Pitching Continues To Be Solid In DH Loss At St. Olaf

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (4/16/15)—Concordia continues to get good pitching but can't come up with the clutch hits and lost a pair of tight games at St. Olaf. The Cobbers had the game-tying run at the plate in each game of the conference doubleheader but lost 4-2 in the opener and 2-1 in the finale.

Hillary Rotunda allowed only six hits and four earned runs while striking out five in game 1 and then sophomore Abigail Haraldson gave up only four hits and two earned runs while striking out four in game 2. The six runs allowed is the fewest by the Cobbers in a MIAC doubleheader since the end of last season when they only allowed five against St. Mary's.

Rotunda and Haraldson have teamed up to give the Cobbers a solid 1-2 pitching combination. Rotunda has a team-best 3.71 ERA while Haraldson has only allowed eight hits and four earned runs in her last two outings and has dropped ERA to 4.05. The Concordia staff now has a 3.84 team ERA which is almost 1.50 lower than last year's team ERA at 5.31 and lowest since the 2009 season.

Concordia (9-18/3-13 MIAC) took an early 1-0 lead in the opener when Madison Little walked to lead off the game and then scored on an Ashley Tibbetts RBI single.

The lead would be short-lived as St. Olaf scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. The Oles had only one hit in the inning but it was a three-run homer after St. Olaf coaxed a pair of walks.

The Oles added a single run in the third and then Concordia had runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh frames. CC wasn't able to score in sixth but then plated a run in the seventh when Sadie Ness came home on a Mackenzie Jensen infield ground ball.

The Cobbers took a 1-0 lead again in the second game. A pair of freshman combined to score CC's only run in the game. Mackenzie McCloud singled to right field to lead off the inning and then came around to score on a Devonie Smith single to center field.

St. Olaf scored their two runs in the sixth inning when they came up with two of their four hits in the game.

Concordia outhit the Oles 5-4 in the nightcap. McCloud had her second multiple-hit game of the season. She went 2-for-3 and scored the team's only run of the game. Little, Smith and Dominique Giesen all had one hit in the game.

Giesen also had one of the three hits in the first game and has now had at least one hit in five of the last nine games.

Little was 1-for-5 on the day and leads the team in batting average at .371.

Next up for the Cobbers is a home doubleheader with Macalester on Saturday, Apr. 18 at 1 p.m.