st. Paul, minn. - concordia university's home opener was spoiled this afternoon by minnesota state, who defeated the golden bears 11-1 and 12-2 in what was also concordia's nsic opener. The golden bears also saw their six game winning streak come to a close with the home losses at barnes field. game 1 box | game 2 box | gallery
concordia falls to 6-5 on the season and opens nsic play 0-2 while the mavericks' three game losing skid came to a close as they improved to 14-8 overall and 7-3 in the nsic.
offensively, concordia's bright spot came from the bat of junior third baseman bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) as he extended his hitting streak to nine games and hit concordia's first home run of the season. The homer, pictured right, came in the first game and cut the score to 5-1 at the time but would be concordia's only run, an opposite field homer that bounced off the yellow rim on top of the fence and caroming over.
in game two, lippincott went 1-3 again but struck out twice as msu right hander blake schwartz, the nsic pitcher of the year last season and this year's nsic preseason pitcher of the year, was in control.
lippincott is still maintaining a .468 average on the year and his second game hit was his sixth double.
schwartz, meanwhile, struck out nine over six innings as he allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits without issuing a walk. He had excellent control for the mavericks, throwing 60 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He improved to 5-1 with a 1.91 earned run average with the win.
in the first game, concordia starter, freshman right hander adam kramer (wausau, wis.) came out strong. The rookie righty was in command early, working inside and outside and mixing up his pitches to the veteran-laden maverick lineup. He was unphased the first time through their lineup as he struck out three over the first two innings and did not allow a hit.
in the third inning, he had some hard luck as the defense committed an error to open the inning before getting a bunt single to turn the lineup over to the top. A sacrifice bunt set-up a three run inning of which only one was earned.
a similar story in the fourth inning for the youngster as another error led to an unearned run in a two run inning as msu opened up a 5-0 lead.
the trend continued as the team committed five errors in the loss and seven in the doubleheader.
lippincott's homer brought life back into the concordia dugout, but a first inning scoring chance getting caught at home on a double steal with two outs haunted them early.
in the fifth, kramer started to run out of steam as he walked the first two hitters before inducing a pop-out bunt for his first out. A single to load the bases and a hit batsmen loaded the bases and ended his outing.
kramer's line ended up worse as his three inherited runs were allowed to score. He worked 4.1 innings and was charged with six earned runs and struck out four, taking the loss to fall to 0-2 but continued to show his ability to be a solid starter in the northern sun in just his second career start against a solid offensive club.
junior left hander ty hall (spring lake park, minn.) worked 2.2 innings of relief to close out the game for cu, allowing two runs (one earned) while striking out two.
msu starter danny miller, a left hander and also their fifth batter in the lineup, improved to 5-1 with the win as he worked six innings and only allowed the lippincott long ball among four hits. He struck out five and walked one to lower his earned run average to 1.98.
matt kuchenbecker, msu's second baseman and second batter, went 3-4 with 7 rbi in the game without hitting an extra base hit.
the second game saw msu take a 3-0 lead into the middle innings of a 9-inning game. But in the fifth, they blew the game open with a four run inning.
senior right hander nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) had been solid until that point, mixing his breaking ball and working both corners in his first start of the season. He took the loss, though, falling to 0-1 after working 4.1 innings.
it was a four run fifth inning for msu and they added five more in the sixth to build a 12-2 lead.
concordia came up with two runs in the bottom of the sixth as lippincott doubled to lead off the inning and was driven home by senior left fielder jon stockton (right, oakdale, minn.). Stockton would score on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.).
junior left hander cody wilcoxson (aurora, colo.) relieved anderson and worked 1.2 innings while being charged with one earned run among the five total runs he allowed. Sophomore southpaw griff kilber (chanhassen, minn.) worked a scoreless seventh for cu.
offensively, stockton and junior center fielder kris long (right, rochester, minn.) each had two hit days, going 2-3. Long also swiped his fourth base of the season and is hitting .359 on year. Stockton is still strong at .432.
concordia continues nsic play this weekend as they are scheduled to head north to bemidji state for a four game weekend series on saturday and sunday.
