st. Paul, minn. - in one of the better starts of his career, senior right hander chris kimpton (canberra, aus.) led concordia university (33-18, 14-15 nsic) to a 3-2 game two victory over winona state (28-17, 20-10 nsic) on saturday afternoon at barnes field. The warrior offense exploded in a 14-12 game one victory earlier in the day. Senior designated hitter adam bertrand (la salle, ill.) struck out with two on in the bottom of the seventh in game one in a 13 pitch at bat. Bertrand redeemed himself with the eventual game winning home run, a solo shot in the fourth to give cu a 3-2 lead that kimpton would hold. Senior chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.) went 5-8 with two homers and eight rbi in the doubleheader. game 1 box - game 2 box
game 1: winona state 14, cu 12
winona state scored five in the first and four in the second to take a 9-1 lead after two innings.
but from the fourth through seventh innings, cu turned the tables, outscoring wsu 11-5 down the stretch to tighten the contest.
senior catcher chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.) took advantage of batting leadoff, going 4-4 with two home runs and six rbi and a walk. Herbert broke the single season rbi record in game one and wasn't finished. The homers were his 10th and 11th of the season, giving him 23 in his career, tied for third most all-time.
senior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) went 2-4 with three rbi and his fourth home run of the season. His single in the seventh inning broke his own single season hits record set last season. He would add another hit in game two giving him 67 on the season, leaving him two shy of the career hits record.
while herbert and furrow lit things up at the top of the order, sophomore jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) was hot in the nine spot, going 3-3 with three runs, three rbi and a walk.
herbert, furrow and stockton drove in all 12 cu runs.
junior right hander steven king (johnston, iowa) took the loss, throwing four innings for concordia. He was relieved by freshman lefty ty hall (spring lake park, minn.) who worked the final three innings. Hall allowed just two hits while striking out four without any walks.
after allowing a three run homer upon entering the game in the middle of the fifth, hall settled down and retired six straight and only allowed a runner to reach on an error with two outs in the seventh before logging his fourth strikeout to retire the warriors in the seventh.
winona state powered four home runs in the win, two by jared anderson who hit another in game two. Joe kley went 2-4 with four rbi and a homer as well for wsu.
ross hellenbrand picked up the win, improving to 8-2 on the season despite allowing seven runs on eight hits with three walks in 5.1 innings. John wenker allowed two hits in the seventh before striking out bertrand to end the game to earn his second save.
game 2: cu 3, winona state 2
kimpton, who has only received seven runs of support in his five losses and gets only 3.9 runs of support per start, would not falter when his offense propelled the team into the lead.
his only blemish was a two run home run allowed to anderson to the opposite field, a home run reminiscent to the two run homer he allowed to st. Cloud state's sam radbill in a 2-1 loss earlier this year.
kimpton's stuff was reminiscent of that start, as well, a game in which he carried a no-hitter late. This time, kimpton fell behind 2-0 after the top of third homer by anderson.
in the bottom of the inning, herbert provided a two run single to left field to tie the score in the bottom of the inning, letting the australian righty to go back to work on the hill.
the two rbi give herbert 64 on the season, six better than the previous single season record of 58 by erik quarberg. Herbert finished the doubleheader 5-8 at the plate with two homers and eight rbi.
with the game tied in the top of the fourth, kimpton produced his first 1-2-3 inning, striking out the last two batters of the fourth.
in the bottom of the inning, bertrand went yard, his fourth homer of the season, a screaming liner of the right centerfield fence into the gangelhoff parking lot full of vehicles, also known as targets for powerful lefties like bertrand.
on the mound, kimpton retired the side in order again in the fifth with two more strikeouts in the middle of a span of nine straight outs. The warriors would only muster a single through the right side, just past the outstretched arm of senior second baseman zach strouts (st. Louis park, minn.) with two outs in the sixth.
in the seventh, kimpton struck out ths side to close the door on the warriors.
he leveled off his record at 5-5 with the complete game win, his fourth consecutive complete game. He struck out nine, his second highest strikeout total of the season, while scattering six hits. He only issued one walk in the contest and lowered his team leading earned run average to 3.29.
kimpton is now up to 64 strikeouts on the season, fifth most in school history while his 63.0 innings crack the top-10 list.
tony mueller took the loss for wsu, working a complete game with five strikeouts. Anderson drove in both runs for wsu, finishing the doubleheader going 5-8 at the plate with three home runs and five rbi.
concordia and winona state complete their four game series tomorrow with a doubleheader at noon. Tomorrow is senior day at barnes field, with cu honoring it's nine seniors. The seniors today performed, with herbert, furrow, bertrand and kimpton all producing at high levels. zane froehlich and strouts were outstanding up the middle as well.
