Concordia University (1-2) failed to reach base for 10 consecutive at bats from the third through sixth innings, falling 7-4 to Mercyhurst College in a nine inning single game at Terry Park in Ft. Myers, Fla.
Game One:
Concordia led 3-2, with two runs in the first behind the strength of a two run home run by Brenden Furrow and a third run in the third inning when Chris Herbert knocked in Jake Waldman with a single to right field. Waldman had reached on a two out double down the left field line.
After Herbert's rbi single is when the Golden Bears went cold, starting with Furrow's strikeout swinging to end the inning followed by three-up, three-down innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
Meanwhile, Mercyhurst rallied for a run in bottom half of the fourth and two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 7-3 lead on CU.
In the top of the seventh, Zane Froelich led off with a single to left, ending the cold streak and starting a rally as John Maciej drove in his eighth run in three games with a double to right center.
Maciej advanced to third on a wild pitch but the bottom of the order failed to get him in and stranded him 90 feet from home.
In the top of the eighth, Joe Abellara led off with a single to right and moved up to third when Waldman socked a double to center, his second double of the day.
But Abellara was thrown out at home after a wild pitch and Herbert and Furrow each struck out to end the second straight scoring threat, leaving Concordia down three runs heading into the ninth inning, going three-up, three-down to end the game.
Chris Kimpton took the loss for the Golden Bears, pitching into the fifth inning before being chased from the hill. He ended up going 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out two without issuing any walks.
Aaron Pfalzgraff relieved Kimpton and pitched 2.1 innings of long relief, allowing two runs on four hits with one strikeout before giving way to Ted Farni, who pitched the bottom of the eighth and working his way out of a bases loaded jam.
Waldman had the only multi-hit game for CU, both of his being doubles in a 2-4 performance with a run scored. The first six batters in the lineup all had hits while the bottom of the order combined to go 0-10 with five strikeouts.
Joe Luli led Mercyhurst with a 3-4 performance with Steve Grife earning the win, pitching seven innings allowing four runs with eight strikeouts. John Morris worked a perfect ninth for the save, recording one strikeout.
The Golden Bears have Monday off before scrimmaging the Minnesota Twins in an exhibition game at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
They return to the diamond looking to get back to .500 on Wednesday, Feb. 27 when they face Wheeling Jesuit for a doubleheader at 10 a.m. and face them again on Thursday for another doubleheader at 10 a.m. before closing out their spring trip in a nine inning match-up against Stonehill at 4 p.m. on friday, Feb. 29.
