Baseball 5/9/05 -- Concordia-Moorhead 7-2, Augsburg 1-5 

GAME 1 BOXSCORE 
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (5/9/05) -- For the first time in school history, Augsburg College will advance to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball playoffs, while Concordia College-Moorhead will advance to the conference playoffs for the third straight year and fourth time in the last six years, after the teams split their final league doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Faber Field in St. Cloud.

Concordia (17-19 overall, 12-8 MIAC) won the first game 7-1, while Augsburg (22-16 overall, 12-8 MIAC) took the second game 5-2. After a victory by St. John's in the first game of its regular-season-ending doubleheader against Gustavus on Monday, the Auggies and Cobbers clinched the final two spots in the four-team MIAC postseason playoffs.

Because Augsburg and Concordia tied in all tiebreaker criteria, a coin flip was held at the conclusion of the game to determine which team would be the third seed in the playoffs. Concordia won the coin flip and will be the No. 3 seed, and will face No. 2-seed St. Olaf (23-15 overall, 13-7 MIAC) in Friday's 3:30 p.m. playoff game at Sechler Park in Northfield, Minn. Augsburg, as the No. 4 seed, will face top-seed St. Thomas (26-10 overall, 17-3 MIAC) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Park in Dundas, Minn.

Augsburg starter Jeremy Nelson (Sr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS), pitching on two days rest, lasted into the sixth inning of the second game, allowing just four hits while striking out two while not walking a batter to improve to a career-best 8-2 on the season, lifting the Auggies into the playoffs.

Reliever Tyler Kraft (So., Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS), making his 22nd pitching appearance of the season, struck out three of the eight batters he faced in two innings of work, while allowing three hits to record his fifth save.

Concordia starter Blake Trenbeath (Jr., Cavalier, N.D.) lasted four-and-a-third innings before being relieved by Josh Dietz (Sr., Glencoe, Minn./Glencoe-Silver Lake HS). Trenbeath struck out four while not walking a batter.

Augsburg took the early lead in the second game. With two outs in the top of the fourth, Mike Zaun (Fr., Mendota Heights, Minn.) struck out swinging, but reached base as the third strike skipped by the Concordia catcher for a wild pitch, enabling Zaun to reach base safely. Augsburg then scored on back-to-back doubles by Ricky Schreier (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) and Taylor Pagel (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) to take a 2-0 lead.

Concordia scored in the bottom of the fourth frame, as Scott Johnson (Jr., Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson HS) singled and scored on a double by Brian Schumacher (Jr., Thompson, N.D.). But Schumacher was caught at third trying to stretch the double into a triple.

A two-out Darren Ginther (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) opposite-field single in the fifth plated Jeff Stomberg (Fr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) with the Auggies' third run. Pagel got his second extra-base hit of the game in the sixth, stroking a triple to center field to drive home Schreier, giving the Auggies a 4-1 advantage.

Concordia loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. The Cobbers scored on a sacrifice fly by Schumacher, while Augsburg's Schreier made an incredible diving catch to prevent an extra-base hit. Another fly ball to end the inning stranded the two remaining Cobber runners on the bases.

Ginther hit a double to the right-center gap to plate Stomberg in the top of the seventh to close the scoring.

Pagel went 3-for-3 with a double and triple for the Auggies in the second game, while Ginther went 3-for-4 with a double. Each drove in two runs. Stomberg and Troy Deden (Jr., Northfield, Minn.) had two hits each. Johnson had two hits for the Cobbers.

In the first game, Concordia pitcher Bryan Romsa (Sr., Mankato, Minn./Great Falls, Mont., HS) was effective, throwing a complete-game six-hitter to claim the victory and improve to 6-2 on the season. He struck out two while only walking one, and the run charged against him was unearned.

Concordia jumped out to an early lead in the first game, peppering Augsburg starter Ginther, who lasted just one complete inning. Eric Weber (So., Hastings, Minn.) entered the game in relief in the second inning, after Ginther was tagged for six hits and six runs. Eric Grant (Jr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) also pitched in relief for the Auggies.

With two outs in the first inning, consecutive singles by Chris Klabo (So., Brainerd, Minn.), Schumacher and Nick Esala (Sr., Ottertail, Minn./Perham HS) gave the Cobbers a 2-0 lead, followed by a towering two-run homer to left field by Brian Knoblauch (So., St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral HS). Knoblauch, playing in his home ballpark in St. Cloud, was starting in his first game of the season.

Two more runs came across for the Cobbers in the second, as back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning by Scott Halupczok (So., St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral HS) and Bryant Bergeson (Sr., Montevideo, Minn./Yellow Medicine East HS) brought in a run, and a single by Ryan Emter (So., Miltona, Minn./Jefferson HS) plated another.

Augsburg scored in the third inning, as Matt Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn.) doubled and scored on a grounder by Pagel. But the Cobbers scored another run in the fourth, as three Augsburg errors brought home Bergeson.

There were a combined nine errors in the first game -- five for Augsburg and four for Concordia -- and the game was delayed by rain in the bottom of the fifth inning for 1:04.

Halupczok went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Cobbers, while Schumacher ended up 2-for-4. Schreier went 2-for-3 for the Auggies.