The concordia university (27-16) baseball team saw their season come to a close on friday afternoon, falling 6-0 to minnesota state university, mankato (28-24) on the second day of the double elimination ncaa central regional tournament at glennen field in emporia, kansas. The golden bears managed just three hits in the game. box score

junior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) took his second loss in as many days, falling to 7-2 on the year. He struck out seven batters over five innings, throwing 70 pitches. The seven strikeouts give him 100 for the season in 73.1 innings. His 100 strikeouts are 22 more than any other pitcher in school history. He moves into fourth on the career strikeout list with 167, surpassing randy golnitz (1989-92) who had 166. Schmidt also had one of cu's three hits in the game, as well as a warning track fly out to left field.

the golden bears only had a runner in scoring position once against msu starter matt mathiowetz, who pitched a complete game shutout to improve to 6-4. He had eight strikeouts and just one walk in the three-hit performance.

the fifth inning was concordia's only real threat, with senior john maciej (elk river, minn.) reaching on an error by jay bresnahan at second base as his throw pulled mathiowetz off the base at first. With two outs, senior derek mason (minnetonka, minn.) delivered a base hit to left center, giving cu runners on first and second. But the threat ended when junior ted farni (minnetonka, minn.) popped out to shallow centerfield.

concordia left six runners on base, with just maciej being stranded in scoring position in the fifth.

senior jake waldman (minnetonka, minn.) was 0-1 in the game, walking in the first before being hit by pitch in his next two plate appearances. Mason, who had one of concordia's three hits, and waldman, who reached safely three of four times today, were responsible for both concordia runs last night against emporia state.

schmidt found himself in trouble in four of the five innings he pitched, but managed to work his way out of the jams in three of those innings. All three of the runs he allowed came on a home run to right centerfield by danny miller, with one of the runs being unearned. Schmidt forced msu to strand a runner on third in the first inning, runners on second and third in the second and a runner on third again in the fifth.

minnesota state scored three more runs in the seventh inning, two being unearned runs off senior eric utoft (minnetonka, minn.). Both concordia errors led to runs, just as they did in the first round loss to esu.

utoft worked 2.2 innings in relief, allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out two. Senior ryan fixell (coon rapids, minn.) struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth inning to finish the game, stranding another msu runner on third base.

the mavericks pounded out three doubles and a home run out of their 10 hits. Miller was 3-4 with his second home run and three rbi in the game.


notes:
concordia's 2008 season officially comes to a close with the loss. The golden bears captured their second nsic title in their nine years in the league, winning the nsic tournament championship in wayne, neb. Which earned them the automatic bid to their first-ever ncaa central region tournament appearance, the first men's team to qualify for an ncaa tournament in the athletic department's nine years at the division ii level.

junior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) set the single season school hits record with 65, breaking matt borman's 2007 record of 64. He started the season on a 21 game hitting streak (last two games from 2007, first 19 games of 2008).

senior jake waldman (minnetonka, minn.) finished his career ranked in the top-10 in games (6th, 139), hits (6th, 143), home runs (t-3rd, 23) and runs batted in (7th, 91).

senior eric utoft (minnetonka, minn.) finished his career ranked second in wins (22), fourth in innings pitched (180.1) and has the school record for single season wins (9) in 2005 as a freshman.

junior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) set the single season strikeout record, finishing with 100. His seven wins ranked fourth and his 73.1 innings were second for a single season. With his senior season to play, schmidt ranks sixth in wins (16), sixth in innings (164.2) and fourth in strikeouts (170).

head coach mark "lunch" mckenzie concludes his ninth season with a 191-136-1 career record. He has led concordia to two nsic titles (2003, 2008) and was the 2005 nsic coach of the year.