minneapolis, minn. - the concordia university baseball team is learning valuable lessons early in the season. Two closely contended games against northwestern college (iowa) that were decided in each team's last at bat late on thursday night at metrodome. In game one, it was concordia that was victorious, winning 7-6 with a bases loaded infield rbi grounder to second in a come from behind win. In game two, they surrendered a three run lead after four innings in a 5-4 loss. Sophomore shortstop bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) went 4-8 at the plate in the two games with two triples, three runs and three rbi to lead the squad. game 1 box - game 2 box

game 1: concordia 7, northwestern (ia) 6
in the first game, junior right hander nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) got the start and took a few innings to shake off the offseason rust. Ending his 2009 season with a shutout, he was tagged early in 2010 for a three run first inning. It was a tough luck inning for the starting pitcher, though, with one of the runs being unearned and two of the hits being tough on the pitcher to the left side of the infield. But after the first four batters reached base, he settled into a groove, getting the next three outs with the final out of the inning being a strikeout.

a 1-2-3 second inning gave him six straight outs, but he allowed a leadoff singl in the third to matt negaard, who stole second and third before scoring on a sacrifice fly.

the negaard single was the only hit of the inning as anderson retired the next three hitters. In the fourth, he retired the first two before stranding a two out walk.

after the first four batters, anderson was outstanding, retiring 12 of the next 14 men he'd face with four strikeouts through four innings.

but the offense struggled to get going on his behalf, with just one hit in the first two innings.

in the third, back-to-back walks from the 8-9 hitters, sam fagely (c, jr., mahtomedi, minn.) and j.t. Schneider (2b, fr., oak creek, wis.) in their first plate appearances of the season set up a nice opportunity for the top of the order to cut into the 4-0 deficit.

lippincott stepped up and laced a shot into right field, past a sprinting clint gingerich to the wall. Fagely easily scored from second and schneider raced home from first while lippincott slid in safely to third for a two run triple. He was knocked in on a sacrifice fly to right field by senior right fielder brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) who would later establish concordia's career hits record with his first at bat in game two.

the three run output stormed concordia back into the game and provided a textbook look into head coach mark "lunch" mckenzie's offense with the bottom of the order setting the table for the top.

in the fourth, with one out and nobody on, junior designated hitter blake devries (eden prairie, minn.) unloaded on a pitch on the outer half of the plate. It was gone off the bat as it sailed through the metrodome's air. The ball cleared the navy wall in right center, landed beyond the far left of the folded up bleachers in what was arguably the longest home run ever hit by a golden bear. His solo shot tied the score at four and gave concordia the momentum for the later innings.

in the fifth, anderson was replaced by redshirt-freshman righty andy fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) for his concordia debut. Fagely struck out two in his first inning of work turning the lineup back over to cu.

in the bottom of the fifth, schneider led off with a single to right, again setting the table for the top of the order. Lippincott smoked a shot to right center, schneider sprinting around the bases for the go-ahead run with lippincott sliding in for his second triple of the game. It's the first time concordia had two triples in a game since nearly a full year ago on february 6, 2009 when s.fagely did it against u-mary.

lippincott was driven home on the next pitch when junior left fielder jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) delivered an rbi single down the right field line. Furrow followed with a walk but concordia would strand their two on base with no outs.

leading by two late, northwestern's offense came back alive with a leadoff ground rule double to the left center gap before an rbi triple down the right field line by matt gray. Gray scored on a sacrifice fly to right but a.fagely settled back down, striking out the final two to retire the side with a tie score at 6 apiece.

a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth against reliever eddie pantzlaff sent the game into it's final frame.

a.fagely surrendered a one out triple to right center before walking negaard, who swiped second for his third steal of the game.

a.fagely struck out the final two batters once again to close out the raiders with force.

in the seventh, northwestern went to the 'pen again, calling on bret larson who couldn't get an out. A sharp single by lippincott started things out, and he advanced when stockton layed down an excellent sacrifice bunt and appeared poised to beat the throw at first that sailed high, advancing each runner a base to second and third with no outs. The raiders intentionally walked furrow to load the bases. Sophomore first baseman logan bouts (hopkins, minn.) basically just needed to put the bat on the ball to win the game, and he did precisely as much hitting a sharp grounder to second with lippincott racing home for the game winning run.

a.fagely earned the victory with his three relief innings, striking out six on just 47 pitches. Anderson received a no decision in his first start of the year, working four full innings allowing three earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts.

mike zoellner, a left hander, also had a no decision start for northwestern, working five innings of six run pitching on six hits. Larson took the loss, giving up two hits and a walk while facing four batters without getting an out.

lippincott went 3-4 with two triples, three runs and three rbi in the first game while stockton was 2-4 with an rbi.

game 2: northwestern 5, concordia 4
sophomore right hander ben lemke (rosemount, minn.) was sharp allowing two runs (one earned) through his first five innings with five strikeouts and forcing two double play groundouts.

in the meantime, the concordia offense continued their surge from the comeback win, this time jumping out to an early lead.

in the first, with two outs, furrow pounded a ground rule double to deep centerfield. Bouts singled and advanced to second on a throw home, giving cu runners on second and third with two outs. Sophomore third baseman troy dubay (urbandale, iowa) delivered a two out, two run single through the hole in the left side to put cu ahead early.

they added two more in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead behind an rbi double down the left field line by s.fagely.

northwestern countered with a run in the fourth to cut into cu's lead, 4-2.

in the sixth inning with the same score, lemke began to hit a wall as he surrendered three triples and a double to the five batters he faced and left the game with one out in the inning after relinquishing the lead as nwc scored three times.

freshman left hander patrick rydeen (stillwater, minn.) came out of the pen to work out of the jam, stranding a runner on third as he got a lazy fly out to center before striking out gingerich swinging.

there would be no late inning rally in game two for concordia, though, as their 3-4-5 hitters went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh.

lemke took the loss, falling to 0-1, pitching 5.1 innings. He allowed five runs (four earned) with five strikeouts and no walks.

the win was earned by chase rozeboom who retired all three batters he faced in the fifth while brad payne moved from short to the mound to pick up the save in the seventh.

furrow finished 2-4 in the second game and now has 180 career hits for concordia. Both of his hits were well hit doubles. Bouts also had a two hit performance, going 2-4 while dubay was 1-3 with a pair of rbi. S.fagely had cu's third two-hit effort, going 2-3 with a run and an rbi.

concordia is now off for the next three weeks, returning to metrodome on february 24-25 for a pair of 12:15 p.m. Doubleheaders against st. John's (mn) and kansas wesleyan.

metrodome officials were unable to provide an internet connection for live stats or an audio broadcast, but were confident that a connection would be in place for the games later in february. Continue to check www.cugoldenbears.com for updates.