Tough Time In Winona

WINONA, Minn. (4/30/16)—Concordia struggled to score in the first game at St. Mary's and then couldn't hold the Cardinals off the board in the finale and lost 3-0 and 10-3.

The two losses drop the Cobbers' record to under .500 for the first time since the opening game of the season. Concordia is now 16-18 overall and 3-13 in conference play. St. Mary's wins for the fourth time in the last six games and is now 20-16 overall and 9-11 in the MIAC.

Concordia put runners on base in the first game. They had four hits, one walk and had another batter reach by an error. The Cobbers had a runner on second base in each of the first three innings. Unfortunately CC stranded six runners and was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The best opportunity for Concordia came in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with one out. Sadie Ness then lined a ball at the first baseman which if it went to the outfield could have scored all three runners and tied the game. The SMU first baseman was able to snag the line drive and step on the bag to get the game-ending double play.

Junior Abigail Haraldson pitched the entire game. She allowed just five hits and single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. She struck out five and held St. Mary's to a .250 average with runners on base.

The Cobbers had four different players get hits in the opener. Kaia Nygord led off the seventh with a pinch hit single while Kayla Nack, Mackenzie McCloud and Nicole Johannes were all 1-for-3.

The second game was tied at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the fourth but then the Cardinals struck for two runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth and then three in the sixth to put the score out of reach.

All three of the Cobber runs came courtesy of the home run. Nack hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give CC a 2-1 lead. After SMU scored two in the bottom of the third, Johannes tied the game with a solo shot in the fourth.

Concordia had five hits in the second game and once again they came from different players. Nack, Johannes, McCloud, Madison Little and Gabby Gardner all had one hit each.

CC used three different pitchers to finish off the doubleheader. Haralson started the game and went the first four innings. Mariah Prokott pitched the fifth and then Kali Covert was in the circle for the sixth.

BIG NACK ATTACK
After not hitting a home run in her first 108 collegiate at-bats, sophomore Kayla Nack has now gone "yard" twice in her last 12 at-bats. Nack had a grand slam in the Cobbers' Game 1 win over Hamline and then had a two-run shot in Game 2 at SMU. Nack has a four-game hit streak and is now hitting .236 for the season.

WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will finish off the 2016 season with three straight conference twinbills on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Cobbers will start off the trio of series when they host Augsburg on Monday, May 2 at 1 p.m.