Concordia university (20-10, 12-6nsic) returned to northern sun play with thunder in their bats, hitting seven home runs in a sweep of minnesota, crookston (3-26, 1-21 nsic) with a 9-0 first game victory before an 18-4 game two win.

game one: cu 9, u of m, crookston 0
junior zane froelich's (sioux falls, s.d.) two out rbi single down the right field line in the first inning proved to be the game winner, as senior derek mason (minnetonka, minn.) shut down the golden eagles in a complete game shutout to improve to 4-0.

mason scattered six hits and didn't walk anyone while striking out eight.

the defense had his back as they were error free once again.

the offense wasn't bad either, as cu hit three home runs, starting with sophomore blake devries' (eden prairie, minn.) two run shot to right center in the second inning. It was devries' first home run on the year.

senior first baseman john maciej (elk river, minn.) added his sixth homer in the fourth when he drilled a two run shot to left. Devries was 2-3 in the game.

senior second baseman jake waldman (minnetonka, minn.) hit concordia's third two run home run of the game in the fifth inning over the center field fence, his fourth homer this season. Waldman finished 2-3, scoring twice and driving in two.

junior right fielder brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) extended his hitting streak to six, going 3-4 with his 10th double, a run and an rbi.

concordia racked up 17 hits, six going for extra bases.

lincoln messner took the loss for umc, pitching four innings and allowing seven runs on 14 hits. He walked one and didn't have any strikeouts. Laudyn nelson worked the final two innings and held concordia to two runs on three hits with two strikeouts.

game two: concordia 18, minnesota, crookston 4
umc's paul krebs led off the game with a home run, the first of two hit hit on the day, but concordia countered with six runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back.

the golden bears scored in every inning except the sixth, putting up three in the second and third innings, one in the fourth and five in the fifth.

brenden furrow extended his hitting streak to seven with a 4-5 performance that included his eighth home run of the year. His 7-9 performance in the two games improved his season average to .451, nearly a sixty point hike in the last four games. Earlier this year, he had a 19 game hitting streak as well.

senior centerfielder joe abellera (minnetonka, minn.) and junior left fielder ted farni (minnetonka, minn.) each had three hit performances. Abellera was 3-5 with his 10th home run and 12th double and three rbi while farni was 3-3, scoring twice and knocking in one.

but the story was senior left handed pitcher eric utoft (minnetonka, minn.) climbing to fourth on the career wins list. Utoft pitched six innings, allowing four runs - all coming on krebs' home runs. He surrendered six hits and struck out two.

the win improves him to 3-1 on the season and 21-7 in his career. His 21 wins tie darrell golnitz (1969-71) on the wins list, one behind second place (greg fruetel and dave johnson).

junior josh rohrich (sioux falls, s.d.) pitched the seventh inning, striking out one and allowing one hit in a nine pitch inning.

seven golden bears had multi-hit games as the team slugged four home runs.

john maciej homered once again, his seventh, in a 4-5 game. He drove in four and scored two. His 33 rbi are second on the team, seven behind furrow's 40.

the other home run was by junior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.), who put his eighth home run over the fence. He was 2-5 in the contest.

concordia is now 4-0 in their 14 game homestand to close out the season. They return to barnes field this saturday and sunday with doubleheaders against wayne state. Both days start at noon.