They Were Honored. They Swept. They Clinched.

MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/8/23)---They were honored. They swept. And they clinched. Not a bad day for the nine Cobber seniors.

Concordia held its annual Senior Celebration Day on Monday – and it couldn't have turned out any better. The Cobbers honored their nine seniors before the first game in newly renovated Bucky Burgau Field and then went out and swept Bethel to clinch a spot in the 4-team MIAC playoffs.

The Cobbers used a 7-run fourth inning to post an 8-4 win over playoff-bound Bethel in the first game. In the second game, CC overcame a 5-4 deficit after six innings and claimed a 6-5 victory.

The two wins pushed Concordia's conference record to 13-5, which moves them into sole possession of second place. It also clinched a MIAC playoff spot for the second consecutive season. The 13 league wins are the most since the 2010 season when CC went 14-6 and tied for second in the final league standings. The Cobbers are now 19-15 overall.   

There were many players who had big days for the Cobbers, but senior pitcher Gabe Duncan turned the biggest of them all. Duncan, who entered the game having thrown only 6.0 innings all season, shut the door on the Royals in the final 6.2 innings to get the win in the playoff-clinching victory.

The stuff straight out of a movie featured Duncan retiring the final 10 batters he faced and hurling 1-2-3 innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Get Hollywood on the line.

Duncan earned his second win of the season by only allowing three hits and two earned runs while striking out a career-high four batters.

Duncan was able to step into the spotlight thanks to a trio of 2-run innings by the Cobbers. CC scored twice in the bottom of the first to grab a 2-0 lead. Matt Gruber and Thomas Horan had run-scoring singles in the frame.

The 2-run fourth frame was highlighted by a sacrifice fly off the bat of Caiden Kjelstrom that plated Max Boran and an RBI single from Andy Gravdahl.

Concordia fell behind 5-4 after Bethel posted three runs in the second and single-run innings in the fifth and sixth.

The Cobbers would win the game in the seventh when Horan launched a 2-out, solo home run over the right-field fence, which continued to add to his total as the all-time Horan home run leader.  Chance Bye followed Horan with a singled through the left side, stole second and raced home on Boran's game-winning single to center field.

Concordia lit up the new scoreboard at The Buck for 17 hits in the second game, the fifth straight game that they had put up a double-digit hit total.

The Cobbers had eight of the starting nine players collect a hit, and seven posted multiple-hit games. Boran and Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe led CC with three hits each. Boran went 3-for-4 while Henkemeyer-Howe was 3-for-5 with a run scored.

The first game was tied at 1-1 through the first three innings before the Royals came through with a field goal in the top of the fourth, and the Cobbers answered with a touchdown and extra point.

Concordia had 15 hits in Game 1, and eight came in the 7-run fourth inning. CC sent 11 batters to the plate in the decisive frame and had six players come through with RBI. The only multiple-RBI hit of the inning was produced by catcher Wyatt Gunkel whose 1-out double scored Bye and Horan.

Henkemeyer-Howe, Horan and Bye also had multiple-hit games in the opener. Henkemeyer-Howe was 2-for-4 and finished the day by going 5-for-9, raising his season average to .358.

Horan was 2-for-4 in Game 1, 4-for-8 on the day and is now hitting .368.

Bye had two hits in each game and went 4-for-7 in the two games.

Dylan Inniger started the opener for the Cobbers. He went 3.0 innings and only allowed one run and two hits. He fanned a season-high four batters.

Mason Klevgaard, Luke Levasseur and Boran closed out the game for CC. Levasseur pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning to record his second win of the year, while Boran moved in from left field to hurl the final 2.0 innings. He didn't give up a run and fanned a batter.

ROYAL FLUSH: The two wins over Bethel mark the first time since 2002 that Concordia has swept the Royals. CC bettered Bethel 8-6 and 11-6 in 2002, with Raleigh Schmidt going 5-for-8 and Justin Berg and Travis Anderson picking up the wins on the mound.   

THE .400 CLUB: Concordia now has not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 players hitting above .400 in conference play. Gravdahl leads the Super 6 with a .506 average. Boran has lit the MIAC on fire and is now hitting .500. David Dorsey has a .478 mark, while Gruber has a .443 average. The Moorhead Boys – Henkemeyer-Howe, and Horan round out the Top 6. Henkemeyer-Howe is hitting .433 and Horan is at .423.
 
BIG MAROON MACHINE: Concordia now sits alone at the top of the MIAC when it comes to hitting. The Cobbers are hitting .333 in all games and a crisp .384 in conference play. Both averages lead the MIAC by a wide margin. The Big Maroon Machine also leads the league in OPS (.972), hits, doubles, runs and on-base percentage in league games.

CROWN HIM: Gravdahl is doing his best Mage impersonation as he heads to the wire of conference play. Gravdahl is second in the MIAC, by a single percentage point, in batting average (.506). He leads the conference in OPS (1.31), hits, triples, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage. And we haven't even mentioned his play in the field.   
     
UP NEXT: Concordia will close out the regular season when they host St. Olaf on Tuesday, May 9 at 1 p.m.