(Dunbar, WV) After opening the season up with a couple of wins the Cardinals matched up against University of Pikeville and Goshen College once again for a pair of rematches. In both games the Cardinals suffered comeback defeats to fall to .500 on the young season. Vann Acker continued the impressive start to his senior campaign with a home run in both of Sunday's games.
Game 1 | February 16, 11:30 AM
Concordia 7 - Pikeville 8
Pikeville opened up the game with a fast start, getting to Cardinal starter Timothy Pomaville through a series of three unearned runs. Pomaville would be replaced by Joe Tany in the third inning after allowing several more baserunners and an eventual run.
The Cards saw an offensive explosion in the second inning when clean up hitter Grant Steinborn led off with a solo home run. Concordia did not slow down following the Steinborn jack, as Calvin Syrjala and the Sherman brothers singled followed by RBI's from Dylan Steinke and Matthew Botti. Vann Acker then launched his second homer of the series, plating another three runs. This forced the Bears to make a pitching change with the Cardinals taking a 6-3 lead.
In the fifth inning Chris Lowe started off with a double before being driven in by Grant Steinborn to increase the Cardinal advantage. Tany coughed up a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 7-5 in favor of the Cards.
Pikeville refused to go away, putting up a quick two runs in the final inning to tie things up. Brendan Lyons was brought in to relieve Tany, but was unable to get out of the jam, allowing one of his inherited baserunners to score for the Pikeville comeback win.
Game 2 | February 16, 2:00 PM
Concordia 7 - Goshen 8
Much like the first game on Sunday, Concordia started poorly against the Maple Leafs from Goshen. Joey Stasa gave up three runs before being replaced by Kane Bournina who retired the next two batters on strikeouts. Vann Acker answered Goshen with a leadoff home run for his third on the weekend.
Bourbina pitched a quiet three innings for the "Diamond Cards" to keep the Leaf lead at two. That lead evaporated in the bottom of the fourth as Calvin Syrjala hit a two run double and Adam Purdy followed that up with a double of his own to bring Syrjala home.
The Leafs retook the lead in the fifth inning with a string of batters being hit by pitches and earning hits off of Bourbina. Once again Concordia answered as Chris Lowe and Grant Steinborn each drove in a run to tie the game up.
In the bottom of the sixth inning Dylan Steinke brought Adam Purdy home on a groundout to third to take the lead going into the final inning.
Goshen was able to load the bases against Ryan Kotecki which forced Concordia to go to Ryan Abenth. The junior walked his sole batter, tying the game. Ryan was replaced by his cousin, Elijah Abenth, in search of preserving the tie. Elijah struck out his first batter, before walking the next, giving the Leafs the one run lead which they held on to for the 8-7 win.
Concordia will next face Wright State-Lake in a series of four games this Saturday and Sunday. First pitch will be at 1:00 pm both days in Fairborn, Ohio.
