(Ann Arbor, MI) The Cardinal Baseball team entered postseason play on Saturday afternoon with a NCCAA Midwest Regional series. Concordia hosted Grace Christian in a best of three series which saw the Cardinals win the first two matchups over the Tigers.
Game 1: Concordia 18, Grace Christian 6
Jacob Henry started on the mound for the Cardinals, but only went for an inning before being relieved by Logan Fleming. Fleming would go on to pitch four innings, tallying up five strikeouts and earing the win. Billy Blair came in to finish out the final two innings.
The Cardinals nearly batted twice through the lineup in the bottom of the first, piling on 11 runs. Joe Jones hit the first pitch he saw over the fence in left center to start off the scoring. James (Jimmy) Wressel, Aaron West, Calvin Syrjala, Aaron Brazelton, Caleb Chamberlain, Jordan Sherman, and Justin Kozlowski all brought home runs in the big inning.
In the second inning, Ryan Kotecki and Blake Weaver added onto the advantage with their own runs batted in.
Kyle Hebner and Caleb Chamberlain smashed home runs in the fourth and fifth innings respectively. Hebner drove in the Cardinals' final run in the sixth with an RBI double.
Game 2: Concordia 12, Grace Christian 3
The southpaw, Ryan Abenth took to the mound in the second game of the afternoon and went five innings deep to earn the win. He allowed just seven baserunners while striking out six. Mackenzie Martin, Bryon Mane, and Kenneth Rozmys all came in from the bullpen allowing zero runs among them.
It wasn't until the fourth inning that the Cardinal bats came alive, responding to the Tigers three runs earlier in the inning with seven of their own. Jake Ryan put the Cardinals on the board first with a pair of runs driven in off of his single through the right side. Robert Brenay plated Justin Kozlowski with a single and then stole a base after that which caused an errant throw on which Jake Ryan scored. Caleb Chamberlain scored Brenay and then Jordan Sherman reached on an error which allowed two more Cardinals to score in the inning.
Joe Jones had an RBI single in the sixth which was followed by a two-run homer from Jordan Sherman on the next at bat.
Curtis Townsend and Jake Ryan both scored on wild pitches in the bottom of the seventh to tack on insurance runs.
The Cardinals will now await other results to determine if they will have more regional play before a hopeful bid to the NCCAA World Series.
