St. Peter, Minn. – After beginning the conference schedule 4-0 this season, the Gustavus baseball team suffered its first loss in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday afternoon, falling at the hands of Concordia by final scores of 8-7 and 18-6. With the losses, the Gusties move to 7-14 overall (4-2 MIAC) while the Cobbers improve to 11-7 (4-2 MIAC).
Game 1 – Gustavus 7, Concordia 8
After trailing 6-3 after five innings of play, the Gusties came back to score four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-6 lead heading to the seventh. Back-to-back walks and a single loaded the bases to begin the bottom half of the sixth. An error by the Cobber defense allowed Max Fidler (So., Lino Lakes, Minn.) to score from third. In the next at-bat, Sam Warner (Fr., Chanhassen, Minn.) was hit by a pitch to bring in another Gustavus run and narrow the deficit to 6-5 with no outs.
Drew Block (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) walked in another run and Kellan Euerle (Jr., St. Cloud, Minn.) produced a sacrifice fly to give the Gusties a 7-6 lead. After Scott Benjamin (Jr., Northfield, Minn.) walked, Gustavus again had the sacs full, but Concordia got a much needed inning-ending double play to escape without any further damage.
The Cobbers came back to load the bases themselves in the top of the seventh inning. They continued to manufacture a run thanks to a sac fly from Matt Schalow that tied the game at 7 apiece. When the Gusties could not respond in the bottom half of the inning, the game went in to extra innings.
In the top of the ninth, the Cobbers got the run they needed when Devin Johnson doubled to right center. Gustavus could not answer in its next at-bat and the score was made final at 8-7.
Game 2 – Gustavus 6, Concordia 18
Gustavus came out with a strong start in game two. After holding the Cobbers scoreless in the top of the first inning, the Gusties scored two runs in the bottom half thanks to a two-run home run down the left field line by Kellan Euerle. Concordia came back to answer with two runs in the top of the second inning before Gustavus scored another run in the bottom of the second to take a 3-2 lead.
It was all Cobbers from there, however, as they went on to score two more runs in the third, three in the fourth, five in the fifth and six in the seventh on the way to the 18-6 victory.