TUCSON, Ariz. - It was a tough day at the park for the Golden Bear baseball team today, who dropped a pair of games to fall to 2-4 overall on the season. In the second 9-inning game of the day, Concordia stranded 19 runners on base in a 7-3 loss to Jamestown College (6-2-1). Freshman right hander Tyler Brekke (Lakeville, Minn.) was impressive in his collegiate debut, allowing just two hits and one earned run over six innings in a no decision. Earlier in the day, they fell 6-5 to Southwest Minnesota State despite carrying a 3-1 lead into the 8th inning.
BOX SCORES: CU-JC | CU-SMSU

Also earlier in the day, Concordia moved back into the NCBWA Central Region Top-10 all the way up to seventh after their two Sunday wins over SMSU evened their record at 2-2. Now 2-4, Concordia has four more games in Arizona as they aim to get above .500 for the first time this season.

Brekke retired the side in order in his first inning of college pitching work, striking out Nick Moreno looking to end the inning. He allowed just one hit the first time through the lineup before allowing an unearned run in the fourth inning.

In that inning, Brekke showed ability to pitch out of a jam, forcing Jamestown to leave runners on first and third.

After his third 1-2-3 inning of the game in the fifth, he was tagged for a leadoff homer in the sixth by Spencer Flaten that tied the game but bounced back to get out of the inning with a runner on first. In his debut, he only allowed the two hits, walked three and struck out two. He only needed 83 pitches in veteran-like efficiency as he threw 53 for strikes.

The Concordia offense couldn't blow the game open for him, though, and it wasn't because of a lack of baserunners. They hit into inning ending bases loaded double plays in the first and eighth innings, and left the bases loaded in the second, seventh and ninth innings. They also left runners on first and second base in the third and sixth innings and had runners on first and second in the fifth before getting picked off between second and third base with one out.

The results of their efforts to get on base at a high rate were disastrous, leaving 19 runners on for the game which does not account for the double plays and pickoff.

They scored two of their three runs via leadoff solo home runs, one by senior Bryan Lippincott (below right, Des Moines, Iowa) and the other by junior Jared Kramer (above right, Wausau, Wis.). They were the stars of the game for Concordia's offense, delivering the teams first two home runs of the season.

Lippincott went 3-4 at the plate and has raised his season average to .500 while Kramer went 2-3 while making his first start behind the plate. Lippincott is 10-for-20 on the year, is slugging .900 and has a .615 on base percentage with five extra base hits, five runs and five RBI in six games played.

Batting in front of Lippincott, junior Paul Giel (Minnetonka, Minn.) went 2-5, scored a run and stole a base. Concodia's leadoff and ninth hitters, junior Greg Larpenter (Urbandale, Iowa) and freshman Kyle Dalton (Minnetonka, Minn.), drew four of the team's nine walks as each had a pair of free passes. Dalton also went 1-3 at the plate and is hitting .450 (9-for-20) on the year. In addition to the nine walks, Concordia was hit by pitch four times and had 11 hits.

For Jamestown, Flaten scored four runs and went 2-5 out of the second spot in the lineup, stealing two bases to go along with his homer. Max Boe was 2-4 with two RBI and Kyle Mallory was 2-5 with two RBI.

Zach Mendiola picked up the win out of the bullpen, working 1.2 shutout innings with three strikeouts and just one hit allowed despite a pair of walks. Chris Combo finished the game as Jamestown's fourth pitcher, walking the bases loaded before working out of the jam in a non-save situation.

Concordia returns to the diamond tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. central time against William Penn.