Red-Hot Pitcher Thwarts Cobbers

CAROL STREAM, Ill. (3/23/18)---Concordia ran into a red-hot pitcher and lost its final game in Illinois. The Cobbers could only come up with one hit and fell 2-0 to Dominican (Ill.).

The loss snaps a four-game win streak for Concordia and evens their season record at 7-7. The Cobbers had won six of the past seven games entering Thursday's action. The Stars win for the eighth time in the last nine games and are now 9-4 on the season.

The lack of offense for Concordia overshadowed a strong pitching performance from starter Alex Erickson and relievers Mason Penske, Drew Olsonawski and Ty Syverson. Erickson pitched the first 5.0 innings and only allowed two hits and one earned run. He only walked one batter while striking out three.

Penske, Olsonawski and Syverson combined to pitch four innings and only allowed one earned run and three hits. Olsonawski had the must success of the relievers as he pitched the seventh inning and did not allow a hit. He induced a double play ground out after the leadoff batter reached on an error and then struck out the next batter.

Nate Sillerud came up with the only base knock for the Cobbers. He led off the ninth inning with a single to right field to break up the no-hit attempt for the Dominican pitcher.  

Concordia only had two other base runners. Grant Toivonen walked after Sillerud's single in the ninth to bring the go-ahead run to the plate for CC but a pair of fly outs and a strikeout ended the Cobbers' comeback chance.

Nate Hoeft also reached on an error in the seventh inning to break up the perfect game bid for the Stars pitcher.

PITCHING PROPS: The quartet of Cobber pitchers on Friday helped Concordia lower its season ERA to 3.78. The Cobbers are currently third in the MIAC in ERA. Last year CC finished with a 4.44 ERA for the season.

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: Concordia is now 1-5 when they score three or fewer runs in a game this season. The Cobbers are 6-2 when they score at least four runs in a game.

SANDY'S DOUGHNUT STAT OF THE DAY: The shutout against Dominican marks the first time this season that the Cobbers have been shutout. It is the first time since they have been shutout since the penultimate game of 2017 when they lost 6-0 to St. John's.

DEFENSE ON THE MEND: The Cobbers only committed two errors in the three games in Illinois. That is in contrast to the first 11 games of the season when they were averaging 2.91 errors per game.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia was scheduled to host Minn.-Morris on Sunday, Mar. 25 but that game was postponed until a later date due to snow on the field. The Cobbers are also supposed to host Valley City State on Wednesday, Mar. 28 but a snow storm headed into the Fargo-Moorhead area over the weekend could postpone that game as well. CC is scheduled to open MIAC play on Saturday, Mar. 31 at Augsburg.