Gameday Recap

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (4/22/08)-- Concordia gave up five unearned runs in the first game and a three-run walk-off home run in the second game and was swept by Bethel 8-4 and 5-4 in Arden Hills on Tuesday. The two losses damage the Cobbers' playoff hopes as they fall to 6-8 in conference play and are now in eighth place in the MIAC standings. CC is now 13-12 overall. The Royals jump ahead of Concordia and are now 6-7 in the league and in seventh place.

The hops for a series split were smashed by Bethel senior third baseman Brandon Carr who hit a three-rum homer over the left field fence in the bottom of the seventh to cap the Royal's rally from a 4-2 deficit heading into the inning. The Cobbers had started the inning by getting the first two batters to strike out and ground out before the next two reached base on a single and a walk. Carr then deposited a Nick Petro offering over the fence to secure the win and the series sweep.

Concordia outhit Bethel 10-7 in the second game and staged a mid-game rally of their own when they scored four runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to erase a 2-0 deficit. Jake Krause and Erick Sykora were the only CC players with more than one hit in the finale. Krause went 2-for-3 and drove in a run and Sykora was a perfect 3-for-3 with and RBI and a run scored. Brady Harms hit his first collegiate home run when he hit a solo shot in the fourth inning.

Freshman Phil Moenkedick started on the mound for the Cobbers in game two and pitched the first 4.0 innings. He gave up five hits and only allowed one earned run. Matt Green came on in relief of Moenkedick and lasted until Carr's at bat. He pitched 2.2 innings, gave up just one hit and two earned runs. Petro pitched to Carr and gave up the decisive round-tripper.

The first game was a tale of Cobber miscues as they allowed five unearned runs and committed an uncharacteristic four errors in the game. Concordia gave up two unearned runs in the second inning, one in the third and two more in the fourth inning as they watched a 1-0 lead turn into a 5-3 deficit. Bethel would tack on three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning before CC scored once in the top of the seventh to bring the final score to 8-4.

Matt Youngquist started the day off on a positive note for Concordia when he laced a pitch over the fence in the top of the first to give the Cobbers a 1-0 lead. It was his first home run of the season. He finished the game by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Scott Schumacher led the CC hit parade in the opener. He went 3-for-3 and drove in one of the four Concordia runs.

Andrew Skow-Anderson got the start for the Cobbers in the opener and pitched the first 4.0 innings. He gave up five runs and all were unearned. He struck out six and watched as his season ERA dropped to 4.76.

Cobber catcher Kyle Johnson recorded a single hit in each game and extended his hitting streak to 19 games. He has a chance to become the first Cobber player in school history to hit successfully in 20 straight games when Concordia hosts Augsburg on Saturday, Apr. 26 at 1 p.m.