St. Paul, Minn. - It's only fitting that the 2011 Concordia baseball season (18-16, 12-13 nsic) comes to a close with a rain-out. Sunday at Barnes Field was no exception to the rule that dictated their campaign, after an 18-6 game one loss to #13 St. Cloud State (38-7, 26-6 nsic), game two was called due to rain and unplayable field conditions. Concordia's season ending four game skid moved them to eighth in the nsic standings, finishing just one game out of a tournament berth for the second time in three years. game 1 box | game 2 cancelled | gallery
The 2009 golden bears also finished a game out of a tournament spot, while last year's team also finished in eighth place in the final league standings.
Today's game had the wind blowing out for the first time all season at Barnes Field and the visiting huskies capitalized by hitting three home runs and keeping concordia's sluggers in the park.
In the first inning, Jordan Smith hit a two run homer for scsu to give them the early lead.
In the second inning, junior shortstop Troy Dubay (right, Urbandale, Iowa) drilled a triple to the right centerfield gap scoring a run, his second triple of the year.
He scored the tying run as he was running on the pitch for an attempted squeeze play with redshirt freshman Drew Turk (below, Plainfield, ill.) at the plate. Turk wasn't able to make contact, as the pitched was wild in the dirt, as Dubay scored and was credited with stealing home on the pitch.
But just like in yesterday's games, St. Cloud state responded with a big inning, scoring six runs in the third to blow the game open.
Concordia scored two more in the fourth and fifth innings, but allowed three runs in the top of the fifth as well to stall their comeback attempt.
Trailing 11-6 in the bottom of the sixth with the rain coming down at a steady pace, Concordia loaded the bases with one out but bounced into an inning ending double play to end the threat. In the three game series, Concordia left 37 runners on base in 23 innings of play, with 10 of those coming today.
In the seventh, scsu put up one last big inning as the rain opened up even more, causing a 30-minute delay with two outs in the inning.
Dubay finished the game 1-1 with a walk, scoring twice and driving in two. Turk was 3-4 at the plate batting behind him.
Seniors Sam fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Jon Stockton (Oakdale, Minn.), Concordia's corner outfielders, played in their final collegiate game while Nick Anderson (Plymouth, Minn.) had his final career start rained out as he was penciled in as the game two starter.
S.Fagely went 1-1 for his 101st career hit along with three walks while stockton returned to the leadoff spot, drawing his 101st walk and driving in a run. Anderson finishes his cu career as a 20-game winner, going 20-12 with 11 saves.
The three players were all four year program contributors and emerged as leaders, each in their own way. All three seniors played on Concordia's 2008 nsic championship team, with stockton in left for the final out and anderson serving as the winning pitcher in the game. The following year, the trio, as sophomores, helped the golden bears to a school record 35 win season.
As seniors, the team was only able to play in 34 total games, having their 19th game called due to rain in the finale.
