Adrian, Mich. — The Aquinas baseball team came two runs away from handing Concordia's second loss this season on Tuesday (Mar. 21), but couldn't get the clutch hits needed in the ninth inning of the second game of a doubleheader to knock off one of the hottest teams in the country.
Concordia held on for a narrow 11-10 win in the nightcap after cruising to a 5-0 victory in Game 1. The Cardinals improved to 19-1 overall (4-0 WHAC), while the Saints dropped to 8-12 overall (1-3 WHAC).
The doubleheader was held at Siena Heights Baseball Diamond in Adrian, Mich., due to unplayable field conditions at Concordia's home field.
Game 1: Concordia 5, Aquinas 0 (7 Innings)
Cardinals right-handed hurler Tyson Kleinfelter kept the Saints' guessing all afternoon. The graduate student threw a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts and five walks in seven complete innings.
After AQ second baseman
Dane Smitz led the game off with a double, the Saints only other hit came from a knock back up the middle by
Dawson Shearer in the second inning. Shearer also drew two walks in the contest.
Concordia opened the scoring with a home run by Drew Fleming in the first inning. Three more runs came in the second inning after an RBI single by Justin Kozlowski and an AQ throwing error brought in two more unearned runs. Another Saints' throwing error allowed Concordia to score its final run in the fifth inning.
Kasy Shadduck picked up the loss on the mound for AQ.
Game 2: Concordia 11, Aquinas 10
Plenty of more runs were found in the rematch.
Concordia jumped out to a 4-0 lead through three innings. Aquinas responded with a six-run fourth inning to grab its first lead of the doubleheader.
Jake Paganelli ignited the comeback with a two-run double to left center.
Drew Mitchell added an RBI single,
Luke Lacross walked with the bases loaded and
Mark Binkowski reached on an error.
AQ's 6-4 lead didn't last long. Fleming delivered a two-run single to center field in the bottom half to knot the score up.
The Saints swung back with another RBI single by Mitchell and also
JD Gillies in the fifth inning, plus an RBI sacrifice fly by
Grant Martin in the sixth to give Aquinas a 9-6 advantage. Mitchell went 4-for-5 at the plate with the aforementioned RBIs.
Jarrett Batanian launched a home run to left center in the bottom of the sixth to swing the momentum back in Concordia's favor. An RBI sacrifice fly later in the inning cut AQ's lead down to 9-8.
Martin, who went 2-for-3, collected his second RBI of the game with a run-scoring single in the eighth to add an insurance run for the Saints.
It wasn't quite enough. Concordia belted two home runs in the bottom half to grab an 11-10 lead. Kyle Hebner hit a solo shot first to left field followed by a two-run long ball by Fleming.
Aquinas left the tying runner on second base and the go-ahead runner on first in the top of the ninth inning. The Saints ended up leaving eight runners on base for the game, while scoring 10 runs on 13 hits.
Concordia used eight pitchers with Taishin Matsushita throwing seventh and getting the win. Fleming, after hitting the go-ahead home run, pitched the ninth to earn his first save of the season.
Josh Avink was dealt the loss for the Saints, who went through four different pitchers.
A total of 346 pitches were thrown in the second game.
Up next, Aquinas travels to Livonia, Mich., for a four-game conference series against Madonna. Doubleheaders are scheduled to be played on Saturday (Mar. 25) and Sunday (Mar. 26), both starting at 1 p.m.
