MINNETONKA, Minn. (5/09/15)— A day after advancing to the winners' bracket of the MIAC playoffs by posting a dramatic 11th-inning win, Concordia bowed out of the conference tournament by losing two straight games.
The Cobbers lost 12-6 to St. Thomas in a battle of opening-day winners and then fell 9-5 to St. John's in an elimination game.
Postseason tournament play is decided by depth of pitching staff and Concordia was handcuffed by missing two of their top three starters. The Cobbers held their only lead of the day after they scored a single run in the bottom of the first against the Tommies but then watched UST score two runs in the second and four more in the third and were forced to play catch up the rest of the day.
Concordia ends their season with a 26-11 record which is the best since the 1995 season when they went 30-8.
It wasn't all bad news for the Cobbers on Saturday as a pair of individual single-season records fell during the course of the two games. Nick Bornhauser broke his second record of the year and Aaron Green used his power-hitting prowess to break one of head coach Chris Coste's offensive marks.
Bornhauser drove in three runs in the first game against St. Thomas and finished the year with 47 RBI. That surpasses the old record of 44 set by Ryan Hebrink in 2003.
Bornhauser also set the single-season record for doubles. He had a single two-bagger on Friday and finished the year with 19 total doubles.
Coste watched as his record of total bases was eclipsed by Green in his final at-bat of the year. Green hit a grand slam in the seventh inning against St. John's to push his total base mark to 100 for the season. Coste's old record of 99 was set back in 1994.
Both games featured seventh-inning rallies to get within two at identical 7-5 scores. Concordia trailed 6-3 in the opener and then scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the gap to 7-5. UST then opened the game back up with four runs in the eighth.
Against St. John's the Cobbers cut the gap to 7-5 after Green's grand slam but then the Johnnies added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth.
Concordia had nine hits in the first game and then six more in the final contest.
Devin Johnson proved he is the mayor of Veterans Field in Minnetonka. Johnson, who hit a walkoff home run in the semifinals of the 2013 conference tournament, went 5-for-9 on Saturday and hit for the cycle. He had a double and home run against the Tommies and then had a triple and single against the Johnnies.
Johnson finished the tournament by hitting .600 (9-for-15) and driving in five runs and scoring four more.
Tim Carlson had the other multiple-hit game on the final day. He went 2-for-5 in the first game. He was 1-for-4 vs. SJU and had a hit in all three games of the tournament.
Green also had a hit in all three games of the playoffs and finished with a team-high seven RBI.
