Concordia Wins And Concordia Wins

TITUSVILLE, Fla. (3/02/14)—Concordia continues to exceed preseason predictions in their spring break trip to Florida. The Cobbers earned their second win of the season and split a pair of games with Concordia University (Ill.).

A year ago Concordia won only one game and was outscored 53-13 in their on their spring break trip. The Cobbers have already doubled that win total and scored seven more runs.

Concordia beat Concordia University 5-4 in the opener on Sunday and then fell 10-0 in the second game. CC is now 2-4 on the season. The Cougars were picked to finish fifth in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference preseason coaches' poll.

The Cobbers pounded out 14 hits on the day and have four players hitting above .300 on the season after having only one last season.

In the opener it was the starting pitching of JoAnna Carlson that kept the Cobbers in the game early and then a four-run second that proved to be the difference. Carlson gave up only two hits in the first four innings and kept the Cougars off the board until the fifth frame.

Concordia's decisive second inning featured four runs, three hits and 10 batters coming to the plate. Paige Beseman had the big base knock of the frame when she drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single up the middle. Heather Jonasson and Jenna Esala.

The Cobbers eventually took a 5-0 lead in the top of the fifth. It turned out to be the eventual game-winning run of the opener. Dominique Giesen started the inning with a single to left field. She then advanced to second base on a wild pitch and then to third on a ground out to shortstop. Giesen then scored the fifth run of the game when Mackenzie Jensen singled to left field.

CC gave up two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings before junior pitcher Hilary Rotunda closed out the game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Both teams had eight hits in the game. Beseman was the only Cobber with more than one hit in the game. She went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs. CC had seven of their top eight hitters get at least one hit in the opener.

Carlson earned her first win of the year by going 5.0 innings and allowing three earned runs. Rotunda entered the circle in the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless innings to record her first save of the year.

The second game was scoreless until the fourth inning. Rotunda retired the first six batters she faced and gave up only one hit in the first three innings of play. The Cougars then scored multiple runs in the final three innings to win the game.

Concordia had six hits in the game and was led by the top 2 hitters in the lineup. Leadoff hitter Madison Little matched Beseman by going 2-for-3 in the game.

The Cobbers will conclude their Florida trip by playing three games on Monday, Mar. 3. Concordia will face Oakland at 9 a.m. and then battle Madonna (Mich.) in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.