ST. PAUL, Minn. - After a 2-hour, 57-minute rain delay in the bottom of the first inning of game one, Concordia could not hold a 4-0 lead in the 6th inning, falling 5-4 to Southwest Minnesota State in game one. In the second game, the Mustangs continued their surge with a 6-run first inning en route to defeating Concordia 15-4 for the doubleheader sweep. BOX SCORES: Game 1 | Game 2
Today's result evens the 4-game weekend series at two games apiece. The season series is now 5-3 in favor of Concordia. Concordia is now 16-10 overall and 8-6 in the NSIC while SMSU is 16-9 and 6-4.
Game 1: SMSU 5, Concordia 4
The near 3-hour long rain delay put a damper on Concordia's expected weekend starting pitching matchups for the final two games. The starting pitcher, senior
Ben Lemke, hurled a scoreless first inning, allowing a single and teaming up with catcher
Doug Stearns to catch the runner stealing.
In the bottom of the first, a leadoff single by freshman
Kyle Dalton started things off where they left off on Friday afternoon. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior
Greg Larpenter. After SMSU intentionally walked senior
Bryan Lippincott (which has now happened 10 times this season), senior
Logan Bouts delivered an RBI single up the middle giving CU runners on 1st and 3rd with one out.
That's when the weather went from a slight drizzle to a flat out downpour, causing the field to be unplayable during the three hour long pause.
The team's emerged from the pause with SMSU sticking with starter Bryce Rippentrop. Senior
Kris Long delivered a 2-run double to right center when play resumed to give Concordia a 4-0 lead.
The Golden Bears called it a day for Lemke, who also threw on Tuesday afternoon in relief at Minnesota State. They went with senior
Chris Peterson, who threw four no-hit innings out of the bullpen to take a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning.
SMSU rallied for a pair of sixth inning runs - both unearned after a two-out error kept the inning alive. They added three more in the top of the seventh to rally back for the lead, scoring the go-ahead run on a 1st and 3rd pickoff play. Reliever
Griff Kilber had Jordon Kontz picked off first, but during the run down Ben Korger was able to dash home safely.
Concordia rallied in the bottom of the inning, with runners on first and second and one out. But Larptenter was picked off second base, taking the tying run out of scoring position and putting SMSU an out away from the win.
Larpenter went 2-for-3 in the game while Long drove in half of the team's runs.
Peterson took the loss, falling to 2-1 while allowing five runs (three earned) over 5.1 innings of relief. He struck out five and walked three.
Alex Alvarez relieved Rippentropp after the first inning and picked up the win, improving to 2-1. He pitched 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Dylan Shoemaker registered the last two outs for his second save.
Game 2: SMSU 15, Concordia 4
The Mustangs continued their offensive outburst early in game two by blowing up for a 6-run first inning. Brian Ness slugged a 3-run homer to right field as part of the big inning.
Lippinocott answered with a 2-run homer to center in the bottom of the inning, his fifth of the season and third of the week (he homered twice on Tuesday in game 1 at MSU).
But the Golden Bear offense would slow and the Mustangs added two more runs in the third and five in the fourth for a 13-3 lead that Concordia would not recover from.
Lippincott went 1-1 with another intentional walk and the two run homer in the game. He was 0-2 with a pair of walks in game one and is maintaining a .528 average (47-89) on the year through 26 games.
Junior
Zach Goodwin took the loss, falling to 2-1 after working the first inning. Three freshmen right handers would finish the game,
Nicho Roessler (2.2 IP),
Nate Reagles (2.1 IP) and
Adam Fredericks (1.0). Fredericks made his debut for Concordia, while Reagles worked 2.1 scoreless.
Jeremy Schmidt picked up the win for SMSU, pitching 6.0 innings and allowing three earned runs to improve to 1-0. The Mustangs slugged seven extra base hits in the game.
Concordia returns home next Wednesday for a Northern Sun doubleheader against Upper Iowa at 1:30 p.m. at Barnes Field as part of a 12-game homestand.
SERIES NOTES:
Bryan Lippincott hit .636 (7-11) on the weekend with five walks for a .750 OBP. He also slugged two doubles and a homer, slugging 1.091 in the four games with 6 RBI.
Kyle Dalton paced the order with a 6-12 weekend
Paul Giel turned the lineup over in a big way, hitting .385 (5-13) with his first two homers of the year and eight RBI. He slugged .846 for the Golden Bears.
The CU offense hit .364 with six home runs in the four game series, slugging .566 as a team
