Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's left a combined 20 men on base in a pair of one-run losses, 3-2 and 5-4 in nine innings, to Concordia-Moorhead on Sunday, April 7, at the new Saint John's Field in Collegeville.
The Johnnies (9-8, 0-2 MIAC) out-hit Concordia 4-3 but left 10 men on base in game one before allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth to suffer their third extra-inning loss of the season in game two.
The doubleheader was originally scheduled for April 6 in Moorhead but was moved to Collegeville due to field conditions.
The Cobbers (9-5, 2-0 MIAC) jumped on senior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) for three runs in the third to gain a 3-0 lead in game one.
Senior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) put SJU on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning and sophomore Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) scored the game's final run on a fielding error in the seventh.
Cline fell to 1-3 on the year, allowing three runs on three hits in six innings of work. He struck out four and walked four with three wild pitches.
Junior Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) gave SJU an early lead with an RBI single in the first inning of game two, but the Cobbers answered with single runs in the second and third innings to gain a 2-1 lead.
Long gave the lead back to SJU with a two-run homer, his second of the season and first in the new stadium, in the top of the sixth.
The Cobbers tied it at 4-4 following a pair of two-out walks and a fielding error in the bottom half of the inning.
SJU left the bases loaded in the eighth and loaded them again in the ninth, but scored only one run on a sac fly from Graves to take a 4-3 lead into the bottom half of the inning.
CC's Matt Schalow started the half inning with a pinch-hit single to the pitcher and advanced to second on a throwing error of what was to be a sacrifice bunt. Both base runners advanced on a wild pitch before back-to-back walks tied the game. Long struck out Michael Olson for the second out but Devin Johnson ended the game with a walk-off single through the right side.
Senior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) allowed three runs, two earned, in the no-decision. He struck out seven and allowed only four hits in seven innings. Long was saddled with the loss (0-2 record), allowing the two unearned runs in 1.2 innings of relief.
The Johnnies play host to nationally-ranked St. Thomas for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday, April 9, in Collegeville.
Notes: Concordia batted .173 (9-for-52) on the day...Long walked three Cobbers in 1.2 innings…he entered game two with 10 walks in 50 career innings of relief (36 appearances)…five of SJU's eight losses this season were decided by two runs or less…SJU has left 159 men on base, while scoring 105 runs in 126 innings this season…the Johnnies have now lost three consecutive games for the first time since the end of the 2011 season.
