Bats And Temperature Heat Up The Spring

ST. PETER, Minn. (4/27/13)—Concordia's offense mirrored the hot spring weather as the Cobbers scored 26 runs and banged out 32 hits in their 8-7, 18-6 sweep at Gustavus on Saturday.

The two wins push Concordia to 4-2 in MIAC play and into a three-way tie for third place in the league standings. The Cobbers are now 11-7 overall. Gustavus loses for the first time in conference play and falls to 4-2 – and tied with the Cobbers. The Gusties are now 7-14 in all games.    

The first game of the doubleheader held all the suspense for the afternoon. The Gusties rallied to score four runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-6 lead heading into the seventh. Concordia then tied the game at 7-7 when freshman Matt Schalow hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Patrick Skogen from third base.

The Cobbers would finally win the opener in the ninth inning when freshman Devin Johnson doubled home Michael Olson after Olson walked in the second at-bat of the inning. Cooper Wilson got the win on the mound for Concordia. He entered in the sixth inning, pitched 2.2 innings and did not allow a run and only one hit. Jackson Meland earned his first collegiate save by pitching a perfect ninth inning. He struck out the first two batters he faced.

Johnson and fellow first-year player Phil Kuball led the 13-hit attack for CC. Johnson was 4-for-4, collected a triple and two doubles and finished with a pair of RBI.  Kuball was 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Olson was 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs and drove in a pair of runs.

The nightcap saw the Gusties bolt out to leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in the first two innings before Concordia rattled off 10 straight runs to cruise to a 10-3 lead. The Cobbers had six different players with at least two hits in the game. Olson went 3-for-4 in game 2 and had three runs scored and three RBI and also connected on his first home run of the season. He finished the day by going 5-for-8 with five runs scored and five RBI.

Jan-Erik Lindberg continued his torrid start to the season. After not playing in the first 15 games of the year due to an injury, Lindberg went 3-for-5 with four RBI. He is now 6-fpr-8 on the year and has six RBI. Cody Rahman had three hits in the second game and is now hitting .389 on the season. Braden Rahman, Kyle Kraemer and Erik Hiedeman all had two-hit games in the finale. Hiedeman upped his season batting average to .355 while Braden Rahman is now hitting .316.

Junior pitcher Mike Rose was the beneficiary of the Cobber explosive attack. He pitched the first 6.0 innings and earned his second win of the season. Senior Erik Simmons pitched the seventh inning to finish off the win.

Concordia will now return to Moorhead to host their home opener on Sunday, Apr. 28 when they square off against Augsburg at 1 p.m.