Bucky's Back And He Brought Late-Inning Magic

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (2/27/14)—Concordia head coach Bucky Burgau returned to the team and so did the Cobbers' ability to win games in the late innings. Concordia rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the seventh inning to beat Hanover (Ind.) 10-7.

The Cobbers pounded out 16 hits in avenging a loss to the Panthers earlier in the week. CC scored three runs in each of the seventh and eighth frames to record their second win of the season and move to 2-3 on the year. Concordia had a combined seven hits in the seventh and eighth innings.

The top of the order did most of the damage for the Concordia offense. The top 5 hitters in the batting order all had at least two hits and collectively recorded 13 of the squad's 16 hits on the day.

Junior outfielder Devin Johnson led all players with four hits. He was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. He had key hits in both the seventh and eighth innings. Kyle Kraemer, Phil Kuball, Braden Rahman and Michael Olson all had two hits at the top of the order. Olson drove in a pair of runs with hits in the first and seventh innings. His single up the middle in the seventh proved to be the game-winning run.

Erik Hiedeman had the other multiple-hit game for Concordia. The junior second baseman went 2-for-2 , scored a run and drove in his first run of the season.

Cobber starting pitcher Ross Merriman pitched six effective innings but didn't pick up the win. He allowed four earned runs and struck out five in his first start of the year. Sam Mattson entered the game in the seventh inning and did not allow a run to record his first collegiate win. Junior closer Bryce Feia came on in relief in the eighth and retired the final out of the inning and then pitched the entire ninth to collect his first save of the season.

Concordia will play a pair of games on Friday, Feb. 28. The Cobbers will face Capital at 10 a.m. and then square off against St. Joseph's (Me.) at 2 p.m. Both games will be played in Auburndale, Fla.