ST. PAUL, Minn. (4/08/14)—A pair of pitchers with double-digit ERA's came up with clutch performances to help Concordia earn a split at Macalester. Sophomores Kyle Connelly and Sam Mattson combined to pitch seven innings of game 2 and only allowed one earned run to give the Cobbers a 7-1 victory in the nightcap. CC dropped the opener 11-5.
The win in the second game is the first conference victory of the year for Concordia. The Cobbers are now 1-3 in league play and 9-8 overall. The Scots move to 7-12 in all games and 1-6 in the MIAC.
The biggest news on the day for Concordia came from the bat of senior outfielder Michael Olson who had a single hit in the first game and then two in the second game to extend his hitting streak to 22 games. That breaks the old school record of 20 set back in 2007 by MIAC MVP Kyle Johnson. Olson has hit safely in all 17 games this season and had a five-game hitting streak at the end of the 2013 campaign.
Connelly entered the last game of the doubleheader with an 11.37 earned run average on the year and proceeded to pitch the first four innings and only allowed one run. Mattson came on in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and no outs and was able to get out of the jam by only allowing a single run on a ground out. He retired the three batters he faced in the fifth and then six of the eight hitters he went up against in the sixth and seventh frames to collect his second win of the season. Mattson entered the game with a 10.12 ERA.
Cobber junior closer Bryce Feia pitched the final two innings of the nine-inning nightcap and did not allow a hit while striking out a pair of Scot batters. Feia lowered his season ERA to a team-best 0.90. He has fanned nine batters in 10 innings of work.
Concordia outhit Macalester 12-7 in the second game and 23-16 for the two games on the day.
The Cobbers had three multiple-run innings in game 2 to pick up the win. CC plated three runs in the third and then two each in the fifth and ninth frames. The top four batters in the Cobber lineup accounted for seven hits and five RBI. Braden Rahman was 2-for-4 and had a season-high four runs batted in. It was also his team-leading sixth multiple-RBI game of the year.
Concordia leadoff hitter Kyle Kraemer was 2-for-4 and scored three runs while Phil Kuball was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Olson knocked out his fifth double of the season and extended his hit streak to 22 games by going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
The first game was settled with back-to-back four-run innings by Macalester. The Cobbers led 4-2 heading into the bottom of the third and watched as the Scots plated four runs in the bottom of the inning and then four more in the fourth to take a 10-4 lead. CC was never able to recover and lost 11-4.
Despite being outscored by seven, the Cobbers outhit Macalester 11-9 in the opener. The key for CC came in the amount of runners left on base. Concordia stranded 12 runners in the seven-inning opener and hit .222 with two outs in an inning.
Olson broke the school record for consecutive games with at least one hit when he doubled to right field in the top of the third inning. That would be his only hit of the game as he went 1-for-3 and scored one run. Kuball, Rahman, Jordan Gefroh and Zach Hinkemeyer all had two hits in the first game.
Concordia will head home and host Hamline in a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 12 at 1 p.m.
