Baseball 4/23/02 -- Augsburg 2-2, Concordia-Moorhead 0-3

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


COLD SPRING, Minn. (4/23/02) -- M.J. Iverson (Sr., New Germany, Minn/Norwood-Young America Central HS) hit his first collegiate home run and Joe Pontrelli (So., Eagan, Minn.) pitched a two-hit shutout to give Augsburg College a 2-0 win in the first game, while Chris Siverson's (Jr., Fargo, N.D./South HS) two-run single in the fifth inning gave Concordia College-Moorhead the lead to stay en route to a 3-2 win in the second game, as the teams split a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at the Cold Spring Baseball Park.

Augsburg's 2-0 first-game triumph broke a nine-game losing streak and the split gave the Auggies a record of 8-22 overall and 2-10 in MIAC play. Concordia moves to 15-11 overall and 7-5 in MIAC play. The games were played at Cold Spring -- about 90 miles from Minneapolis -- after Augsburg's scheduled home game with the Cobbers was snowed out on Sunday.

The first game was a pitcher's duel between Augsburg's Pontrelli and Concordia's Travis Anderson (Jr., Fargo, N.D./South HS). Both pitchers threw complete-game efforts while not walking a batter. Pontrelli struck out six, while Anderson struck out three and allowed just five Auggie hits. Pontrelli threw just 88 pitches, while Anderson threw an amazing 60 pitches in six innings of work. The two-hit shutout was Pontrelli's first collegiate shutout, and Augsburg's first shutout of the 2002 season.

Neither team scored until the fifth, when Augsburg's Dave Sherry (Sr., Hastings, Minn.) hit a one-out double to the right-center gap. After a strikeout, Iverson hit his first pitch from Anderson just over the fence in right-center to give Augsburg all the runs it would need. Pontrelli shut down the Cobbers in order in the sixth and seventh to preserve the win. He shut down the Cobber side in order in four innings.

Chad Festul (Sr., Morris, Minn.) had both of the Cobbers' hits off of Pontrelli, including a second-inning double.

The second game began as another duel between starters Isaac Triebold (Jr., Oriska, N.D./Fargo South HS) of Concordia and Jared Lynch (Sr., Jordan, Minn.) of Augsburg. Both pitchers lasted into the fifth inning before being relieved.

The game was a scoreless draw until the fourth, when Concordia went ahead to stay. Ryan Hebrink (So., Sacred Heart, Minn./BDRSH HS) and Festul hit consecutive singles, and were advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt by Jim Johnson (So., Anoka, Minn.). Siverson then singled to right to drive in both runs.

Augsburg cut into the lead in the bottom of the inning, when Pat Marsh (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) hit a bnt single and came around to score when Nick Rathmann (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) reached base on a throwing error on a double-play attempt.

The Cobbers added to the lead in the fifth, when Derek Dormanen (Jr., Menahga, Minn.) doubled and scored after Ben Kvidt (Jr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.) reached base on a fielding error. Augsburg cut into the lead again in the fifth, as Iverson doubled and scored on a single by Sammy Gross (Jr., Springfield, Minn.). But Gross was caught stealing on a rundown play to end the Auggie threat.

Both starters, Lynch and Triebold, struck out one and did not walk a batter. Lynch allowed 10 hits, while Triebold allowed five hits. Concordia reliever Dormanen struck out five of the eight batters he faced in the final 2.2 innings to earn the save; Matt Topp (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.) struck out one in 2.1 innings of relief for Augsburg.

Both teams are scheduled to return to MIAC doubleheader play on Thursday (4/25) at 2:30 p.m., as Concordia hosts Gustavus and Augsburg plays at Hamline (Midway Stadium in St. Paul).