minneapolis, minn. - with their clutch slugger out of the lineup, senior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) filled the role, hitting a leadoff walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift concordia university (2-2) to a 4-3 win over nebraska-kearney (6-3) at metrodome in a non-conference regional contest. It was a come from behind win as concordia trailed 3-1 heading into the sixth inning before rallying to send it into extra innings. The second game is in progress. game 1 box - game 2 box
game 1: cu 4, unk 3 (8)
sophomore right hander chris peterson (st. Anthony, minn.) made his second career start, pitching six innings allowing three unearned runs on just three hits and one walk while striking out three. He was solid early, taking a no hitter into the fifth with two down before allowing the first of three singles. Peterson opened the season with 5.1 no-hit innings between his relief appearance and first start of the season.
it was a tough luck outing, with the golden bear defense making four errors leading to the unearned runs.
junior right hander nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) relieved peterson and worked two shutout innings, pitching out of a jam in the seventh before working through the eighth to pick up his first win of 2010.
offensively, concordia took the first lead in the second with a run as senior ryan iverson (spring lake park, minn.) led off with a double and scored when freshman right fielder zach goodwin (mahtomedi, minn.) drove a sacrifice fly to right field for his first collegiate rbi. Iverson had moved up to third when junior left fielder sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) layed down a surprise bunt to the left side for a base hit.
in the sixth, trailing by two, iverson and fagely each delivered rbi singles to tie the score as the golden bears received clutch hitting out of the bottom half of the lineup.
the furrow home run led off the eighth and was a 1-0 pitch that was scorched to left centerfield. It was his first homer of the season and 19th of his career.
the golden bears were without slugger blake devries, who was married on saturday afternoon and away from the team today. He is expected back in the lineup on wednesday afternoon. All three of his hits have been clutch home runs in the early part of the season.
game 2: unk 4, cu 3
the home team won with the exact same score as the first game, the problem in game two is that at metrodome, the teams alternate home/away as the golden bears fell short by a run.
it was not because of a lack of opportunity, though, as cu stranded seven runners on base with six left in scoring position and two times leaving a runner on third.
unk jumped on the board early with a leadoff ground rule double to the right field corner, playing small ball to move the runner to third with a sacrifice foul pop up down the first base line in shallow right field.
concordia's bats took a few innings to rejuvenate after furrow's dramatic first game walk-off blast. Concordia had a base hit in the first inning by sophomore bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) but roy metter retired nine of his first 10 hitters in three shutout innings.
freshman southpaw patrick rydeen (stillwater, minn.), making his first collegiate start, pitched out of a second inning jam with the help of his third baseman, furrow (also known as "vicinity"). Playing the hot corner for the first time in his four years at cu, furrow scooped up a chopper with runners on first and third with no outs. He threw home for the out with catcher troy dubay (so., urbandale, iowa) catching the runner at third in a run down, giving unk runners on first and second with one down. Rydeen forced another grounder furrow's way, and he alertly stepped on the bag at third and zipped a laser across the infield for the inning ending double play.
in the bottom of the third, the lopers brought two more runs home off rydeen. Rydeen surrendered three runs in three innings on four hits. He didn't walk anyone and struck out one.
concordia started to rally offensively in the fourth off metter, with lippincott hitting a leadoff single followed by a furrow single through the left side. The two were stranded on second and third, though, as the next three were retired in order.
in the fourth, freshman right hander hogan jackson (oakdale, minn.) relieved rydeen and made his first collegiate appearance. Jackson worked out of a first and third with two out jam in his first career inning.
in the fifth, concordia rallied as they capitalized on unk fielding miscues. Lippincott laced a two out rbi single through the right side before furrow delivered an rbi double to right center to cut the margin to one run, 3-2.
in the bottom of the inning, jackson pitched to the first two hitters, hitting the leadoff batter and giving up a base hit to left center as the lopers started to rally. Jackson was removed for anderson, who retired the side with just one walk but allowed a run to score on a wild pitch.
trailing by two heading to the sixth, the golden bears pushed across their third unearned run of the game, almost reverse of what happened in the first game when cu allowed three unearned runs to score. It was sophomore ben lemke (rosemount, minn.) who laced a deep fly ball, well hit, to left center field to score sophomore bryan hunt (north st. Paul, minn.) for a sacrifice fly.
junior right hander ryan rodeck (lino lakes, minn.) made his cu debut in the sixth, working a perfect 1-2-3 frame striking out the final batter sending it back to the seventh for the top of concordia's lineup.
a leadoff bloop single over third base down the left field line by junior centerfielder jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) started things off well. But the next three hitters were retired in succession by unk closer ricky muir for his third save.
lippincott finished the game 3-4 at the plate with an rbi while furrow was 2-4 with an rbi. Unk shortstop blake cover went 1-2 and drove in a pair out of the three-hole while leadoff batter jordan mitchelhill went 2-4 with a pair of runs.
rydeen was sattled with his first collegiate loss, but overall made a decent impression in his first start.
all five of concordia's completed games have been decided by one run, with two extra inning contests and a sixth game suspended in the bottom of the fourth inning with concordia coming to bat with a 1-run lead over st. Cloud state in the second game of a doubleheader. That game will be resumed at a later date.
the golden bears play four more games at metrodome before heading south to orlando, fla. For their eight game spring trip slate against solid ncaa division ii competition.
this week, cu will face st. John's (mn) on wednesday and kansas wesleyan on thursday with 12:15 p.m. First pitch start times.
