(Ann Arbor, MI) - Concordia baseball hosted Cedarville University on Friday afternoon for the NCCAA Midwest Regional Championship. The Cardinals made a comeback for a dramatic 12-11 win in game one on a Taishin Matsushita single. CUAA then overpowered the Yellow Jackets for a 13-4 victory in game two. The second win gives head coach Zachary Johnston his 350th career coaching victory.
GAME 1 – CUAA 12, Cedarville 11
Owen Johnson was the starting pitcher for game one, pitching two innings. Kyle Winslow came on in the third inning to pitch 1.1 innings and made 1 strikeout. Cedarville jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the top of the third inning. In the bottom half, Josh Burke used a sacrifice fly to score Jake Kuhlman for the team's first run.
Drew Murphy pitched starting in the fourth inning, throwing 2.2 innings with 1 strikeout. Cedarville added 3 runs in the top of the fourth inning, but the Cardinals countered in the bottom half with a 2-run homer by Justin Kozlowski.
Cedarville added a run in the top of the fifth inning. The Cardinals responded again with a grand slam hit by Justin Kozlowski. Aaron West added a solo homer to cut the deficit to 11-8.
Trey Acker pitched the last three innings of the game. The Cardinals continued to use the long ball in their comeback effort with a 2-run homer by Drew Fleming in the eighth inning.
In the ninth inning, Jake Kuhlman hit a deep sacrifice fly allowing Aaron Garner to reach home and tie the game 11-11. Taishin Matsushita then hit an RBI single past the diving shortstop to drive in Justin Kozlowski for the walk-off win.
GAME 2 – CUAA 13, Cedarville 4
Bryon Mane started game two on the mound, going 5.2 innings with 3 strikeouts. The Cardinals scored 6 runs in the first inning, starting with a 3-run homer from Drew Fleming. Aaron West used a sacrifice fly to score Logan Hylek. Tyler Lawson had a sacrifice bunt to drive in Aaron Garner. Jake Kuhlman capped the inning with a RBI single scoring Justin Kozlowski.
Jake Kuhlman added a 2-RBI double in the third inning and later reached home on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Harrison Ryan hit an RBI single to score Tyler Lawson.
Evan Jasiak, Ethan Pollard, Logan Fleming, Blake Weaver and Mackenzie Martin all combined to pitch the last 3.1 innings of the game.
In the seventh inning, Andre Hutchins hit a 2-RBI single to drive in Aaron Garner and Aaron West. Logan Hylek added an RBI groundout to score Curtis Townsend.
Cedarville broke the shutout with a grand slam in the ninth inning, but the Cardinals secured the final out for the 13-4 victory.
Concordia will now head to the NCCAA World Series at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. The event will be held from May 18-22.
