COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (4/13/10)-- Let the road grind begin. Concordia started a stretch of six conference road games in eight days as they split with St. John's on Tuesday. The Cobbers and Johnnies hooked up in a double dip befitting two of the top teams in the league as each team came away with a win after posting a big-run inning.

Concordia scored four runs in the first inning of the opener and rode the arm of Adam Johnson to pick up a 4-2 win and then the Johnnies scored six runs in the third inning and came away with a 6-2 victory in the night cap.

With the split, Concordia remains atop of the MIAC standings as they move to 5-1 in league. They are .5 games ahead of St. John's and St. Thomas who are both 6-2 in the conference. The 5-1 start in league play is the best start for the Cobbers since the 2003 campaign when they also went 5-1 and also split their fifth and sixth games with SJU. CC is now 14-8 overall. The Johnnies are now 13-12 in all games.

Johnson held the Johnnie attack at bay in the first game. He scattered seven hits in six innings of work and struck out four. He retired the first two batters in each of the first five innings and only allowed one runner to advance past second base.

Ryan Johnson finished off the game on the mound. He allowed two runs to make the game interesting but was able to get out of the jam on a ground ball to short with the tying runner on second base.

The Cobber offense did all their work in the first inning. They scored all four runs in the game in the frame and set the tone for the rest of the day. CC had five hits in the first inning and was aided by an SJU error.

Nate Haase led Concordia as he went 3-for-3, scored a run and drove in a run. Michael Carlson was the only other CC player with more than one hit in the game. He was 2-for-3 and scored a run.

The Cobbers had seven hits in the second but were never able to come up with a timely hit and were held to single runs in the second and fourth. The biggest rally of the finale for Concordia came in the fifth inning. The Cobbers loaded the bases with only one out and then Haase clubbed a shot into the right center field gap. Johnnie center fielder Matt Boys then made the defensive play of the day when he made a spectacular diving catch to rob Haase of an extra-base hit. He then got to his feet and completed the double play by throwing the ball into second base to double off the Cobber runner at second base.

Dan Wackler was the offensive leader for CC in the second game. He was 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. It was also his 10th multiple-hit game of the year. Nick Lewis had a single hit in both games and has also recorded a hit in 11 straight games. Carlson was the 1-for-4 in the finale, moved his hitting streak to 10 games and upped his team-leading batting average to .435.

Concordia used three pitchers in the second game. Jake Torrison was the starter and lasted 2.0 innings. He gave up five runs on only three hits. Zach Frappier came on in the third inning, lasted 3.0 innings and allowed one run on four hits. Andrew Skow-Anderson finished off the game by pitching a perfect 1-2-3 sixth inning.

The Cobbers will return home to face UM-Crookston in a non-conference game on Thursday, Apr. 15 at 4 p.m. CC will then head to St. Paul to take on Macalester on Saturday, Apr. 17 at 11 a.m.