MINNEAPOLIS – The UW-Superior baseball team dropped a pair of one-run decisions to Concordia (Minn.) Thursday morning at U.S. Bank Stadium, falling 3-2 and 5-4.
The Yellowjackets received two strong starting pitching performances from
Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) and
Brenden Kruger (Cottage Grove, Minn./Hastings) but were unable to muster enough offense as they dropped to 0-4 on the season. The Cobbers limited UWS to just five hits in the first game and struck first in the top of the third inning.
Sean McGuire doubled to right-center field to lead off the inning, moving to third on a fly out. Rodriguez struck out the next batter, but after a walk put runners on first and third with two out, Thomas Horan singled home McGuire for a 1-0 lead.
That's the way it stayed until Ben Swanson singled off of reliever
Matt Tappe (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) to start the Cobbers' seventh. McGuire then bunted pinch runner Noah Pilon to second before Toby Sayles came up with a triple to right field for a 2-0 lead. Max Boran followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 3-0.
Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) drew a one-out, pinch-hit walk in the bottom of the inning, putting runners on first and second.
Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) then came up with a single to load the bases.
Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) hit into a fielder's choice to second to score
Isaac Grothe (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis). Canaan Fagerland booted the ball at second, allowing
Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) to score to make it 3-2.
Mason Penske induced a
Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) groundout to third to end the game and earn a three-inning save.
Rodriguez (0-2) went six innings, allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out five, in the loss. Ty Severson (1-0) pitched four no-hit innings before giving way to Penske.
Fredrikson paced the 'Jackets at the plate in game one with a 2-for-3 effort with a walk.
Superior erased an early 1-0 deficit in the second game with with two runs in the top of the second. Fredrikson hit a single to center, plating
Alex Aguilar (Simi Valley, Calif./Westlake ) and
Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) with one out. Rolf followed with a single, but Concordia starter Mitch Porter got
Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) swinging to end the threat.
Aguilar added an RBI single to center in the third, scoring
Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway), to push the lead to 3-1. In the fifth, Shea doubled and stole third. After an Aguilar walk, McNosky singled to left, scoring Shea for a 4-1 advantage.
The first two Cobbers reached in the seventh, followed by a two-run triple from Andy Gravdahl off of
David Dibble (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper). Horan then doubled, scoring Gravdahl to tie the game 4-4. Matt Gruber won the game for Concordia (2-0) with a single to right, scoring Horan.
