be any team’s day, but that’s no excuse for a team with lofty goals.

“It’s a tough conference to play in, and any team can win on any given day,” Coon said. “We definitely care a lot about those early non-conference games because those are our tests to see where we’re at, what we need to do to improve and the things that we need to do to get us to where we want to be at the end of the season. We want to be conference champions, we want to make it to the national tournament.”

After dropping their first two conference games of the year, the Vikings would explode with an 11-inning, 18-17 walkoff win in game three against the Thunder. The Vikings then carried their momentum into a three-game series sweep of Elmhurst University, outscoring the Bluejays 37 runs to 10, before dropping a winnable matchup against No. 22 Millikin University Big Blue, 11-7.

For the Vikings, besting the Big Blue is a tough task, but one of the many challenges the CCIW provides that they’ll have to overcome if they have plans of carrying the 2026 season deep into the postseason. Senior starting pitcher Chance Carruthers noted just how deep the conference runs, and just how important it is to see competition early.

“[Early season games] are there to get us ready for the CCIW,” Carruthers said. “I can think back to a game that we lost where our coach said, ‘If you do that in the CCIW, we’re probably going to lose by ten runs …’ You can see it in [their loss against Millikin], we gave up four runs in the top of the eighth when we were up by two. The coaches don’t say it for no reason; it’s definitely a competitive conference.”

Even with that loss, the Vikings were able to turn it around and take two of three against the North Central Cardinals, thanks in large part to a game one gem from senior starting pitcher Blake Nettleton, who tossed 8.1 shutout innings and recorded 15 strikeouts in a 9-0 win. That performance netted him CCIW Co-Pitcher of the Week, Augustana’s fifth CCIW Student-Athlete of the Week recognition of the season. 

As the season races on, the pressure continues to grow for the Vikings, especially following a disappointing 2025 season where they went 20-19 and missed the CCIW tournament on the final day of the regular season. 

Despite the potential distraction that expectations can provide, Carruthers says his confidence doesn’t allow him to be bothered by what happens outside of the painted lines

“I’ve never been one to listen to the noise, that’s why I play baseball,” Carruthers said. “I think stepping onto that field expunges the noise. I know what we have, I know the work we put in. That’s something we tell our pitchers all the time. ‘If you don’t believe in yourself, believe in the work you put in during the fall. If you don’t believe in the work you put in, then you didn’t put in enough work.’ We’ve always preached confidence and conviction. I think it’s a completely different mindset than last year.”

In the middle of a season already filled with accolades and milestones, Augustana will look to close out CCIW play strong and eventually turn their focus back on something they’ve grown quite accustomed to: the playoffs.