A Pair Of Tough 1-Run Games At SJU

STORY LINE: Concordia lost a 1-0 pitcher's duel in the opener against St. John's and then fell 6-5 in the second game in a doubleheader played in Collegeville. Big hits cost the Cobbers in both games. The Johnnies claimed the first game with a home run in the fifth frame and then a triple in the seventh led to the eventual game-winning run in the finale.

RECORDS: Concordia moves to 7-11 on the season and is now 1-3 in the MIAC. St. John's, who is receiving votes in this week's D3baseball.com poll, wins for the fourth time in the last five games and is now 18-5 overall and 3-1 in the MIAC.

GAME 1 RECAP: Junior right-handed pitcher Ty Syverson kept Concordia in the first game as he only allowed four hits and went the distance. The only blemish came in the fifth when SJU came up with 1-out home run. Syverson then retired seven of the final nine batters he faced to keep it at a 1-run game. Concordia finished the game with five hits and had a pair of hits in the fifth frame but a would-be CC base steal was cut down to stall the game-tying attempt. Concordia also had a runner at second base with two outs in the seventh but a pop out to the second baseman ended the game.

GAME 2 RECAP: Concordia grabbed their first lead of the day in the second inning in Game 2. Nate Hoeft connected on a 2-out single to center field which scored Austin Ver Steeg reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning. St. John's tied the game in the top of the third and then took a 5-1 in the fifth. The Cobbers were able to counter with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and then tied the game at 5-5 with a single run in the sixth. Sean McGuire and Brett Erickson had RBI hits in the fifth and then Andy Gravdahl tied the game when he scored on a throwing error after he reached base with a 2-out single.

Concordia was outhit 10-9 in the second game with both teams putting up 14 hits in the doubleheader.

The Cobbers used six pitchers in the finale. Fletcher Andel started the game and went the first 4.1 innings. He allowed six hits and struck out four. Tanner McBain and Mitchell Ziebarth pitched through the seventh inning and then Drew Olsonawski, Kyle Knaeble and Colin Richards combined to throw 2.0 innings and only gave up one hit while not allowing a run.

NO JUICE NEEDED: Sophomore Sean McGuire continues to swing the hottest bat on the Cobbers. He had a hit in each game and went 4-for-7 on the day and is now hitting .333 for the year. McGuire has had at least one hit in six of the last eight games and during that stretch is hitting .414 during that stretch. He leads the team in multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games this year.

GRANT FINDS HIS GEAR: Grant Toivonen returned to the lineup on Sunday after not playing for seven games due to a leg injury. After not finding his way at the plate against Augsburg, Toivonen had a hit in both games at SJU and went 3-for-7 on the day.

UP NEXT: Concordia will stay on the road and play a conference-non-conference weekend. The Cobbers will travel to St. Paul and take on Macalester on Saturday, Apr. 6 and then head up to Superior, Wis. to play Wis.-Superior on Sunday, Apr. 7. The Scots are 8-7 on the year and 2-2 in the MIAC.