st. Paul, minn. - the concordia baseball team (14-9, 8-6 nsic) dropped a pair of close nsic games this afternoon against wayne state (16-16, 9-9 nsic) on a rainy day at barnes field. They dropped the first game 7-3 before a 6-4 loss in game two. Junior bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) extended his hitting streak to 21 games to tie the school record. game 1 box | game 2 box
the series concludes tomorrow with a doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. The start time was pushed back an hour to allow the coaching staff to prepare the field after today's rain.
game 1: wayne state 7, cu 3
concordia scored a pair of third inning runs to take a 2-1 lead heading into the middle innings in game one. Junior right hander chris peterson (st. Anthony, minn.) survived the first three innings despite forcing wayne state to leave five runners on base early.
in the fourth, they finally got to him, scoring three times and they wouldn't relinquish the lead from there.
peterson allowed a runner to reach scoring position in every inning in the game, but was able to grind his way to a complete game.
trailing 4-3 in the fifth, concordia left the tying run on second base. In the sixth, trailing 6-3, they loaded the bases with the 7-8-9 hitters with no outs, but the top of the order stranded the bases full with the go-ahead run in the batter's box for three straight outs.
peterson took the loss for concordia, allowing seven runs (four earned) on 12 hits while striking out and walking four to fall to 2-2.
wayne state ace austen wisroth pitched a complete game win for the wildcats, allowing three earned on seven hits, striking out six and walking four.
peterson got the start in place of junior right hander ben lemke (rosemount, minn.) who was a late scratch. His status for the remainder of the weekend is not known and has not been announced by the team, but freshman right hander adam kramer (wausau, wis.) and sophomore right hander andy fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) should both be available on regular rest.
lippincott went 2-4 with his 11th double and an rbi in the loss. Sophomore j.t. Schneider (oak creek, wis.) went 1-2 with an rbi.
game 2: wayne state 6, cu 4
concordia turned to sophomore left hander griff kilber (chanhassen, minn.) for game two as he made his first start of the season.
he didn't disappoint, either, as he was tremendous through the first six innings and led into the seventh.
wayne state scored an unearned run without a hit off him in the first inning and added a run in the top of the fifth for a 2-0 lead.
in the bottom of the inning, it appeared as if wayne state's tadd johansen was in cruise control, retiring the first two batters of the inning quickly. He allowed just two hits and didn't walk anyone through the first 4.2 innings of work.
but with two down, concordia started a rally at the bottom of their lineup. Redshirt freshman elliot powell (minnetonka, minn.) drilled a single to left. Junior centerfielder kris long (rochester, minn.) pulled a double to the left centerfield gap, as powell raced around third. Wayne state had two relay throws in from the outfield with the throw still beating powell to the plate. But powell's slide kicked the ball loose from the catcher's glove while long took third on the play to get cu within a run.
schneider followed by bouncing a grounder to first, with the first baseman ranging to his right. Schneider beat johansen to the base on a close play to get long in from third to tie the game.
in the sixth inning, johansen again plowed through concordia's first two hitters. But with two outs, the rally started with a walk to senior jon stockton (oakdale, minn.). Stockton's walk was his 93rd in his career, surpassing mason reinhart (2004-07) for sole possession of the record. A base hit and another walk loaded the bases for powell, who delivered a two run single to centerfield for a 4-2 cu lead.
the lead was short lived, however, as kilber hit a wall in the seventh. He left with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh and a 4-2 lead. Junior left handed reliever cody wilcoxson (aurora, colo.) came in to face wayne state's top hitter, mike bisenius. Bisenius place a base hit over powell's head at first and drove in two runs and cleanup hitter travis parsons followed with an rbi groundout to give the wildcats the lead.
they added one more in the inning and led 6-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh. But johansen settled back into a groove, only allowing one runner to reach in the final three innings and inducing a double play line out to retire cu in order in all three frames.
wilcoxson was sharp in the late innings as well, retiring the final seven batters of the game as the rain started to come down harder.
kilber took the loss, allowing five hits and walking five in 6.1 innings. He was charged with five runs (four earned) and falls to 0-1. Wilcoxson worked 2.2 innings of relief, allowing a run on two hits. He struck out three and walked one.
powell went 2-4 with two rbi while schneider was 2-3 with an rbi and was 3-5 in the doubleheader to raise his average back to .329.
johansen went the distance for wayne state, a 9.0 inning outing as he allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking two to improve to 4-3.
