st. Paul, minn. - the concordia baseball team (9-18, 1-5) picked up their first nsic win of the season, winning the second game 7-2 after a wild first game in which they fell on the short side of a slugfest, 13-12 against wayne state (11-13, 7-3 nsic) at barnes field. In the first game loss, concordia left 17 runners on base and had another runner cut down at home. Sophomore right handed pitcher chris peterson (st. Anthony, minn.) hurled a complete game to follow to shut down the surging wildcat offense. Sophomore shortstop bryan lippincott (right, des moines, iowa) led concordia's offense in the two games, combining to go 6-for-10 with two home runs, a triple, five rbi and four runs from the leadoff spot. Tomorrow's doubleheader will complete the season series and has been moved up an hour to 11:00 a.m. To accommodate expected showers and storms in the twin cities. game 1 box | game 2 box
game 1: wayne state 13, cu 12
another spring day, another 1-run game for the golden bears. It was their 13th game decided by a run and they fell on the wrong side of the equation for the ninth time. At the end of the game, they could only look in the mirror as they stranded 17 runners and had a runner caught stealing home on a failed suicide squeeze. They left the bases loaded in the 3rd and 8th innings and left at least one runner in scoring position in all nine frames.
another disturbing trend for the st. Paul-nine is their ineffectiveness in the first two innings of play, where they are outscored 66-23 on the season combined. Today, it was the second inning that bit the golden bears, as they allowed a four run frame on five singles.
in a four run hole, concordia answered in the bottom of the inning with a run as they strung together three singles of their own, scoring when junior jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) scored junior sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) on a single to center with one out. But the next two were retired and the rally was thwarted with just one run across. Stockton had a big first game, going 4-4 at the plate with a pair of walks, a double and a pair of runs. S.fagely was 3-6 with hits in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings including an rbi double and an rbi single and finished 3-6 on the day.
sophomore right hander ben lemke (rosemount, minn.) pitched far more effectively than his final pitching line would indicate. In the top of the third, he mowed down two wildcats in the games only 1-2-3 inning.
concordia responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning when freshman j.t. Schneider (left, oak creek, wis.) led off with a single through the left side of the infield and scored on senior brenden furrow's (johnston, iowa) three base error to center field. Furrow's hit was a rocket to dead center, but wayne cf joe wendte got under the ball on the warning track, letting the ball fall from his grasp. Furrow would score when s.fagely doubled off the heightened fence in left field with one out. Concordia used a pair of two out walks to load the bases but were called out on strikes with the bases full.
schneider had a day at the plate, going 5-10 in the two games including a 2-6 first game performance. Furrow scored three runs, reached on error twice and went 2-5 in the first game and went 4-9 on the day.
now trailing by just a run, lemke quickly retired the first two batters of the fourth inning. With six straight outs recorded, lemke issued a two out walk to the ninth batter, brandon polk. A stolen base was followed by a wendte single. Wendte stole second and the two runners scored on justin beranek's two-run double down the right field line. The two-out rally stole the momentum back from the golden bears.
lemke finished the day working into the sixth inning, pitching 5.2 innings allowing nine runs (eight earned) with six strikeouts to just two walks. He surrendered 14 of wayne state's 20 hits.
the game remained tight through the middle innings, with wayne state continued to counter-punch concordia's rallies. In the bottom of the sixth inning with the wildcats leading 9-6, concordia rallied. Lippincott delivered a two-out, two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded with sophomore troy dubay (urbandale, iowa) scoring on the play on a throwing error that sailed past third base.
in the seventh inning, concordia finally took the lead for the first time, an 11-10 advantage that was delivered off the bat of dubay, an rbi single through the right side that scored junior blake devries (eden prairie, minn.).
the lead was short lived, however, as wayne state led off the top of the eighth with wendte's second home run of the game, both to left field. Justin jackson would add a two-out two-run homer to left later in the inning to chase junior reliever ryan rodeck (rhp, lino lakes, minn.) from the game with concordia trailing 13-11.
in the bottom of the inning, lippincott lifted a homer to left to leadoff the inning and the next two batters reached on a single and hbp. With two outs, pinch hitter bryan hunt (so., north st. Paul, minn.) walked to load the bases but concordia couldn't get the big hit.
in the seventh, stockton led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on dubay's successful sacrifice bunt and advanced to third with lippincott's groundout to first. But he was stranded 90 feet away from tying the game.
game 2: cu 7, wayne state 2
in game two, concordia wasted no time getting on the board as lippincott laced a triple to the right centerfield gap and scored on schneider's rbi infield single deep in the hole at short, beating polk's strong throw. Schneider went 3-4 with two rbi and two stolen bases in the game, giving him 12 steals on the year.
with peterson on the mound, he struck out two in the first inning and had two outs in the second before giving up a single through the right side of the infield and a two-out two-run shot to wsc's eighth hitter, josh nielsen.
another game, another deficit after two innings as cu trailed 2-1.
but this time, peterson would take control of the game, retiring eight consecutive batters before finally giving up a pair of singles in the fifth inning but pitched out of the jam. He allowed a hit in the sixth and finally issued his first walk in the seventh to lead off the inning before inducing a 4-6-3 double play. With two outs, he allowed his seventh hit of the game to wayne's ninth batter, polk, a two-out double to left center. But he caught wendte looking to end the game for his first complete game of the year.
peterson was outstanding, striking out seven and only issuing one walk despite entering his fourth start having walked 10 batters in 17.2 innings on the year. He dropped his era to 4.01 and improved to 2-1 on the year.
but the offense started picking up some big hits in the middle innings. In the fourth, schneider led off with a single and stole second to move into scoring position for furrow. Furrow delivered an rbi single up the middle and was followed by a devries single. The two moved to 2nd and 3rd when s.fagely dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Freshman hogan jackson (oakdale, minn.) delivered an rbi single and stockton had a sacrifice fly to complete a three-run inning to give concordia a 4-2 lead.
jackson had a big day at the plate as well, going 2-3 with the rbi in the second game and combining to go 4-7 at the plate on the day, scoring two runs in the first game.
they added another run in the fifth inning on schneider's rbi double to the opposite field down the right field line and lippincott delivered a two-run homer in the sixth to put the game out of reach against the dominant peterson.
the most compelling story to come out of today's doubleheader was the continuing emergence of super-freshmen schneider and jackson, who man the second and third base positions defensively. They have lifted their averages to .333 and .297, respectively. Schneider has now hit safely in six straight games, lifting his average 51 points during the streak in which he has hit 10-24 five of his 12 steals. Jackson, meanwhile, has become a regular at the hot corner recently and has produced four multi-hit games in his last five, during which he's hitting .600 (9-15) while increasing his average from .091 to .297.
