Mr. 100 Sparks Offensive Outburst

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (2/27/17)--- The sunny skies and 80-degree temperatures suited the Concordia offense just fine. Less than 48 hours after being shutout in back-to-back games in 20-degree Minnesota, the Cobbers had their bats warm up and exploded for 17 hits and 15 runs in a 9-inning game against Rose-Hulman (Ind.)

Concordia scored nine times in the fifth and sixth innings combined and went on to beat the Fightin' Engineer 15-7 in the opener of the annual southern spring break trip.      

The highlight of the 17-hit onslaught was a sixth-inning single by super senior Cody Rahman which gave him 100 career hits in his college career. Rahman entered the season with 99 hits in three-plus seasons but was held hitless in the team's season-opening doubleheader against Jamestown on Saturday.

Rahman wasted little time in getting hit No.101 as he singled in his very next at-bat in the eighth inning. He finished the game by going 2-for-6 and was a part of a group of seven CC players who all had at least two base knocks in the first game in Florida.

Concordia only had six hits in the first two games against the Jimmies who had already played seven games in the season and entered the year ranked in the Top 20 of the NAIA preseason rankings. The Cobbers almost matched the 14-inning total from Saturday in each of the fifth and sixth innings against Rose-Hulman as they put up five hits in each frame. CC also tacked on four base knocks in the eighth frame.

The Cobbers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when a throwing error allowed both runs to score on a fielder's choice play.

Rose Hulman (0-2) would tie the game with single runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings before the Concordia lumber company broke the game wide open with the nine-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth and sixth frames. The Cobbers would go on to tack on two-run innings in the seventh and eighth to bring the final total to 15.

The biggest hit of the fifth inning came off the bat of junior Turner Storm who hit the team's first home run of the year with a man on second base and one out in the frame.

Nate Leintz and Brett Swanson also drove in runs in the inning.

Rahman led off the sixth inning with his milestone hit and then came around to score on a two-run single from Riley Kramer. Sophomore Grant Toivonen also had a two-run single later in the inning.

Storm and Toivonen both had three RBI on the day. Storm went 2-for-4 and also scored three runs while Toivonen was an identical 2-for-4 and scored two runs.

Senior Joe Hallock led the hit parade with three hits as he went 3-for-4 and scored two runs.

Leintz, Swanson and Ryan Heisler were the other members of the Cobbers to have at least two hits in the game.

Sophomore pitcher Fletcher Andel got the start in the first game in Florida and lasted 6.0 innings to earn his first win of the year. He allowed four earned runs on six hits and struck out two.

Adam Nibaur and Storm finished off the final three innings. Nibaur pitched the seventh and eighth farames an allowed two runs on four hits while Storm allowed a single run on one hit and struck out three in the ninth.

MR. 24: Cody Rahman becomes the 24th player in program history to reach the 100-hit mark for a career. His milestone hit comes after Jordan Domine crossed the barrier on Apr. 30 of last season. He also becomes the fourth player to play for the Cobbers in the past two years to have at least 100 hits in a career. Besides Rahman and Domine, last year's seniors Tim Carlson and Phil Kuball also capped their careers with a triple-digit hit total.

ANDEL ACTION: With the win on the hill for the Cobbers sophomore Fletcher Andel matched his season victory total in all of last season. Andel was 1-2 in 2016 and appeared in 10 games for CC.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will head back into doubleheader mode wheh they square off against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 10:30 a.m. and then again at 12:30 p.m. central time.