County Fair Merry-Go-Round Win In MIAC Playoff Opener

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (5/11/23)---If the regular-season series between Concordia and St. John's was a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags Great America, the playoff match-up was a merry-go-round ride at the county fair.

After the Cobbers and Johnnies battled through a 37-run, 45-hit doubleheader during the regular season, the teams played a calming, 9-inning game in the conference tournament opener. Concordia took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the fifth inning and outlasted the Johnnies 6-4.

The victory marks the first playoff win for the Cobbers since the 2015 season when they also beat St. John's in the tournament opener.

Concordia is now 21-16 on the season.

The 6-4 win on Thursday highlighted Concordia's ability to put the ball in play, play solid defense in critical moments and get good pitching from the top hurlers.

The Cobbers opened the scoring with a single run in the first when Andy Gravdahl beat out a high chopper in the infield with two outs. He went to second on a walk by Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe and scored on a single up the middle from Matt Gruber.

St. John's (23-15) posted single runs in the third and fourth frames to take a 2-1 lead, but then Concordia took control of the game with 2-run innings in the fifth and sixth.

Once again, Gravdahl was in the middle of the action. His 1-out triple scored Caiden Kjelstrom, and then he scored the second run of the inning when Henkemeyer-Howe came up with an RBI ground out to second base.  

The Johnnies tied the game with another single run in the fifth before the Cobbers stepped on the gas to open up the first 2-run lead in the top of the sixth. Both runs in the sixth came with two outs, and both were courtesy of SJU errors. Jake Christianson singled home Chance Bye after Bye was beaned and Max Boran reached on a fielding miscue. Boran then scored on another fielding error off the bat of Caiden Kjelstrom.

Concordia extended the lead to 6-3 when Bye laid a bunt down that caught the SJU defense unaware and scored Henkemeyer-Howe from third base.

The Johnnies recorded their fourth 1-run inning in the eighth before Bye took the mound and shut St. John's down to preserve the victory and pick up his first collegiate save.

Both teams had nine hits in the game. Gravdahl and Kjelstrom combined for five of the nine hits. Gravdahl went 3-for-5 with an RBI and his league-leading sixth triple of the year. Kjelstrom was 2-for-5 and scored a run.

The Cobber pitching trio of Ashwin Stratton, Luke Levasseur and Bye gave acting head coach Anthony Renz a perfect mix for a playoff opener. None of the three were extended, which should allow them to be available later in the double-elimination tournament.

The three pitchers also held St. John's hitless in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. SJU also hit .158 (3-for-19) with runners on base.  

Stratton went the first 6.0 innings, allowed two earned runs on seven hits and struck out three. He is now 6-3 on the season.

Levasseur entered in the seventh and bridged the gap to Bye. He gave up a single run on two hits and fanned a batter.

Bye walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, but then got a key 3-ball foul out and struck out the next two batters to end the game.

TONY GWYNN TRIBUTE: Thomas Horan went 1-for-4 in the game and also recorded a walk. His 1-out single through the right side of the infield in the seventh inning extended his team-best hit streak to 19 games. That is the longest hit streak by a Cobber since 2010, when Nick Lewis had a hit in 20 consecutive games.

WHO DOESN'T LIKE MORE GRAVY?: Gravdahl's 3-hit game was his 16th multiple-hit game of the season. That is almost half of the Cobbers' games this season. He is now hitting .417 on the season with an OPS of 1.086.  

SCORING STUFF: The Cobbers are now 13-4 when they score a run in the first inning and 53 when they post between six and nine runs. CC is also 2-0 in 2-run games and 16-3 when they lead after six innings.

STRATTON'S SWEET SMELL OF SIX-CESS: Stratton's sixth win of the year marks the first time the Cobbers have had a 6-win pitcher since Ross Merriman went 6-2 in 2015 (the last time CC won a playoff game).              

UP NEXT: Concordia will play Bethel on Friday, May 12 at 3 p.m. in the tournament's winner's bracket. The Royals bettered No.1-seed Gustavus 3-1 in the other opening-round game on Thursday. The Cobbers swept Bethel on Monday.