st. Paul, minn. - the concordia university baseball team (14-22, 6-9 nsic) has now won four of their past five games after sweeping northern state (4-29, 1-15 nsic) 10-9 and 9-3 on a rainy wednesday afternoon at barnes field. Freshman j.t. Schneider (oak creek, wis.) hit safely in each game to extend his hitting streak to 15 on the season, but it was his line drive base hit in the bottom of the ninth that scored the winning run of the first game. In game two, freshman hogan jackson (above, oakdale, minn.) won in his first collegiate start on the mound, striking out five in five strong innings to improve to 2-0. game 1 box | game 2 box
game 1: cu 10, northern state 9
the golden bears worked their way back from a 6-0 deficit after a 23 minute rain delay that paused action in the top of the third inning of a nine inning contest.
they got things going in the bottom of the third with senior brenden furrow's (johnston, iowa) rbi single to left field. Furrow's rbi single helped him establish a new cu career rbi record, and he would add four more in the doubleheader. In the second game, his fourth run scored of the day put him in a tie for first in career runs scored with 137, joining matt borman (2003-04, 07). Furrow finished the two games 5-9 at the plate.
a few batters after furrow, jackson delivered an rbi single up the middle and would add another one (also up the middle) in the fifth inning to cut the score to 6-3.
after the rain delay, concordia turned to left handed freshman patrick rydeen (stillwater, minn.) to relieve starter ben lemke (rhp, so, rosemount, minn.).
rydeen took control of the game, as he was tagged for three runs in 4.2 innings with all three runs coming on a pair of home runs on a windy day at the ballpark. Rydeen strcuk out five and walked only one batter in an impressive long relief appearance.
trailing 6-3 in the sixth inning, furrow cranked a three-run homer to deep left field, a tape measure shot that one-hopped the centerfield fence at carlander field, cu's home softball field adjacent to barnes field. Furrow's homer was his eighth of the season and tied the score at six.
the teams traded two runs each in the seventh inning, ending rydeen's day as he gave way to right hander nick anderson (jr., plymouth, minn.) for the final two innings.
anderson allowed one run in two innings with two strikeouts and was the pitcher of record when cu came to bat with a tie score in the bottom of the ninth.
sophomore bryan lippincott (right, des moines, iowa) came up with two outs in the ninth and delivered a well hit single down the right field line. With schneider up, lippincott took off for his second stolen base of the game (11th of the season), sliding in safely with the throw sailing into centerfield. Lippincott alerty sprung to his feet and darted to third, setting schneider up for an rbi opportunity with 180 foot dash.
schneider pounced on the 2-2 pitch, the sixth pitch of his at bat, lifting a well struck liner into right field to drive in the winning run with two outs.
the winning pitcher was anderson, improving to 4-5 in his 18th appearance of the season.
lippincott went 3-6, schneider 2-5, furrow 3-5 and logan bouts (so., hopkins, minn.) 3-5 as the 1-4 hitters combined to maul the wolves pitching at a 11-21 clip. Jackson finished the first game with another multi-hit effort, going 2-5 with a pair of rbi.
the wolves used four long balls, two by payton mccleary, to put up their scoring. Mccleary's homers were his first of the season and he raised his average from .169 to .193 with a three-hit performance out of the eighth spot in the order.
the key for concordia came with the glove work, with junior left fielder blake devries (eden prairie, minn.) throwing out a runner at the plate with sophomore catcher troy dubay (urbandale, iowa) blocking the plate and coming up with the throw simultaneously while applying the tag in a dramatic play.
jackson made an outstanding play at the hot corner as well, going to his right for a sharply hit grounder before it hit the base and popped up. Showing excellent concentration, jackson bare-handed the ball and fired across the diamond to get the runner.
in the eighth inning with the score tied at eight, northern loaded the bases with one out for their third hitter, lucas jung. Jung hit a sharp grounder to jackson, who scooped it up and fired home to junior catcher sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) who just moved behind the plate from right field. Fagely pivoted off the plate and fired to first for a rare and crucial inning ending 5-2-3 double play to end the nsu threat.
the combination of base running, defense, pitching and hitting helped concordia rally around each other for the game 1 comeback.
game 2: cu 9, northern state 3
in game two, concordia didn't waste any time asserting their will, posting a five run second inning to claim a 5-1 lead. The inning started with three consecutive singles and an error before dubay (now playing 3b), lifted a long fly ball to deep right center. A ball that certainly would've carried out for a homer in the first game bounced off the fence with a calmer, clearer atmosphere after the first game rain passed through.
dubay drove in one with his seventh double of the season while schneider added another run for cu with a sacrifice fly to right field.
but the tone was set in the top of the first with jackson on the mound. He struck out the side in the first inning and stranded runners on first and second. He was pinched for an unearned run in the second inning before enducing an inning ending 4-6-3 double play in the third.
in the bottom of the third, devries stepped up and stroked a high home run to left center off the top of the gangelhoff center. It was a two run shot for devries, his 12th home run of the season and just his second at homer-friendly barnes field but most importantly gave concordia a 7-1 lead after three. Devries' 12 home runs are the third most hit in a single season at concordia, just two shy of matt borman's 2007 record of 14.
jackson performed well with the run support, allowing just the one unearned run through his first four innings of work. In the fifth, with his pitch count reaching levels he hadn't touched yet this season, the wolves got to him for a two run homer before he struck out the final batter of the inning with runners on second and third.
the five inning, two earned run performance for jackson lowers his season era to 3.95. He leads the team in era and opponent batting average (.263) in six overall appearances.
furrow's rbi double followed by bouts' rbi single in the fourth pushed cu's lead to 9-1 before jackson allowed the two run homer in the top of the fifth.
it was all they needed as sophomore lhp ty hall (spring lake park, minn.) finished off the final two innings on the mound, allowing just one hit with a strikeout in a solid showing from the bullpen.
concordia's starting lineup all had at least one hit while five players had two-hit performances. Lippincott went 5-10 in the doubleheader and is now hitting .403 on the year to lead the team from the leadoff spot. His 58 hits on the season are tied for 10th most in a season all-time, just 11 shy of furrow's single season record set last season. Furrow is not behind lippincott, though, with 53. Furrow already holds the top two single season hits marks, with 69 last year and 68 in 2008.
jackson had another multi-hit game, going 2-3 and is now hitting .355. He has multi-hit games in 11 of his last 14 contests.
concordia's two errors in the second game snapped a three game errorless streak by the defense.
the golden bears remain at home this weekend for a four game nsic series against minnesota crookston. Cu has won 4 of 5 heading into the series as they look to regain momentum in the league standings
