Adrift On A Royal Sea

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/05/17)--- Concordia gave up a pair of four-plus innings in each game against Bethel and lost 12-1 and 11-6 to the first-place Royals.

The Cobbers never got on track offensively in the opener but then pounded out 16 hits in the second game and lost for the third straight game.

Concordia is now 10-10 overall this year and falls to 1-3 in league play. Bethel wins its 11th straight game and ups its record to 19-3 in all games and 4-0 in the MIAC.

The Cobbers surrendered four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth in the first game and then allowed four in the second and five in the fifth in the nightcap and never led during the day.

Concordia's lone run in Game 1 came in the fourth inning after they trailed 6-0. The Cobbers loaded the bases on a walk, wild pitch and single by Cody Rahman. Alec Sames then walked to drive in the lone run for CC.

The Cobbers used three pitchers in the game with Jack Hiedeman being the most successful. He pitched the final 2.0 innings and only allowed one hit and one earned run while striking out one.

Concordia had six hits in the first game. Rahman had another hit and went 2-for-3. Grant Toivonen, Joe Hallock, Nate Hoeft and Brett Swanson had single-hit games.

The Cobbers were able to hammer out 16 hits in the second game. CC loaded the bases on three occasions but went 0-for-3 with the bases jammed.  

Toivonen, Chad Johnson, Turner Storm, Sames and Swanson all had multiple-hit games. Johnson was 3-for-5 with three doubles and scored two runs while Storm went 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.

POWER GRANTED: Grant Toivonen hit his first collegiate home run in Game 2. He laced a one-out pitch over the right field fence which drove in two runs. Toivonen is now one of five CC hitters with one long ball on the year. Chad Johnson leads the team with two HRs.   

MULTIPLE-HIT MEN: Toivonen's 2-for-6 outing in the second game was his seventh multiple-hit game of the season. He leads that category for the Cobbers but Turner Storm, Cody Rahman and Joe Hallock are all only one game behind with six multiple-hit games.

SEVEN AND COUNTING: Toivonen also extended his hit streak by hitting safely in both games. He now has a seven-game hitting streak. The longest hit streak of the year for CC was eight games by Joe Hallock. Hallock had hit safely in eight straight until he went 0-for-3 in the second game.   

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia goes from the frying pan to the fire when they host defending regular-season champion St. Thomas on Saturday, Apr. 8 at 1 p.m. The Tommies are 4-0 in the MIAC this year and are coming off a sweep of Augsburg.