concordia university (15-9, 9-5 nsic) split with southwest minnesota state (16-10, 6-4 nsic) in a key northern sun series played at the metrodome in minneapolis, minn. On monday. The golden bears fell in a back and forth 5-4 first game before a 6-1 game two win behind the strong pitching of sophomore blake devries (eden prairie, minn.), who won his third straight start.
game one: smsu 5, concordia 4
for the first time in six starts, junior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) did not register a victory. Schmidt pitched to a no decision, striking out six batters in six innings to snap a string of four consecutive double-digit strikeout performances. In 89 pitches, he allowed seven hits and walked two. He still stands 5-0 on the season with a 3.29 era and 58 strikeouts in 41 innings.
the golden bears left eight runners on base to smsu's four in the loss.
of their five nsic losses on the season, all five have been by one run.
concordia gave schmidt an early lead, scoring the first run of the game in the top of the second inning. Senior first baseman john maciej (elk river, minn.) drew a one out walk and moved up to second when senior shortstop derek mason (minnetonka, minn.) poked a two out single through the right side.
with first and second and two out, junior designated hitter chris kimpton (canberra, aus.) delivered his first career hit to score maciej and put the golden bears in front.
kimpton finished the game 2-3 while knocking in a pair and he would go 1-4 in game two.
smsu manufactured the tying run in the bottom of the third, with a leadoff walk and sacrifice bunt setting up a two out rbi single through the right side.
concordia jumped back in the lead in the top of the fifth inning when maciej delivered a sacrifice fly to right field with the bases loaded and one out to score senior second baseman jake waldman (minnetonka, minn.). But waldman was the only runner to cross the plate in the inning as a strikeout retired the side with first and third.
strikeouts devasted concordia, as smsu's adam schrader fanned 10 in six innings in the no decision. Three of the six innings ended with a strikeout as schrader was responsible for stranding all eight concordia baserunners.
the mustangs would take their first lead in the bottom of the fifth as they finally were able to catch up with schmidt, who retired the side in order in the second and fourth innings, recording two strikeouts in the fourth along with a comebacker.
but in the fifth, smsu started with back-to-back hits, a single to center and an rbi double to right center to tie the game. After a strikeout, the mustangs bunted the runner to third and he scored on schmidt's wild pitch to put smsu in front, 3-2. After allowing a base hit, schmidt retired the side with his fifth strikeout.
in the sixth inning, mason led off with a triple down the right field line. Kimpton delivered an rbi single to follow, and with pinch runner ryan bailey (fr., plymouth, minn.) stealing second in kimpton's place, cu had another threat with no outs and a runner on second.
but schrader struck out the next three batters, leaving the score tied at three.
smsu reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back one out hits, a single and a triple to right center. Once again, schmidt used a strikeout to end the inning to keep concordia within one.
in the seventh, junior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.) hit solo home run on the first pitch to tie the score at four, his sixth home run of the year. But concordia was retired in order after the herbert blast.
junior left handed relief specialist kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) came in for the seventh inning and quickly retired the first batter on a groundout to third base. But the mustangs countered back-to-back hits once again, this time a single to center and a double to right to give smsu runners on second and third. A one out sacrifice fly to right field ended the game, with ingram falling to 1-1 with the loss.
mason joined kimpton with a 2-3 performance. Smsu had three doubles and a triple while concordia had the triple by mason and the home run by herbert as their extra base hits.
game two: concordia 6, smsu 1
jake waldman drilled a one out double to right center field and scored on chris herbert's sacrifice fly to center to give concordia a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Smsu countered with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning, tying the score.
but another double in the third inning, this time by senior centerfielder joe abellera (minnetonka, minn.), payed dividends when he scored on another herbert sac fly.
leading 2-1, that was all the golden bears needed to provide for starter blake devries, who scattered four hits and three walks over six innings, striking out five. He improved to 3-3, winning his third straight start. Over his last four starts, his era has been chopped from 15.00 to 5.29, pitching 25 innings and only allowing five earned runs in that span with 26 strikeouts and 17 hits.
concordia added two more in the fourth with a two run double down the left field line by waldman, his second double of the game, scoring derek mason and abellera.
cu added two more unearned runs in the seventh for the 6-1 final score.
mason pitched the seventh for concordia, a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.
concordia had nine hits, three for extra bases - all doubles, and drew five walks. They stranded nine more on the bases but were able to punch six runs across on smsu, who had just four hits and left five on base.
concordia improves to 9-5 (.643) in the norhtern sun, just percentage points behind upper iowa, who is 11-6 (.647). Meanwhile, smsu is at 6-4 (.600) with fewer nsic games played than either team, and league-leading wayne state is 11-2 (.846).
concordia returns to action this wednesday, april 16, for a key road doubleheader at winona state at 2 p.m. The warriors are 9-7 (.562) in league play. It is concordia's final scheduled road series of the season, as they will end the year with 12 games at home - all league games.
