St. Paul, Minn. - Concordia University (11-6, 6-3 nsic) scored a pair of Northern Sun victories this afternoon at Barnes Field, sweeping the University of Mary (7-17, 3-11 nsic) thanks to three big innings. In a game one 5-3 win, Concordia scored five runs in the fourth inning. In game two, they scored five runs in the third and six runs in the fifth inning en route to a 14-7 victory. game 1 box | game 2 box
In both games, the Marauder starting pitchers were effective the first time through the order to keep Concordia off the board early. But Concordia batted around the second time through the order in both games to rattle the U-Mary starters.
In the doubleheader, junior third baseman Bryan Lippincott (Des Moines, Iowa) was able to keep his hitting streak alive at 15 games by going 3-8 with a home run, five rbi and a pair of runs. The homer was his fourth of the season and he's maintaining a league leading .459 average on the year.
Batting behind him in the order, senior left fielder Jon Stockton (Oakdale, Minn.) went 4-6 with four runs, two doubles, two walks and a stolen base to raise his average to .441. Stockton has now hit safely in seven straight games.
Senior right handed pitcher Nick Anderson (Plymouth, Minn.) saved both games for Concordia, pitching 5.0 innings while allowing two earned runs on six hits. He struck out five and didn't walk any batters. The saves were his first of the season and give him 10 for his career. After a few rough outings to begin his senior campaign, anderson has taken control on the hill. In his last three appearances, anderson has worked 9.0 innings allowing just two earned runs while striking out seven with only two walks. In his last four outings, he's earned two wins and two saves.
game 1: cu 5, u-mary 3
Concordia never trailed in the first game, as the five run fourth inning was enough runs for junior right handed starting pitcher Ben Lemke (Rosemount, Minn.). Lemke was in cruise control early, shutting the Marauders out through four innings. He finished the day working 6.0 innings, allowing three earned runs to improve to 3-0. He struck out six batters in the process in just his fifth start of the season.
Concordia's big inning came after they had been retired in order in each of the first three frames, grounding into a double play in the second and getting caught stealing in the third to squander their only runners in the early goings.
But in the fourth, Concordia used a leadoff single by shortstop Troy Dubay (jr., Urbandale, Iowa) and he was advanced to second on a ground out to short for a productive out. From there, concordia's middle of the order produced four straight hits while the bottom of the lineup also produced two out rbi singles.
Concordia only managed one hit in their final two innings at bat but Lemke and Anderson shut the door on the Marauder rally.
Lemke was hit for two runs in the sixth inning but he clamped down by stranding runners on second and third base with two outs, striking out U-Mary leadoff hitter alex deyle looking to end the threat.
The Marauders left seven runners on in the game while Concordia stranded only three runners. U-mary left three in scoring position and had another runner cut down at third base on an outfield assist by right fielder Sam Fagely (sr., Mahtomedi, Minn.). Fagely, who had caught in the first 15 games of the season, came up with two outfield assists in the doubleheader after starting the year throwing out 11 of 21 base stealers behind the plate. His second assist came in the first inning of game two to help limit the damage of a two-run first inning by the visitors as he gunned down a run at the plate.
In the first game, Stockton (right) went 2-3 with his ninth and tenth doubles of the year while redshirt freshman Elliot Powell (Minnetonka, Minn.) also went 2-3 and knocked in a run. He went 3-4 in game two and with the 5-7 doubleheader performance raised his season average to .383.
Marauder starting pitcher Matt Madeiros went the distance for the loss, falling to 2-3.
game 2: cu 14, u-mary 7
After scoring the last three runs of the first game, U-mary stayed hot into the early part of game two as they built a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning.
Left handed starter Reid Jungling was throwing a lot of off speed and breaking pitches to work his way through the Concordia lineup early on.
But the CU bats came alive in the third inning and put two runners on base for Lippincott, who turned on a breaking pitch and pulled it over the right field fence for a three run homer. His homer was the second of five straight hits including a laced rbi double to right field by junior catcher Doug Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.).
Stearns made his first two starts of the season behind the plate, throwing out one base stealer and tagging out another on a squeeze attempt. U-Mary only stole once in three tries off stearns and the CU pitching staff. The botched squeeze play was big, as the game was tied at five in the fifth inning at the time.
And while U-Mary missed their opportunity to go ahead, Concordia made them pay in the bottom of the inning as they produced six straight one-out hits with S.Fagely delivering a two-out, two-run single to cap a six run inning that gave Concordia an 11-5 lead in the middle innings.
After the big inning, Concordia junior right handed starter Chris Peterson (St. Anthony, Minn.) finished his day. He worked 5.0 innings allowing three earned runs (five total) to pick up his second win. Anderson finished off the game, working four innings with four strikeouts and no walks. He allowed two late runs as his only blemish of his two save day.
Seven Concordia hitters had two-plus hit performances led by Powell's (pictured below) 3-4, two rbi effort along with sophomore second baseman J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, Wis.) who was also 3-4 and scored three times out of the ninth spot in the order.
the wins move concordia into sole possession of fifth place in the nsic standings. They'll to keep rolling tomorrow as they conclude their four game set with the marauders with another 7/9 inning doubleheader at barnes field with the first pitch set for noon.
