Walk This Way

ST. PAUL, Minn. (4/24/21)---Concordia and Macalester traded double-digit walk totals in their doubleheader split in St. Paul on Saturday. The Cobbers earned 12 walks on their way to an 11-4 win in Game 1 and then the Scots came away with 11 walks in the second game and won 6-1.

The teams combined to post 33 bases on balls in the 16 innings of play.

The split leaves Concordia's record at 10-11 in all games and 4-7 in the MIAC. Macalester is now 6-11 overall and 6-11 in conference play.

The Cobbers never trailed in the opener. They scored the first nine runs in the game and cruised to the 7-run win. CC had at least one runner on base in all seven innings.

Concordia opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the second and then pulled away with a 4-run third and then three more in the fourth. The Cobbers scored their four runs in the third on four hits and collected two walks and an HBP. Justin Kloster, Max Boran, Canaan Fagerland and Matt Gruber all had RBI singles in the frame. The three runs in the fourth inning came in completely different ways as CC had three walks and gained ground by reaching base on an error and getting a passed ball and a wild pitch.

Concordia had eight hits in Game 1 and all were singles. Gruber had the only multi-hit game in the opener. He went 2-for-5 and drove in three runs. Thomas Horan had four walks and scored two runs while Kloster and Toby Sayles both drove in two runs.

Ty Syverson didn't put up the strikeouts that he has in his previous starts but was able to keep the Macalester hitters off guard and only allowed three hits and one earned run. He finished with three Ks in 6.0 innings pitched. Sophomore Bryan Weideman pitched the seventh inning and got all three outs via the strikeout

The Cobbers posted one more hit in the second game than they did in the opener but hit .125 (1-for-8) with runners in scoring position and .222 (4-for-18) with runners on base and only plated a single score.

Like the first game, Concordia had at least one runner on base in every inning. They scored their lone run in the eighth when Boran has a 1-out out double to right center that pushed Sayles to third. Sayles would score one batter later when Henry Savelkoul came through with a single to center.

CC also had two hits in the sixth frame. Sayles and Boran posted 2-out singles and then Savelkoul walked to load the bases, but the rally ended on a fielder's choice ground ball to shortstop.

Both teams had nine hits in the game, and both teams had seven singles and two doubles. Boran was 3-for-3 to record the first 3-hit game of his career. He was 4-for-6 on the day and is now hitting .255 for the season. Andy Gravdahl was 2-for-4 in Game 2 to record the only other multi-hit game for CC.

Concordia used three pitchers in the finale. Sophomore Ashwin Stratton started and went the first 2.0 innings. Mitch Porter also went 2.0 innings before Kloster finished the final 4.0 frames and didn't allow a run and gave up only three hits.

UP NEXT: The third game between the two teams that was scheduled for Sunday, Apr. 25 was postponed due to the forecast of rain in the Moorhead area, so the teams will attempt to finish the series on Monday, Apr. 26 at 3 p.m.