St. Paul, Minn. - The Concordia baseball team (17-12, 11-9 nsic) has now won three straight games as they swept Northern State (11-21, 9-15) 7-0 and 9-5 on a chilly sunday afternoon at Barnes Field, firming their grasp on sixth place in the Northern Sun standings. Right handers Chris Peterson (jr., St. Anthony, Minn.) and Nick Anderson (sr., Plymouth, Minn.) picked up the wins, with Peterson throwing a complete game (7-innings) shutout while Anderson worked 2.2 scoreless in relief in game two. game 1 box | game 2 box
Anderson has now posted a 5-0 record with 3 saves over his last nine appearances and is 2-0 this week in 12.2 innings against Augustana and Northern state, working a 10-inning complete game on wednesday at Augustana.
Junior third baseman Bryan Lippincott (Des Moines, Iowa) extended his hitting streak to 27 by hitting safely in each game, going 3-8 with his 15th double, ninth stolen base, two runs and three rbi in the doubleheader. He's leading the league at .466 and has scored 36 runs with 38 rbi in 29 games.
As a team, Concordia got aggressive on the bases with nine stolen bases in 10 chances in the two games, which helped offset a day of singles as they had 20 singles and two doubles among their 22 total hits.
game 1: cu 7, northern state 0
Peterson was in command, working just 99 total pitches while scattering four hits and two walks while striking out five. He improved to 3-2 on the season while lowering his earned run average to 3.46.
Only two runners advanced into scoring position against Peterson, a runner on third in the first inning and runners on first and second in the sixth. He worked 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and seventh innings and allowed stranded two out singles in the second and fifth innings.
Concordia got all the runs they needed in the first inning, starting with a leadoff single to junior shortstop Tfoy Dubay (Urbandale, Iowa). He scored on an rbi single by Lippincott with one out, while junior catcher Doug Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.) added an rbi single for the third run with two outs in the inning, scoring senior left fielder Jon Stockton (Oakdale, Minn.).
LIppincott and Stockton each stole second base in the inning to keep things moving.
Concordia added a run in the second and third innings and two more in the sixth for insurance purposes.
In his final at bat of the first game, redshirt freshman first baseman Elliot Powell (Minnetonka, Minn.) extended his hitting streak with a base hit up the middle and went 1-3 with an rbi in the first game. He'd add another hit in the second game to continue the streak to 11 games, the second longest of the season for the team behind Lippincott's record 27-gamer.
Stockton stole a pair of bases and walked twice in the game, leading to a pair of runs while junior center fielder Kris Long (Rochester, minn.) would produce a 3-3 performance and swiped his seventh and eighth bases of the year as well, adding another bunt single in the second inning.
Trent Bestland took the loss for the wolves, falling to 0-5 as he went the distance, pitching all six innings while allowing seven runs (five earned) on 11 hits. No one had multiple hits for the wolves as peterson truly scattered their offense.
game 2: cu 9, northern state 5
The Wolves jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Concordia's bats started to chill out in the cool 40 degree and windy weather. After a rough first two innings by sophomore right hander Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.), he settled into a groove.
Most importantly, however, he limited the NSU offense's damage in the first two innings. The Wolves scored one in the first but left runners on first and second with one out, and let the bases loaded in the second inning.
From there, A.Fagely would retire the wolves in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings, allowing only a hit but inducing an inning-ending double play in the fifth inning to end the threat. He worked 3.2 scoreless in the middle innings, allowing only the one hit.
The offense finally provided some support in the middle innings as well, after northern state starter Lucas Jung worked three no-hit innings to start the game.
In the fourth, a one out walk by stockton would get things in motion as senior right fielder Sam Fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.) followed with a single up the middle. After an out, Concordia pulled together a pair of hits for a two out rally as junior dh Logan Bouts (Hopkins, Minn.) delivered an rbi single to center and stole second, setting up a two-run single by redshirt freshman Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.) who got the start in center and went 2-4 with the two rbi.
Ahead 3-1, A.Fagely allowed an unearned run in the sixth but forced the Wolves to strand runners on first and second.
In the top of the seventh, he hit a wall and was unable to record a second out in the inning. After back-to-back rbi doubles and three runs already in, Concordia turned to the bullpen and the super versatile Anderson.
He quickly struck out the two Wolves he faced in the inning to pitch out of the jam, but the Wolves would take a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
A.Fagely worked 6.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits. He struck out four and only walked one as the top control pitcher in the Northern Sun continued his run in that capacity.
In the bottom of the inning, Concordia rallied around the senior reliever who pitched them out of trouble. The sent all nine batters to the plate highlighted by back-to-back doubles by Lippincott and Stockton. Lippincott's hit the base of the fence in centerfield and was his only hit in the game, extending his hitting streak and driving in a run. Stockton's was a sharp grounder down the left field line that scored two runs as CU plated four in the inning. But they left runners on second and third as S.Fagely and Stearns stole second and third on a double steal but were stranded.
Stockton went 2-4 with three rbi and two runs in the second game and scored four times in the two games.
They added an insurance run in the eighth as Dubay walked, and was moved up to second and third before Lippincott hit him in with a sac fly to left.
Anderson allowed one runner to reach on error in the eighth and struck out the final batter of the game after a two out single in the ninth to improve to 5-1. He pitched 2.2 innings of relief, allowing just the one hit and striking out four.
Jung worked 6.0 innings in the loss for Northern State, allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits. He didn't strike out any Golden Bears. Sean Winslow pitched the final two innings, allowing a pair of runs.
Zach Miller went 3-5 to lead Northern State while Max Myers was 2-5 with a pair of rbi in the cleanup spot. Each had a double for NSU's only extra base hits of the day.
Concordia holds onto sixth place with the wins and will face Minnesota Duluth on tuesday in a crucial doubleheader as the surging Bulldogs look to finish strong. They defeated Augustana 4-0 in the first game of their series today and are slated to finish out the four game series with three tomorrow in Duluth. The Bulldogs are currently winners of six straight games and into a virtual tie for seventh at 10-12 in the nsic, percentage points behind 14-16 Upper Iowa.
