Wrigley Field Wind Favors Left-Handed Johnnies

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/01/15)—Concordia was unable to take advantage of a strong prevailing wind blowing out to right center field and lost a pair of "Wrigley Field" specials in the home opener against St. John's.

The Cobbers, whose batting order is mostly right-handed hit only two homers on the day while the Johnnies, who had six of their nine starters bat left-handed, drove out five windy long balls and won 7-4 and 8-7.

St. John's was also able to drive the ball into the right-center field gap and came away with six doubles on the afternoon. Over half of Concordia's hits were singles which weren't able to keep up with the Johnnies five long balls. SJU scored eight of their 15 runs courtesy of the long ball.

The doubleheader was also the first conference games for both teams. Concordia is now 11-5 overall this year while St. John's moves to 11-7 in all games.

The first game was decided by a pair of three-run innings from St. John's. The Johnnies scored a trio of runs in the second inning to grab a 3-0 lead and then won the game in the top of the sixth inning with three runs after the game was tied at 4-4. Two of the three runs in the sixth came courtesy of a two-run HR to right field.

The Cobber had a pair of homers in the first game as well. Jordan Domine was able to get a ball up in the wind blowing out to right field and connected on his second long ball of the season. His HR cut the Johnnie lead to 3-1.

Aaron Green then went yard in the fifth inning to score Andrew Deters. The two runs tied the game at 4-4. Green, batting in the leadoff spot, went 2-for-3 in game 1 and had a double to go along with his third home run of the year.           

Green was the only CC player with more than one hit in the opener.

Ross Merriman pitched the first 6.0 innings and allowed six earned runs and struck out three. Freshman Ryan Heisler pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.   

The second game was even more about the long ball. St. John's had three long balls while Concordia finished with 10 overall hits with seven being singles.

Once again the Johnnies struck for a pair of decisive three-run innings in the game. They plated three in the top of the fourth and then three more in the sixth to take a commanding 8-2 lead. SJU hit back-to-back homers in the sixth.

Concordia then came up with a huge five-run, five-hit rally in the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately four of the five hits in the inning were singles and CC was forced to play from base to base.

The only non-single in the inning came off the bat of shortstop Phil Kuball who doubled down the right field line and drove in the fifth run of the frame.

Concordia had one more chance to tie the game up but came up short with runners on first and third with two outs.

Devin Johnson, Cody Rahman and Nick Bornhauser all had two hits for the Cobbers in the nightcap. Johnson and Rahman were 2-for-5 while Bornhauser went 2-for-3 and hit his first home run of the season in the second inning.

Green had hos 14-game hitting streak come to an end in the second game. After extending his streak to 14 games with his 2-for-3 performance in the opener, Green was held hitless in four at-bats in the finale. He is now hitting .390 for the year.    

The Cobbers used three pitchers in the game. Kyle Connelly started and worked the first four innings. Freshman Tanner Kluis entered in the fifth and was then relieved by senior Bryce Feia in the sixth inning. Feia pitched the final 3.2 innings of the game and only allowed one hit. He retired the last nine batters he faced and lowered his season ERA to 3.86.

Concordia will have a short break for the Easter holiday and then return to action on Monday, Apr. 6 when they play at Minn.-Morris at 2:30 p.m.