minneapolis, minn. - concordia university (9-2) picked up a sweep over mayville state (0-2) this morning at the metrodome, defeating the comets 8-2 and 6-4 behind strong starting pitching and timely hitting. Concordia lost a four run lead in the seventh inning of the second game before rallying for a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to secure the sweep. game 1 box - game 2 box

game 1: cu 8, mayville state 2
making his first career start on the mound, freshman right hander ben lemke (rosemount, minn.) continued to display his command on the mound for concordia, improving to 2-0 in his young career as he carried a shutout into the seventh inning before allowing two mayville runs in the seventh. He finished his day throwing 6.2 innings while surrendering two runs on five hits. He struck out 10 and walked four while working his pitch count above 100 for the first time in his career.

his scoreless inning streak was snapped at 11.0 consecutive innings spanning three appearances dating back to his relief outing against umd.

although he left the game with a six run lead, the game started scoreless through two innings. Lemke struck out the side in the first inning in order. In the second, lemke gave up a leadoff double and followed with a walk before fanning the next three hitters for six strikeouts in the first two frames.

offensively, concordia rallied with two outs in the first to load the bases but stranded all three on without bringing anyone in. In the second, sophomore centerfielder jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) was gunned out at the plate when he tried to score from second with two outs on senior first baseman jake schmidt's (oakdale, minn.) single up the middle.

cu finally crossed the plate in the third as senior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.) led off with a double and easily stole third with such a big jump that msu didn't attempt a throw. He scored with one out on senior third baseman zane froehlich's (sioux falls, s.d.) sacrifice fly to left. Freshman shortstop bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) followed with a walk, stole second and scored when freshman left fielder logan bouts (hopkins, minn.) delievered an rbi single to center. Designated hitter steven king (johnston, iowa) followed with a double to right but bouts was held up on the play and cu stranded runners on second and third in what could have been a much bigger inning.

in the fourth, concordia hit up the comets for five unearned runs highlighted by a three-run triple by lippincott with bouts bringing him in with a single to left center.

base running played a big part in mounting the seven run lead in the first four innings as concordia swiped four bases, aggressively advanced on a wild pitch and took two bases on a throwing error by the pitcher on a pickoff play.

in the sixth, concordia scored again on a failed pickoff attempt by mayville, again allowing the runner, this time freshman troy dubay (urbandale, iowa) took the two bases before scoring on a wild pitch.

in the first game, lippincott was 1-2 with two walks, two runs and three rbi along with his first career triple. Bouts was 2-3 with two rbi while senior right fielder brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) broke out of his early season slump by going 2-3 with a double and his only out was a sharply hit ball right at the shortstop in a productive day at the plate.

mayville state was buoyed by jake mclain's 2-3 performance with a pair of doubles while alex berry hit a two run triple in the seventh for msu's only two runs.

matthew mueller took the loss for the comets, pitching the first three innings while allowing two runs on five hits and four walks. He didn't strike out any golden bears. He gave way to dan silva, who finished the game pitching three innings allowing six unearned runs on three hits with four walks.

game 2: cu 6, mayville state 4 (8 innings)

senior right hander aaron pfalzgraff (garland, texas) picked up where lemke left off, shutting out the comets for six innings while he racked up nine strikeouts. Ahead 4-0 heading into the seventh, he was given the opportunity to close out the shutout.

pfalzgraff fared the same as lemke, giving up two in the seventh with senior lefty reliever kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) letting in his second run. Pfalzgraff finished pitching 6.1 innings allowing two runs on four hits. He struck out nine without issuing any walks although he did hit two batters.

ingram, concordia's all-time saves leader, came in with a runner on first and was unable to convert the save, walking three and giving up the game tying hit with the bases loaded. He allowed two runs in 0.2 innings on the hill.

in the top of the eighth, concordia's bats rallied. Up against the metrodome clock, cu made it dramatic as mayville's fifth pitcher of the twin bill zachary schaefer retired the first two golden bears. With two down, lippincott drew a walk with sophomore left fielder sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) following with a single. With two on and two out, lemke was hit by pitch to load the bases for stockton. The sophomore off to a blazing start continued his torrid hitting, this time in the clutch as he placed a single through the right side, driving in lippincott and fagely to put cu back on top, 6-4.

in the bottom of the inning, concordia turned to sophomore righty nick anderson (plymouth, minn.). Anderson had struggled in his first appearance before an efficient second outing. In his third appearance, a save situation, anderson earned his first career save, striking out the final two batters after allowing mayville to load the bases. Anderson struck out all three of his outs in the inning, but gave up two singles and a walk in the dramatic save.

anderson's save gave ingram his second win of the year.

at the plate, it was herbert and furrow who provided the early support. Herbert delivered a first inning triple to the left center gap and scored on furrow's rbi single to right. In the fifth inning, herbert's two run single to left put concordia ahead by four runs. Herbert, lippincott and junior second baseman chase brown (mankato, minn.) all had two hit performances.

concordia closes out their early season metrodome slate after their sixth doubleheader in the indoor major league stadium. With the concordia student body on spring break this weekend, the baseball team heads to the rockies next week where they are scheduled to play seven games while finishing up an eighth (against u-mary).

all eight decisions will be regional contests. Cu starts with a pair of nine inning games at regis university before two more nine inning games against colorado school of mines and csu pueblo all on the rmac school campuses.

on their way back home, concordia will stop in topeka, kan. To play the university of mary. They are scheduled to play a doubleheader on mar. 14 with a nine inning game on mar. 15. They will make up their suspended game prior to the three game series.