Pitching Stays Stellar, Offense Stumbles At Gustavus

ST. PETER, Minn. (4/3/15)—Concordia scored in the very first inning at Gustavus but was then held off the board for the next 13 frames and lost 4-1 and 4-0 to the Gusties.

The Cobbers continue to get solid pitching from starters Hillary Rotunda and Abigail Haraldson. Unfortunately CC was unable to come up with clutch hits against the Gusties and had their two-game win streak come to an end.

The two hurlers combined to allow only three earned runs on the day and both have season earned run averages below 4.00 which marks the first time since 2004 that the team has had two pitchers with ERAs under 4.00.   

Concordia is now 8-7 in overall games this year and 2-4 in the MIAC. Gustavus wins for the fifth time in the last six games and moves to 13-9 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

Cobber sophomore Madison Little had a productive four-game road trip as she had hits in both games and now has a four-game hitting streak. She has hit safely in eight of the last 10 games and leads the team in hitting with a .327 average. That is 60-points higher than her average from last season.     

Little scored the team's only run of the day when she singled through the left side in her very first at-bat, went to second on a single from Gabby Gardner and then came home on a sacrifice bunt and then a passed ball.   

Gustavus took the lead for good in the opener with a pair of runs in the second and then tacked on single runs in the third and fifth innings.

Rotunda got the start in the first game and only allowed one earned run in the game and struck out eight batters. That is a single-game career high for the senior who now has 40 strikeouts on the year. Rotunda also lowered her ERA to 3.88 on the year.

The Cobbers and Gusties both had eight hits in the opener. Gardner, Ashley Tibbetts and Mackee Hoffman all had two hits each in the game. Gardner and Tibbetts were both 2-for-3 while Hoffman went 2-for-2. Unlike Thursday, where Concordia used the extra-base hit to earn two wins at Augsburg, all of CC's hits were singles and none came with runners in scoring position.

Gustavus used Concordia's early-run tactics in the second game. The Gusties scored three times in the first frame to take a 3-0 lead. They added a single insurance run in the fourth inning to close out the scoring.    

Haraldson went the distance in the second game for the Cobbers and allowed only two earned runs. She limited Gustavus to only one extra-base hit and allowed only one hitter to get past second base after the decisive first inning. Haraldson has a team-leading 3.72 ERA.  

Little had the only hit for Concordia in the second game. She led off the game with a single up the middle and finished 1-for-3.

Next up for the Cobbers is a doubleheader at Hamline on Tuesday, Apr. 7 at 3:30 p.m. CC will then return home to host Carleton on Wednesday, Apr. 8 and Valley City on Thursday, Apr. 9.