Concordia University (12-5, 1-1 NSIC) opened up Northern Sun competition on the road at Winona State (14-7, 5-1 NSIC) with a split in a pair of hard fought contests that each went extra innings. The Bears won the first game, 5-4 before falling 4-3 in game two.
Catcher
Bobby Meier (left)went 3-4 and drove in three runs and right fielder
Tony Boxwell went 1-3 with two rbi to lead the Golden Bears past the Warriors. Center fielder
Alex Kubal (right) led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to right center advanced to third after back-to-back walks by
Galen Wetzell and
Erik Quarberg. Kubal scored the game winning run on Meier's sacrifice fly.
The Warriors led 2-0 after four innings but the bats came alive in the fifth for Concordia as they rallied for a four run inning sparked by Meier and Boxwell who each had two run singles.
Senior
Geoff Bray (left) started on the hill and worked 6.2 innings allowing four runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts. Freshman
Kirk Ingram (right) relieved Bray and worked 1.1 innings allowing just one hit while striking out one to pick up the win. Ingram improves to 2-0 on the season.
The second game started much like the first as the Warriors grabbed a 3-0 through five innings. But three-straight extra base hits in the sixth inning, including a pair of home runs, brought the Bears back in the game with a 3-3 tie.
Left fielder
Chris Duda (left) led off the inning with a solo blast, his third of the season. Wetzell followed with a double to center and came in to score when Quarberg (right) belted a two run shot, his second of the year. The trio at the top of the order all had two hit performances and accounted for six of the team's eight hits.
The rally for Concordia pushed the game into extra innings, with WSU scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. The Warrior bullpen was lights out as the Bears managed just one hit and one walk in 3.2 innings against the WSU reliever.
Sophomore
Eric Utoft went the distance for Concordia, hurling nine innings while surrendering four runs. He struck out four and walked just one.
The Bears and Warriors take the field again tomorrow afternoon in Winona.