AUBURNDALE, Fla. (3/01/14)—Concordia made a case for the nickname "The Lumber Company" in the final three games of their Florida spring break trip. The Cobber offense exploded for 21 runs and 31 hits and finished off the trip with a 7-3 win over Gwynned Mercy.
Concordia came away with a 3-5 record in their eight games in the sunny South but posted double-digit run totals on three occasions and had scored at least five runs in all but one game. In the end the Cobbers scored 62 runs and hammered out 85 hits in 66 innings of play.
Concordia dropped a pair of high-scoring games on Friday before claiming the trip finale against the Griffins on Saturday. The Cobbers overcame a 5-3 deficit in the first game on Friday against Capital only to lose in extra innings 7-6. CC then gave up eight runs in the seventh inning against St. Joseph's and lost 18-8.
In the first game against Capital, Concordia had 12 hits and was led by the tandem of Phil Kuball and Michael Olson. Both players went 2-for-5 for the game. Olson also scored a pair of runs. Sam Mattson pitched the most effectively for the Cobbers against the Crusaders. He came on in the sixth inning and pitched the final 5.1 frames. Mattson only allowed a single earned run on just four hits.
The second game on Friday looked like it would wind up in extra innings as well until St. Joseph's put up the big number in the seventh. The teams battled through the first four innings and were deadlocked at 6-6. The Monks then scored four times in the fifth and then eight in the seventh to come away with the win.
The Cobbers had eight hits in the game. The Rahman brothers – Braden and Cody - had two hits and two RBI each. Braden was 2-for-3 and scored a run as well while younger brother Cody went 2-for-4.
Concordia then used a five-run fifth inning to end the trip on a winning note. CC led 2-1 with Gwynedd Mercy heading to the bottom of the fifth and then knocked out six hits and sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.
The Cobbers wound up recording 11 hits for the day. The top 3 hitters all had at least two hits and combined for 7 of the squad's 11 base knocks. Braden Rahman once again carted the hot stick as he went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. He also legged out his first triple of the year. It was Rahman's third multiple-hit and fourth multiple-RBI game of the trip.
Kuball and Kyle Kraemer had the other multiple-hit games against the Griffins. Both players went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Shawn Krueger picked up his second win of the trip. He started and went the first 6.0 innings. Krueger gave up only one earned run on five hits and struck out a pair of batters. Krueger leaves the Sunshine State with a 0.82 ERA and having only allowed seven hits in 11.0 innings of work. Bryce Feia came on in the eighth frame and did not allow a run or a hit to record his second save in Florida.
Kuball led the team in hitting, on-base percentage and slugging percentage on the spring break trip. He had at least one hit in all eight games and carded a .455 average. He also had a .500 on-base percentage and a .545 slugging percentage.
Olson matched Kuball's eight-game hitting streak to start the year. He had at least one hit in every game and finished with a .344 average and three extra-base hits.
The Cobbers will head back to the colder climate and have a three-week break before returning to play on Mar. 22 when they will play four games at Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln, Neb.
