Cobber Crush Crew Closes In On Postseason

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/28/15)—The Cobber Crush Crew is now one win away from taking their "hit and hammer" show to the postseason. Concordia scored 21 runs and pounded out 32 hits in a 7-3, 14-9 sweep over St. Mary's 7-3.

The Concordia offense continues to put up jaw-dropping numbers. In addition to a season-high 21 hits in the second game, the Cobber Crush Crew came up with 11 extra-base hits and six home runs in the doubleheader.

The two wins push Concordia to 23-9 overall and 10-6 against league opponents. The 23 overall wins are the most since the 2010 season when they went 24-17.

The Cobbers' 10-6 record in the conference places them in a tie for third place in the MIAC standings. Since the top 4 teams make the league playoffs, Concordia only needs one win in its final doubleheader to claim a spot in conference tournament.

Not only did Concordia have a quantity of hits, they also put up quality at-bats. The Cobbers were a combined 11-for-22 (.500) with runners in scoring position. CC regularly came up with clutch hits and hit .524 (11-for-21) with two outs in an inning.

The Cobbers hammered the St. Mary's pitching for five home runs in the second game. Jordan Domine had a pair of long balls while Andrew Deters collected his first collegiate round tripper and Aaron Green and Nick Bornhauser also went yard in game 2.

Concordia now has 24 homers in MIAC play which leads the conference by a full seven long balls. CC also leads the league in slugging percentage (.544) and doubles (41).

The Cobbers spotted the Cardinals early 1-0 leads in both games but then came roaring back take a lead of their own in the bottom half of SMU's go-ahead inning. St. Mary's scored a single run in the second inning in the opener but then the Cobbers answered with two in the bottom of the second and never trailed after that.

In the second game Concordia conceded a lone run in the bottom of the first but then roared back with three in the bottom of the first when after collecting five hits.

The Cobbers added four runs in the fourth of the first game and rolled to a 7-3 win. CC had 11 hits and four extra-base knocks in the opener. Green, Devin Johnson, Cody Rahman and Domine all had two hits in the game.

Ross Merriman went the distance on the hill for Concordia and recorded his team-leading sixth win of the year. He scattered eight hits and walked only one in giving up three earned runs. Merriman is now 6-2 on the season.

Concordia used three big innings and a 21-hit attack to pick up win in the finale. The Cobbers erased the 1-0 deficit with three runs in the first and then added a pair of five-spots in the fourth and seventh to push the final tally to 14-9.

The long ball was the catalyst for the big innings. CC had five homers in the second game and drove in seven runs from the round trippers. The biggest shot of the game came in the seventh inning when Domine hit his second homer of the game which drove in three runs and gave Concordia  a commanding 14-5 lead.

Domine finished the day by going 4-for-8 with six RBI and three run scored. He had two HR's and a double.

For the second straight game the Cobber starter earned the victory. Kyle Connelly went the first 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs and five hits. He kept the Cardinal hitters from getting good swings on the ball by getting his breaking pitches over the plate.

Nate Wendorf and Ryan Heisler both pitched a single inning and gave up multiple runs. Mitch Boser started the ninth inning and then gave way to Bryce Feia for the final out. Feia came on with two outs and runners on first and second and proceeded to get the final out of the game on a fly ball to center field.

Bornhauser continued his trek towards single-season records. He broke the single-season school record for doubles when he hit a two-bagger in the fourth inning in game 2. Bornhauser now has 17 doubles for the year which is one more than the 16 hit by Michael Carlson in 2012. Bornhauser also had three RBI for the day which pushes his total to 43. He needs two more to break the mark of 44 set by Ryan Hebrink in 2003. Bornhauser now needs 13 total bases to break the record of 99 sent by head coach Chris Coste in 1994.

Bornhauser is now hitting .444 for the season and has an .806 slugging percentage. He leads the league in slugging percentage and is third in batting average.

Teammate Eric Carlsen leads the MIAC in hitting with a .487 average. Carlsen went 2-for-7 on the day and had his first home run of the season in the first game.

Concordia will try and clinch an MIAC playoff spot when they host Carleton in the regular-season finale on Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m.