Junior right fielder brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) continued his strong hitting going 5-7 with two home runs and six rbi to lead concordia university (18-10) to 14-3 and 6-2 victories over the university of minnesota duluth (17-18) on tuesday afternoon at barnes field in st. Paul, minn.

game one: cu 14, umd 3
concordia hit five home runs, two each by brenden furrow and senior centerfielder joe abellera (minnetonka, minn.) and another from junior left fielder jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) in an 11 run rout of the bulldogs.

furrow started the scoring in the first with a three run home run to right field. The golden bears added six more in the second, keyed by a lead off, line drive home run by abellera just over the left centerfield fence. Schmidt added a three run shot to center later in the inning to put cu up 9-0.

the early scoring chased umd starter john leitch from the game in the second inning after only getting one out. Concordia forced leitch to throw 62 pitches, only retiring four cu hitters in the process. The first six runs were all charged to leitch.

for concordia, junior chris kimpton (canberra, aus.) started the game and looked sharp in the first two innings, striking out four consecutive hitters, retiring all six.

umd caught up to him in the second, as he walked the first two hitters before getting a groundout that advanced the runners to second and third. After getting a sacrifice fly to allow the first umd run, kimpton surrendered an rbi double down the left field line, giving umd two runs in the inning.

kimpton received an early exit, not factoring in the decision despite pitching 2.2 innings with four strikeouts. The 6-3 right hander threw 44 pitches, and with a full slate of games in the next few days, he will look to carry over his strong first two innings to his next start.

kimpton was relieved by junior ted farni (minnetonka, minn.), who shut down the inning on the first pitch before working 3.1 innings of relief, allowing only one hit and a walk in an efficient 39 pitches. Farni picked up the win, improving to 3-0 on the season while lowering his era to 1.27.

the last two home runs came in the fifth inning, a solo shot by furrow, and a two run homer in the sixth by abellera.

abellera finished 3-4, scoring three times and driving in three. Senior second baseman jake waldman (minnetonka, minn.) went 3-5 with two rbi and his eighth double. Furrow was 3-4 with three runs and four rbi and senior first baseman john maciej (elk river, minn.) also produced three hits, going 3-4 with a run and an rbi.

concordia stormed out to 16 hits in the game while holding umd to just three.

game two: cu 6, umd 2
freshman nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) was in control in game two, limiting the bulldogs to just two hits and three walks, striking out four. He needed just 62 pitches to secure his first career victory, improving to 1-1.

brenden furrow came up huge again, going 2-3, driving in two runs early in the game.

in the sixth, john maciej delivered an opposite field home run over the right field fence, a three run shot to take a 6-1 lead after umd cut the gap to 3-1 in the top of the inning.

in the first inning, jake waldman drilled a double down the left field line and scored when furrow produced an rbi single up the middle.

concordia held the 1-0 lead until the third, when waldman drilled another hit down the left field line, this time stopping at first. After a walk to junior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.), furrow placed a single to right field to score waldman from second base, moving herbert up to third.

the golden bears took a 3-0 lead in the same inning when furrow bluffed a stolen base attempt, intentionally getting into a run down that allowed herbert to trot home.

the three run home run was icing on the cake, allowing junior left handed relief specialist kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) to work the seventh inning for his second save.

waldman had another two hit performance, going 2-3, scoring two runs along with his ninth double. In the doubleheader, he went 5-8, scoring three times and driving in two.

furrow was 2-3 with two rbi and stole his second base. Maciej ended up going 4-7 with two runs, four rbi and his fifth home run of the season.

concordia only left one runner on base in the second game after stranding eight in the first game.

one of the best defenses in the nation coming into the doubleheader, the golden bears didn't commit any errors in the two games, raising their 3rd ranked fielding pct. In ncaa division ii from .974 to .976.

concordia also boasts the pitching staff with the third highest strikeout/nine inning ratio and registered 10 strikeouts in the 14 innings as a staff this afternoon.

the golden bears continue their season-ending 14 game homestand tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. When they play minnesota, crookston in nsic action on parent's day.