(Lake Wales, FL) – Concordia baseball kicked off their spring break trip with a pair of top-25 matchups on Thursday. The Cardinals pulled a 14-10 upset over #10 Bellevue to start the day before falling against the host #25 Warner 7-2 in the evening.
Game 1 – CUAA 14, BEL 10
Joe Tany started on the mound in game 1. Concordia struck first in the 1st inning when James (Jimmy) Wressel used a sacrifice bunt to score Aaron Brazelton. Bellevue answered with 3 runs in the top of the 2nd to go ahead 3-1.
The Cardinals surged ahead with an 8-run 2nd inning. Aaron Brazelton started things off when a bases-loaded RBI single to score Robert Brenay. Justin Kozlowski reached home on a wild pitch and Aaron West hit a 2-RBI single to score Brazelton and Jarrett Batanian. James (Jimmy) Wressel hit a 2-RBI double past the third baseman to drive in West and Joe Jones. Calvin Syrjala and Jordan Sherman capped the inning with doubles to score Ryan Kotecki and Syrjala for a 10-3 lead.
Bellevue got a run back in the top of the 3rd but the Cardinals answered in the bottom when Robert Brenay drew a bases-loaded walk. Justin Kozlowski added an RBI single to drive in Ryan Kotecki.
Kenneth Rozmys came in to pitch in the 4th inning. Bellevue scored 2 runs in the 4th and 4 runs in the 5th to trim the CUAA lead to 12-10. Concordia got a run back in the 5th when Calvin Syrjala used an RBI single to drive in Aaron West.
Logan Fleming pitched in the 6th inning. The Cardinals added a run in the 6th when Joe Jones hit an RBI double scoring Caleb Harmond. Ryan Kotecki came on to close out the 7th inning and CUAA claimed the 14-10 win.
Game 2 – WAR 7, CUAA 2
Warner started off game 2 with a 5-run 1st inning. Concordia broke the shutout in the 2nd when Robert Brenay singled to score Ryan Kotecki. Warner added runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings to go up 7-1.
The Cardinals got their second run in the 6th inning when Jake Moyer was able to score on a Warner error. However, the team was unable to mount a comeback effort and fell 7-2.
Concordia will be back in action tomorrow with games against St. Thomas and St. Francis at 4pm and 7pm.