Baseball 4/22/03 -- Concordia-Moorhead 12-8, Augsburg 4-1


GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


STORY FROM CONCORDIA-MOORHEAD SPORTS INFORMATION

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/21/03) -- Concordia College-Moorhead's offensive juggernaut continued to roll, as the Cobbers pounded out 20 more runs on 23 hits and swept Augsburg College 12-4 and 8-1 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Jake Christiansen Field.

Concordia has now won nine straight games and 13 of the past 14. The Cobbers are now 11-1 in the MIAC and tied for first place with St. Thomas, which swept St. Mary's 2-1 and 4-3. The Cobbers also improved their overall record to 20-9-1, marking the first time since the 1995 that they have reached the 20-win plateau. Augsburg is now 9-18-2 overall and 4-10 in MIAC play, having dropped its last five games in a row and eight of its last 10.

Concordia has now scored 89 runs in the past seven games and have clobbered opposing pitching for 81 hits. The Cobbers have raised their overall season batting average over 40 percentage points during that time frame. They currently have a team batting average of .276.

The Cobbers came out swinging the bats from the opening pitch in both games. They jumped on Auggie pitching early - posting nine runs in the first inning of game one and six runs in the first two innings of the nightcap. In the first game, Chris Siverson (Sr., Fargo, N.D./Fargo South HS) hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to give Concordia a 5-0 lead. Luther Kangas (Jr., Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) added to the total in the inning by clouting a two-run homer to push the lead to 9-0.

Concordia scored three more runs in the third inning before Augsburg could recover and get their offense on track. The Auggies rallied for an unearned run in the fourth inning and then three runs in the sixth inning to narrow the final margin to 12-4. Russ Bauer (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) hit a run-scoring single in the fourth. Jon Kozitza (Jr., North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS) had a run-scoring single and Jeremy Nelson (So., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) brought home two runs on a single in the sixth.

Jeremy Hinderks (Jr., Renville, Minn./Renville County West HS) picked up his league-leading seventh win. Hinderks, who pitched all seven innings and gave up three earned runs, improved his record to 7-1. Isaac Schmidt (So., Luverne, Minn.) took the loss, pitching just two-thirds of an inning, with Nick Rathmann (Sr., Waseca, Minn.) going the rest of the way in relief.

Siverson ended the game 2-for-3 with 5 RBI. Kangas went 2-for-3 as well, scoring three times and driving in the two runs with his second home run of the year. Augsburg was paced by Joe Haehn (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) and Collin Nash (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS), who each went 2-for-4.

Concordia duplicated the script in the second game by posting big numbers early in the contest. The Cobbers scored four in the first and then two in the second to bolt to the early 6-0 lead. They had six hits in the first two frames, five of which were singles. Ryan Hebrink (Jr., Sacred Heart, Minn./Renville County West HS) had the only extra-base hit for Concordia in the game, when he doubled in the two runs in the bottom of the second.

Bryan Romsa (So., Great Falls, Mont./Great Falls HS) gave head coach Bucky Burgau six quality innings and earned his third win of the year. Romsa didn't allow an earned run and gave up only six hits while striking out four. Derek Dormanen (Sr., Menahga, Minn./Menahga HS) came in to pitch the top of the seventh inning for Concordia. He retired all three batters he faced, two by strikeout. He has now posted 35 Ks in 22.2 innings of work.

Hebrink had the hot hand in the second game. He went 3-for-3 and drove in five of the Cobbers' six runs. Dormanen was 2-for-4 at the plate and had the other Concordia RBI. Leadoff hitter Jack Dwyer (Jr., Bismarck, N.D./Shiloh Christian HS) had a hit in both games and extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games. He was 3-for-6 in the series and scored five runs.

John Golnitz (So., Green Bay, Wis./Preble HS) took the pitching loss for Augsburg, with Tyler Suter (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) pitching in relief. Pat Marsh (Sr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) went 2-for-3 for the Auggies with a double and scored the team's lone run on an RBI single by Taylor Pagel (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.) in the third.

The Cobbers will take to the road for a pair of conference doubleheaders this weekend. Concordia will play at Bethel on Friday (4/26) at 2:30 p.m., and then travel to St. Peter to take on Gustavus on Saturday (4/27) at 1 p.m.

Augsburg has its final home doubleheader of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m. (note the correct time), hosting Hamline at Parade Stadium.