pueblo, colo. - in a battle of the second and third ranked teams in the ncbwa central region poll, the third-ranked team prevailed as colorado state university-pueblo (16-5) earned a key regional victory over concordia university (11-3) on thursday afternoon at rawlings field. Concordia leadoff hitter and starting pitcher jake schmidt (sr., tartan, minn.) broke up csup starter mario mattivi's no-hit bid with a leadoff single to centerfield in the eighth inning. box score
schmidt's eighth inning single was the only hit of the day for the golden bears, who broke up the shutout in the seventh inning by running across three unearned runs against mattivi.
csu-pueblo jumped on schmidt early, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. While the offense was unable to get going on his behalf, schmidt allowed two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to let csup build a six run lead.
with one out in the seventh, freshman shortstop bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) reached on an error for the second time in the game. Freshman left fielder logan bouts (hopkins, minn.) drew a two out walk, giving cu runners on first and third. Sophomore centerfielder jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) reached on a three base error with lippincott and bouts scoring on the play and stockton scored shortly after on a wild pitch.
the three runs cut the csup lead in half, 6-3 heading into the later innings.
but in the seventh, schmidt ran out of steam as the first five hitters all reached in what turned into a four run inning. Schmidt was removed before getting an out and wound up allowing 10 runs (eight earned) on 12 hits. He struck out and walked three. He took his first loss of the season in five starts, falling to 3-1 overall.
the thunderwolves added five more runs in the eighth inning while csup received shutout innings of relief from two pitchers.
mattivi wound up getting the hook after schmidt's base hit broke up his quest for a no-no. He threw seven shutout innings allowing one hit while walking three and striking out six.
concordia took two of three from the rocky mountain athletic conference in their stay in colo. In what will most likely be a key trip for regional consideration later in the season.
they close out spring break this weekend when they stop in lincoln, neb. To take on northern sun rival university of mary for a three game series while finishing their suspended game from feb. 6 at the metrodome for a fourth decision in a regional weekend of non-conference games. The golden bears lead the marauders 8-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning with cu coming to bat.
