A Couple Of Gems And A Walk-Off Homer

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/21/12)—Braden Rahman had a two-out walk-off home run in the second game and Zach Frappier pitched a complete-game shutout in the opener to help Concordia sweep Macalester 4-0, 3-1 and remain in the hunt for the MIAC playoffs.

The Cobbers have now won four of their last five games and are two games above .500 for the first time all season. CC is 16-14 overall. More importantly the two wins on Saturday were against a conference team that was above Concordia in the standings and keeps CC's playoff hopes alive. The Cobbers are now 7-7 in the MIAC and currently tied for fifth place in the league standings. The two losses drops the Scots back to 7-7 in the MIAC, and in a tie for fifth with CC, and 17-16 overall.  

Rahman had the biggest offensive impact on the day. He went 5-for-7 in the two games with three RBI and three runs scored. The most dramatic of the five hits came in the bottom of the eighth inning in the second game when he drove a ball over the right-field fence to give CC the two-run win. The Cobber eighth-inning rally started with two outs when Erik Hiedeman singled to right to set the stage for Rahman's heroics.

The Cobber bullpen could have got an early start to the Cornstock festival as the two starting pitchers posted a pair of complete-game wins. Frappier was masterful in the first game. He only allowed three hits and did not walk a batter. He retired the first seven batters he faced and 13 of the first 14. No Scot runner advanced past second base in the game. Frappier earned his third win of the year and lowered his ERA to 2.25 – the best among any Cobber starting pitcher.   

The bulk of the Cobber scoring in the opener was done in the fifth inning when Michael Olson pounced on a fast ball and crushed it way over the left-field fence. Olson's second roundtripper of the year plated Rahman who had singled in the previous at bat. Olson finished the first game by going 2-for-4 and drove in three of CC's four runs. Rahman was a perfect 3-for-3 and scored a run. Brian Guler was the only other Concordia player with more than one hit in the game.  He was 2-for-3 and drove in the only other Cobber run.   

The second game turned into a classic pitcher's duel despite the heavy wind blowing out to right-center field. Unlike Frappier in the first game, sophomore Shawn Krueger had to work out of several jams through the course of the game. He stranded nine Scot runners in the eight innings, including a situation in the eighth where Macalester had runners on first and second with no outs, and then second and third with only one out. Krueger's off-speed pitched kept the potent Macalester offense off-balance for the entire eight innings. He scattered seven hits and struck out two. Like Frappier, he did not walk a batter in the game. Krueger also earned his third victory of the year and dropped his ERA to 4.00.

The one run allowed by the Cobbers against the Scots in the doubleheader marks the fewest runs scored by Macalester in an MIAC doubleheader since 2009.   

The only scoring of the first seven inning in game 2 came in the first and third innings as the teams traded one-run frames. Concordia got on the board first when Rahman singled home Brad Olson in the opening frame. Macalester then tied the score in the third with a two-out double to right field.

Rahman was the only CC player with more than one hit in the nightcap. He went 2-for-4 and drove in all three of CC's runs.

Concordia will host a single non-conference game on Tuesday, April 24 when they square off against Dakota Wesleyan at 4 p.m. CC will return to MIAC play when they play Hamline in Moorhead on Saturday, Apr. 28. At 1 p.m.