Senior pitcher
kristen schmidt brought the heat in her last two career home games for the golden bears as she posted back-to-back complete game victories, her 18th and 19th wins of the year as she improves to 19-10. Concordia university (35-15) swept minnesota state (29-25) 5-2 and 10-2 (6 inn.) on thursday evening at dunning field in st. Paul, minn.
schmidt hurled 13 innings, allowing four runs - all one home runs - while scattering 10 hits with 12 strikeouts and five walks in the doubleheader. At the plate, schmidt went 1-3 with two rbi, a run and two walks in the two victories.
junior third baseman
amanda yurek continued her torrid hitting as she went 4-6 with three runs and two rbi in the twin bill to lift her season batting average to an nsic-best .421 while smacking her 19th double of the season - also tops in the league.
the bears never trailed in the doubleheader, and grabbed their first lead in the second inning of game one, added another run in the fourth before posting a three-spot in the fifth. Schmidt wasn't scored upon until the sixth inning when she surrendered a three-run home run to msu.
in game two, the bears scored one in the second yet again before posting a three run third inning followed by two more in the fourth, giving cu a 6-0 lead. Minnesota state hit back-to-back solo home runs to leadoff the sixth inning against schmidt, but the offense responded with a four run bottom half of the inning to end the game early due to the eight run rule, 10-2.
senior left fielder
vanessa dufresne went 3-7 with three runs, an rbi and a stolen base in the series.
the other three seniors,
tracie enzler,
kelly schwietz and
nikki smith, all had productive evenings as well to close out their final home games at concordia.
enzler went 1-3 with two runs, a walk and a steal in game two; schwietz went 2-6 with three rbi and a double in the series while smith went 2-6 with a run, three rbi and a double in the two games.
the golden bears, ranked seventh in the north central region, picked up two key wins over the ninth ranked team in the region, minnesota state.
this weekend they will have more chances to pick up valuable regional wins at the minnesota state tournament as they look to solidify their bid to compete in the regional tournament.
