St. Paul, Minn. - In a crucial late season nsic midweek doubleheader, Concordia University (18-13, 12-10 nsic) and Minnesota Duluth (16-23, 12-15 nsic) split at Barnes Field, with Concordia winning the first game 3-1 before falling by the same score in game two. Junior right hander Ben Lemke (Rosemount, Minn.) returned to the mound and improved to 4-0 with a complete game win in the first game while junior third baseman Bryan Lippincott (Des Moines, Iowa) saw his 28-game hitting streak come to a close in the second game. game 1 box | game 2 box
Lippincott's hitting streak was a school record, spanning 28 games as he's hit safely in 29 of Concordia's 31 games on the season and leads the team with a .455 average. He doubled in a run in a 3-run fifth inning in the first game, bringing home the third run with his 16th double. He also walked and stole his 10th base earlier in the game. In game two, he was 0-3 but was intentionally walked in his final plate appearance in the eighth inning with a runner on second base.
Game 1: cu 3, umd 1
The Bulldogs scored a run in the second inning and held the lead into the bottom of the fifth inning. But with two outs, Concordia rallied as ninth batter J.T. Schneider (so., 2b, oak creek, wis.) doubled to keep things going. A walk by junior shortstop Troy Dubay (Urbandale, Iowa) set up a two run double by redshirt freshman Elliot Powell (1b, Minnetonka, Minn.) and Lippincott's rbi double followed for the three run inning, all with two outs.
Powell (right) extended his hitting streak to 12 games before going 0-4 in game two to stop the second longest hitting streak on the team this season.
It was all the support Lemke needed as he scattered seven hits and allowed just one unearned run in the game. He struck out six and didn't walk anyone as he improves to 4-0 with a 2.65 era on the year.
Lemke's line didn't have a single perfect inning but he induced inning ending double-plays in the fourth and fifth innings.
It was his first start since april 17th and it was worth the wait for the Golden Bears and it looked as though he never missed a beat.
Concordia slugged five doubles in the game while Lemke didn't allow a single umd extra base hit, forcing seven singles to the Bulldogs.
Collin Stinogel took the loss for UMD, falling to 1-4 as he pitched 4.2 innings while allowing three runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Game 2: umd 3, cu 1
In game two, umd took an early lead with an unearned run once again, this time off freshman right hander Adam Kramer (Wausau, Wis.) in the first inning, on an attempted double steal attempt with marcus riewer being gunned down at second base by junior catcher Doug Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.) allowing Tyler Erickson to score on the play.
Concordia would tie the game in the bottom of the fourth as senior right fielder Sam Fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.) doubled in senior left fielder Jon Stockton (Oakdale, Minn.). It was S.Fagely's second double of the day and 10th on the season while Stockton went 2-4 in the second game to raise his average to .379.
The score remained tied until the top of the seventh, when A. Kramer ran into trouble. A leadoff single and sacrifice bunt allowed Josh Threlkeld to bring home a run with a double into the right center gap.
That ended A.Kramer's day as he worked 6.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with three strikeouts. He would end up taking the loss, falling to 1-3. He had retired seven straight batters until the seventh inning in a solid outing.
He was relieved by senior right hander Nick Anderson (Plymouth, Minn.) who pitched out of his jam and closed the game down for Concordia, working 2.2 innings and allowing just a run on three hits.
But the offense couldn't execute late in the game with runners on and in scoring position. CU stranded nine runners for the game, leaving five in scoring position throughout.
In the eighth inning, Dubay singled to lead things off and moved to second on a umd error. With one out and first base open, the Bulldogs gave Lippincott a free pass to put two on with one down. The next two hitters flew out to the outfield to end the inning.
In the ninth, Concordia started another late inning rally as they've done often in 2011. A leadoff walk to Stearns was followed by an infield single through the right side by junior Logan Bouts (dh, Hopkins, Minn.). They were sacrificed by top bunter Kris Long (right, jr., cf, Rochester, Minn.) to second and third with one out. Long went 3-3 in the game and is hitting .314.
But two more fly outs to the outfield left the tying run on second and winning run in the batter's box to end the game.
It didn't help matters that the wind was blowing in from the northeast, essentially straight in from centerfield, at 15-20 miles per hour in each game, knocking those late inning fly balls down.
Jordan Smith picked up the win, pitching 7.0 innings and allowing just a run on six hits. Josh Taran and Josh Foreman pitched a scoreless inning of relief apiece, with foreman getting his second save as smith improved to 2-3.
UMD only struck concordia out once in the finale.
The split is key for this weekend as the nsic season comes to a close and the teams fight for the top six spots to make the nsic tournament and a run at the league's automatic bid to the ncaa tournament. Concordia, two games above .500, plays a home and home with St. Cloud State for four games while umd, three games below .500, hosts Minnesota Crookston for a four game series.
Concordia may need to win the series with scsu to reach the tournament if umd is able to sweep umc.
