minneapolis, minn. - a first game 8-4 win extended concordia university's season opening winning streak to five games before the university of minnesota duluth took game two 9-1 on tuesday morning at the metrodome. Concordia is now 5-1 on the year while umd moves to 2-1. game 1 box - game 2 box
in the first game, senior right handed pitcher jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) improved to 2-0 while senior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.) belted a pair of home runs while driving in five runs. In game two, umd was 9-14 at the plate with two outs as they scored seven of their nine runs with two down.
game one: cu 8, umd 4
the bulldogs struck early as will dahlgren smacked a one out triple and scored on a passed ball before schmidt settled in, striking out the final two batters of the inning. The dahlgren triple was the first extra base hit allowed by the golden bears all season.
in the bottom of the inning, schmidt singled down the left field line before herbert planted a two run shot to deep left center field, a blast that traveled at least 385 feet.
herbert drilled his second home run to the left field bleachers at least 15 rows up to lead off the third inning on the first pitch. Concordia added runs in the fourth and fifth innings as junior second baseman chase brown (mankato, minn.) delivered an rbi single to center and freshman shortstop bryan lippincott placed a double into left center in back-to-back innings.
in the sixth, umd added a second run to cut the gap to 5-2 as tyler erickson hit a one out triple and scored on scott sorenson's rbi double.
dahlgren, erickson and sorenson combined to hit 9-10 with two doubles, two triples, three runs and an rbi for the bulldogs.
in the bottom of the inning, herbert stepped up in the clutch once again, punching a two-run single to center before scoring himself later in the inning on a wild pitch.
herbert finished 3-4 with three runs, five rbi and two home runs. Brown would go 2-2 with a run, an rbi and two steals out of the nine spot while lippincott was 2-3 with a run and an rbi including his second double.
minnesota duluth added two more in the seventh, a pair of unearned runs against senior left handed reliever kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) as cu finished off umd in game one.
schmidt finished his day with a six inning start, allowing two runs (one earned) while striking out five and walking just one.
josh foreman took the loss for umd, working 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Collin stinogel relieved foreman and allowed three runs in one inning.
game two: umd 9, cu 1
switching home/away for game two, concordia jumped on the scoreboard early as herbert was hit by pitch and came around to score when senior right fielder brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) delivered a one out rbi double to left center field. With two outs in the inning and furrow still on second, senior first baseman chris kimpton (canberra, aus.) chopped a single through the right side. Furrow, running aggressively, was cut down at home on the play by umd rf justin baker, ending the threat.
the hits by furrow and kimpton would be the only hits by the starting lineup for the rest of the game as the bats went cold. It wasn't until the sixth inning when reserve second baseman zach strouts (st. Louis park, minn.) delivered an infield single past the third baseman.
meanwhile, the bulldog bats continued to come alive as junior right handed pitcher blake devries (eden prairie, minn.) allowed the tying run in the bottom of the first, the first run he had allowed in 15.2 innings dating back to last year's nsic tournament start against bemidji state.
in the second, devries allowed three more runs to cross the plate. He settled down in the third, facing only four hitters but two more crossed home in the fourth, his last inning of work. Devries finished his day after four innings, allowing six runs on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts throwing 83 pitches.
concordia used three relievers the rest of the way, all freshman. chris peterson, a right hander from st. Anthony, minn., pitched an inning allowing two runs on four hits before giving way to ben lemke, the righty from rosemount. Lemke was not as sharp as his friday debut when he worked a three inning save, this time giving up a run on two hits in two thirds of an inning with a pair of strikeouts. Left hander ty hall (spring lake park, minn.) got the final out for cu.
tyler erickson had a big day for umd, going 6-7 in the two games with three triples, slugging two in the second game. Erickson also had a first game stolen base, scored three runs and drove in two. In the second game, david olson went 4-4 with a double, a run and two rbi. Dahlgren also went 6-7 in the doubleheader with a double and a triple.
bryan denisen earned the win for umd in his first start of the year, working five innings of one run ball. He allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out four. Josh taran relieved with two scoreless frames of one hit ball, striking out three.
notes:
kirk ingram tied concordia's career record for appearances as he pitched in his 51st career game (greg fruetel, 51, 90-93)
jake schmidt's six game hitting streak came to a close as he went 0-1 in game two, he had carried over a hit in the last game of 2008
chase brown and jon stockton each saw their five game hitting streaks snapped
blake devries had his eight start unbeaten streak snapped, he had won his previous six decisions during the run. His last loss was march 19, 2008 against upper iowa (1-2)
