wayne, neb. - concordia (20-8, 1-5 nsic) fell short on their comeback attempt, falling 4-3 in the first game of a friday afternoon doubleheader to #28 wayne state (20-7, 10-0 nsic) at pete chapman complex before a grand slam in a five run fourth inning propelled the host wildcats to a 7-2 win to complete the doubleheader sweep. In the first game, the golden bears fell behind 3-0 after three innings and their mid-inning rally fell short. Cu left five runners in scoring position in the loss. Senior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) took the first loss, pitching a complete game with six strikeouts to fall to 5-2 in eight starts while sophomore nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) took his first loss of the year (2-1) in game two. game 1 box - game 2 box
game 1: wayne state 4, cu 3
senior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) extended his hitting streak to six games going 1-3 with a leadoff double and a run in the fourth inning to put concordia on the scoreboard. Furrow drove in a run in the fifth with a sac fly to center to bring cu to within a run, 4-3 but concordia stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out in the critical inning.
senior zane froehlich (sioux falls, s.d.) produced another two hit performance as his average climbed to .284. He drove in a run with his single in the fourth and came around to score on the next play when senior zach strouts (st. Louis park, minn.) delivered an rbi single to left.
schmidt, the starting pitcher, also went 2-4 at the plate and is hitting .500 in games he starts on the mound. Batting out of the no. 2 spot in the lineup for the first time this season, schmidt lifted his average to .381. Leading off for the first time this year was sophomore jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) who walked and scored in the game, giving him 29 walks in 27 contests.
schmidt gave up four runs on five hits while walking two over six innings. His six strikeouts give him 231 in 212.1 career innings, just 13 shy of dave johnson's (1995-98) school record of 244.
the wayne state bullpen shut down concordia's threat as jared hegdahl provided an inning of relief to set up trenton lee who struck out three of the four batters he faced. Concordia struck out four times in the final five outs. The save for lee is his second while chad moreland earned the win to improve to 3-2. Moreland worked 4.2 innings allowing three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out two.
concordia stranded seven runners in the game while wayne was more efficient, only leaving four. That proved to be the difference. Wildcat alex koch provided a two run double in the first to set the tone.
concordia is now 0-7 when failing to score at least four runs in a game while they are a perfect 20-0 on the season when posting four-plus runs.
game 2: wayne state 7, cu 2
a grand slam by mike bisenius put concordia away in the fourth inning of the second game despite concordia taking the early lead in the ballgame.
after going down 1-2-3 in the first, furrow led off the second with a double to right center to continue his hitting streak into a seventh game. He scored when froehlich continued his resurgence with an rbi single to left.
anderson was solid early, cruising with the one run lead getting the first six wildcats out in order and pitching no-hit ball through three innings.
but he hit a wall in the fourth as the second-ranked team in the region sent the middle of their order up for a second time against the sophomore in his third start of the year and fifth career start. The first five batters all reached base and scored off anderson, who let in five runs consecutively thanks to the grand slam by bisenius, the fifth batter of the inning. He struck out the next batter and issued a walk before being removed.
senior left handed reliever kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) came out of the 'pen and got out of the inning.
in the top of the fifth, froehlich got things started with a one out double and scored on the next at bat when strouts smacked an rbi single down the left field line. Strouts stole second, his fourth steal of the year, but was stranded there.
the wildcats hit ingram around for two runs in the fifth to grab a five run lead and the wsc bullpen took it from there.
austen wisroth pitched five strong innings for the win, scattering five cu hits and striking out nine without walking anyone to improve to 4-1. Matt meier pitched the final two innings and allowed a hit and struck out one.
anderson worked 3.1 innings giving up five runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Ingram allowed two runs and four hits over 2.2 innings with one strikeout. The appearance for ingram snaps his string of three straight outings where he recorded a save.
froehlich has upped his season average to .297 as he went 2-3 in back-to-back games. Froehlich has now hit safely in four straight. Furrow also went 2-3 and is batting .381.
concordia's two losses drop them to 0-8 on the year when scoring three runs or less. In six nsic games, concordia has scored 16 runs and has lost five in a row in league play.
the golden bears are now 6-22 all-time against wayne state with a 5-14 record in wayne, neb. Of their road wins at wayne state, two have been nsic tournament wins.
cu will look to tomorrow's doubleheader to avoid dropping the season series to the wildcats. The teams have moved the doubleheader up to 10:30 a.m. To avoid potentially inclement weather later in the day.
