Many things have happened since our last blog. We weren’t able to carry the momentum from our win against UW-Lacrosse on the road against Duluth. We dropped a 9-5 decision followed by a routing 13-2. It was a disappointing double-header. But it wasn’t all bad, some people made strides. Freshman Hogan Jackson (Oakdale, MN) went 3 for 3 in game one, and has worked on his bat all year to where he can be a mainstay at the hot corner and in the lineup. Hogan, as well as myself had successful outings on the mound, throwing the ball with more conviction than we have all year, and pounding the zone with strikes rather than nibbling the corners.

After the disappointing mid-week set with UM-Duluth we had to rally quickly because Wayne State College was heading to St. Paul for a major conference series. Wednesday’s practice was a great one for the Golden Bears, and we showed signs of coming together as a team and really rallying around each other and picking each other up. We came out Thursday morning ready to play against the defending NSIC champions from Nebraska.

Game one was a slugfest with another one-run ending. The wildcats slugged out 20 hits including four homeruns, which eventually equaled 13 runs. The Golden Bears swung it just as well slugging out 19 hits including sophomore Bryan Lippincott’s (Johnston, IA) third homerun of the year, but could only tally 12 runs to fall just short. The loss hurt even worse knowing that we stranded 17 runners on base in the game and had a runner thrown out at the plate trying to score.

Game two we got another gutsy pitching performance. Sophomore righty Chris Peterson (St. Anthony, MN) took the ball and delivered the kind of performance on the mound that we have been in desperate need of. Peterson went the full seven innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just two runs. Peterson also set down seven hitters on strikes while issuing just one walk to lead off the seventh, a walk which was quickly erased on a 4-6-3 double play. Lippincott paced the lineup again with a 3 for 4 performance including a triple to lead off the bottom of the first and a two-run homerun to seal the deal in the sixth inning. Freshman J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI), senior Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA), and freshman Hogan Jackson also had multi-hit games to cap off a 7 to 2 victory. The win pushed our NSIC record to 1-5, but it also gave us the confidence that we can play with the best teams in the conference if we get good pitching and get our bats going early and often.

We had another double-header set for Friday, but we had to push it up two hours to accommodate for weather rolling into the twin cities area. Wayne State started out hot pushing across two runs in the first inning and adding another in the second. With the score 3 to 2 in the 5^th inning the rain started to fall, so did the base hits for Wayne State. WSC would push across 5 runs on 6 hits in the inning before players were called off the field because of weather conditions. After waiting out a one hour and 29 minute rain delay play resumed. After play resumed the Concordia bats came out hot and pushed across 3 runs. The offensive attack for the Golden Bears today included back-to-back homeruns from Lippincott and Schneider. Schneider’s blast was his first collegiate homerun. The comeback was not to be though as mother nature came back and drenched Barnes Field and its patrons with more rain. In the top of the 8^th with WSC leading 8 to 5 the game was officially called. It goes in the books as a loss, but the way we battled back is definitely something to build on as we continue working into conference play. Game two for Friday was cancelled.

So some readers might be wondering what a bunch of college kids do to pass an 89 minute rain delay? Well it starts with the food. Everyone that brought sandwiches and other snacks for between the double headers began snacking on their meals. Those that didn’t bring food began the process of begging for bites of people’s sandwiches. Then comes the games. Players have all sorts of games to play in the dugout. A few players took part in a game of imaginary tennis, where each player has a powerade cup, when you flick the inside of the cup a certain way it makes a sound similar to a tennis ball hitting a racket. You volley the imaginary ball back and forth until someone messes up. It might sound dumb, but it definitely helps pass the time and entertains those teammates watching us make fools of ourselves. Finally comes the note passing. Simply you write a note on a baseball and throw it across the way to the other team. They respond, and the conversation develops back and forth. That is also a great way to pass the time. The biggest thing is just finding ways to stay dry, and figuring out how to stay mentally prepared to go back out and compete after sitting for so long. It is tough to watch the rain fall for 90 minutes and then just run back out there and play, but if you can come out hot you can take the momentum and erase almost any lead. We didn’t get going quite early enough to steal a win, but we fought hard and the experience from this series will help us as we move forward.

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: At Northern State (Aberdeen, SD), Double-header, Tuesday, April 6^th, 2010, 2:00pm

Overall Team Record: 9-19

Central Region Record: 4-13

Conference Record: 1-6

Conference Standing: 10^th (Week of March 30th)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-

How do you stop a 7-game losing streak? For the Golden Bears of Concordia University it was to call on our “Mr. Do-It-All” Ben Lemke (Rosemount, MN). Lemke made his 6^th start of the season on the mound in game two against the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse on Saturday night. His six starts on the mound go along with his 44 at-bats on the year. Lemke has also started games this year as a designated hitter, outfielder, and as a first baseman. Lemke took his tired body to the mound and delivered the way he has all year both on the mound and at the plate. Ben’s 89-pitch complete game gem gave the Golden Bears a 5-2 victory, and snapped a season long 7-game losing streak. The win brought Lemke’s record on the mound to 2-3 on the year. Oh did I mention he also went 1 for 4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored in the game? Freshman third baseman Hogan Jackson (Oakdale, MN) broke out of his rookie slump in the night cap going 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Game one against UW-Lacrosse went the way games have gone all season for the Golden Bears. A one-run loss, the 12^th one-run decision on the year. Redshirt Freshman Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN) made his 6^th start of the year on the mound. Fagely scattered five hits over five innings, allowing just one–earned run. After Concordia tied the game in the 6^th pushing across two runs, freshman left-hander Griff Kilber (Chanhassen, MN) was called upon. Kilber threw two solid relief innings, electrifying the team with four strikeouts, but an RBI single in the top of the 7^th stuck Kilber with the loss, dropping him to 0-2 on the season. Freshman J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI) who has become a mainstay at second base, and recently in the two-hole of the lineup was the only player on either side that put up a multi-hit performance in the game. Junior Blake DeVries (Eden Prairie, MN) connected with his fifth homerun on the year in the sixth inning, a two-run shot. With the blast DeVries broke the tie for the team lead in the homerun category with senior Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA).

The homerun race now reads:

1. B. DeVries, 5

T-2. B. Furrow, 4

T-2. Rest of Team, 4

This week brings us six more games. Tomorrow we journey to Duluth, MN to complete our home-home mid-week set with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. UMD took two from us when we hosted them in the first part of the home-home last Wednesday 10-8, 10-9. Hopefully we can carry the momentum from the UW-Lacrosse victory into the games tomorrow. We send two lefties to the mound against the Bulldogs in the mid-week twin-bill. Freshman Patrick Rydeen (Stillwater, MN) looks to build from the success he had last week against UMD as he takes the ball in game one. Rydeen is making his fourth start of the season; he is currently 0-2 with a 13.85 era in 13 innings. Game two will see Sophomore Ty Hall (Spring Lake Park, MN) make his first collegiate start on the mound. Hall has had a recent wave of success on the mound. Hall comes in to the game 0-0, having made three relief appearances throwing eight innings with a 4.50 era.

Thursday and Friday Wayne State College comes to town in a pivotal four-game NSIC conference series. The Wildcats are a perennial power in the conference, and last year they were runner-up in the NCAA Central Regional, just one win away from the College World Series. After dropping four games to Augustana in our NSIC opener it is key to have a successful series against WSC. We know we are going to be tested all week, and we have to start getting in to the swing of things and start tallying up victories if we want to make a push for the conference tournament and a possible regional tournament bid.

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: At the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Double-header, Tuesday, March 30^th, 2010, 2:00pm

Overall Team Record: 8-15

Central Region Record: 3-9

Conference Record: 0-4

Conference Standing: 11^th (Week of March 23rd)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-

It has been a trying week for the Golden Bear baseball community. The start of NSIC play didn’t go exactly as expected, hosting a four game series against Augustana College from neighboring South Dakota. The series was supposed to be a home one for the Vikings, but weather pushed the games to our home diamond of Bob Barnes Field on our campus here in St. Paul, MN. In game one we sent sophomore righty Ben Lemke (Rosemount, MN) to the mound. After the Vikings set down the Golden Bears in the first, the Viking bats came alive. In the bottom of the first Augustana pushed across 5 runs, highlighted by back-to-back homeruns. A three-run shot from Charlie Dubanoski (Burnsville, MN), followed three pitches later by a solo shot from Dan Morrison (Pipestone, MN). Lemke settled into a groove after the first going six and two-thirds innings, allowing seven earned runs on just seven hits. Junior Nick Anderson (Plymouth, MN) threw the final one and one-third innings out of the bullpen. Lemke was hit with the loss to drop to 1-3 on the season. Offensively junior Blake DeVries (Eden Prairie, MN) and freshman J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI) lead the way with 2 for 4 performances, each driving in a run.

Game two sent Chris Peterson (St. Anthony, MN) to the mound for the Golden Bears. Peterson threw strikes, but again the Viking bats again were hot early pushing across two runs in the first and two more in the second. They would eventually seven in the game, but the early lead was all that Auggie starter Tyson Gau (Alexandria, SD) would need. Gau took a no-hitter into the sixth before back-to-back singles by Ben Lemke and Bryan Lippincott (Johnston, IA) broke up the no-no. Lemke would come around to score on a Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA) ground ball. That was the only offense we could muster against Gau, as the Vikings capped the Saturday sweep 7 to 1. Gau’s final stat line read of a two-hit complete game, facing just four batters over the minimum.

Sunday featured another twin-bill between the Golden Bears and the Augustana Vikings. Redshirt freshman Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN) took the ball for the Bears. From the very beginning it was a slugfest. For the second straight day Charlie Dubanoski and Dan Morrison hit back-to-back homeruns in the bottom of the first. The Bears responded fast with four runs of our own in the top of the second. In all there were 36 hits, 11 homeruns, and 27 runs in the game. Sam Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN), Brenden Furrow, and J.T. Schneider all had three hits in the game, Furrow and Fagely each hitting a homerun. Fagely’s was his first career homerun. Bryan Lippincott topped them all with a 4 for 6 performance, driving in five runs, three on one swing going deep to right center in the 6^th inning. Trailing by a run in the 9^th inning, Lippincott collected his fourth hit driving a 3-2 pitch down the left field line. After the lead-off double Auggie relief pitcher Bret Severtson (Flandreau, SD) shut the door retiring the heart of the Golden Bear line-up. The final tally was a 14 to 13 Viking victory. Nick Anderson was hit with the loss dropping to 2-2 on the year.

The final game of the four game set featured a pair of freshman starters with Grant Larson (Eagen, MN) facing off our very own Griff Kilber (Chanhassen, MN) in his first career start. Kilber worked five solid innings scattering 11 hits while surrendering just five runs. The offense could only manage three runs of Auggie pitching as the Vikings finished off the series sweep in a 5 to 3 win. Kilber took the loss despite a strong first start, and Lippincott again lead the offensive charge going 2 for 4, scoring all three of the Golden Bear runs.

It was a disappointing way to open the season in the NSIC, and in front of our home fans. We didn’t have much time to dwell on the losses as we hosted the University of Minnesota-Duluth in a weekday double header on Wednesday. After using seven different pitchers over the weekend, pitching would be used strategically in the double-header, with games against the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse looming on Saturday. In game one normal weekend starters Ben Lemke and Chris Peterson each threw an inning with Lemke pitching out of a jam to put up a zero, and Peterson getting tagged for four runs on three hits and two walks. Ty Hall (Spring Lake Park, MN) righted the ship going three innings of relief giving up two runs on four hits. Nick Anderson tossed the final two frames giving up six hits and four runs to take the loss and drop to 2-3 on the season. Blake DeVries connected with his fourth homerun of the year during a 4 for 4 performance. Duluth picked up their ninth win of the season 10 to 8.

The back half of the double header saw Golden Bear freshman lefty Patrick Rydeen (Stillwater, MN) make his best start of the year. Rydeen was solid working into the sixth. His final numbers of 9 runs on 14 hits were not reflective of the way he threw the baseball. As the case had been in all of our last six games the opposing bats got hot at the right times as a five run sixth inning got the Bulldogs back on top. Nick Anderson in his second appearance of the day, fourth in five days surrendered a run in the seventh, and when the Bears couldn’t capitalize on a bases loaded no out situation, Anderson took his second loss of the day. Nick fell to 2-4 as the Golden Bears dropped our sixth game of the week. A bright spot of the game for the Bears came in the third when John Stockton (Oakdale, MN) turned on the first pitch of the at-bat to hit not only his first career homerun, but his first career grand slam.

Despite dropping six straight games, there were many bright spots. Two freshman lefties had solid starts, a great sign for the future. We saw Bryan Lippincott hit .444 for the weekend and also pop out of several bats with four players joining Brenden Furrow and Blake DeVries with homeruns. Furrow and DeVries each have four on the season. There are many things to build on, and while getting swept in a series is far from good, it’s not the end of the season. We have plenty of time to pull our team together and make a run for the conference tournament, and hopefully the conference title. We continue play with a double-header at the metrodome on Saturday night, with a rematch mid-week double-header with Minnesota-Duluth next Tuesday, and a huge four game set with Wayne State looming next Thursday-Friday at home. There is plenty of baseball left to play, and a few hot bats, and some solid starts on the mound, and we will be right back in the mix of things.

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse Double-header, Saturday, March 27^th 5:00pm, The Metrodome (Minneapolis, MN)

Overall Team Record: 7-14

Central Region Record: 3-9

Conference Record: 0-4

Conference Standing: 11^th (Week of March 23rd)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-

Good morning baseball fans,

It has been a wild week for everyone on the Concordia baseball team. We had the rest of our spring break trip rained out, missing games against nationally-ranked Ashland University (OH) and in-conference foe Southwest Minnesota State University. We left Orlando, FL on Monday with a 4-2 record for the trip, and riding the high of a great victory against an outstanding team in the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Unfortunately for many members of the team including myself we got back just in time to wake up Tuesday morning and take a mid-term exam. This is the life of being a student athlete though. It has definitely a hectic week with test and projects, and getting back into the normal routine of daily practice. We did get to have out first outdoor practice on our home field this week, which is very exciting.

But everything changes for us today. Today it counts. Our conference opener against the Augustana Vikings, originally scheduled to be played in Sioux Falls, begins at 1:30 at our very own on-campus Bob Barnes Field. This four game series is our kick-off to NSIC play. These games not only effect our conference and regional standings, but they can also be the difference between going to the conference tournament in May, and having a chance to crack into the NCAA tournament.

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in St. Paul, MN and we are hoping this sunshine lasts all day as we play a 9-inning game with first pitch coming roughly 1:30pm, and shortly after the end of that game we play a 7-inning contest. There are lots of innings to be played today, and we hope the baseball god’s can keep the sun out for all of them.

In Game One of conference play we are expecting to send the Fagely Battery out with redshirt freshman Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN) bringing his 3-1 record to the mound to toss to older brother Sam Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN). The lineup will be paced by senior outfielder Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA) and sophomore shortstop Bryan Lippincott (Johnston, IA) bringing their .442 and .327 averages respectively. We also are looking for big contributions from Troy DuBay (Johnston, IA), Ben Lemke (Rosemount, MN), and J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI) all who have shown hot bats over the last several games. DuBay raised his batting average 132 points while in the sunshine of Florida. Hopefully he continues his hot streak today against Augustana.

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: Augustana Vikings Double-header, Saturday, March 20^th 1:30pm, Bob Barnes Field (St. Paul, MN)

Overall Team Record: 7-8

Central Region Record: 3-3

Conference Record: 0-0

Conference Standing: 8^th (Preseason)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-

Florida – Day Three

Coming off three wins in our first two days of competition in Florida we were riding a high into day number three. We got to sleep in with our game against St. Joseph’s College (IN) not until 3:00pm. Freshman lefty Patrick Rydeen (Stillwater, MN) took the mound against St. Joseph’s. Rydeen was around the zone all day, but the SJC bats came on fire putting up a four run first, and adding three more in the third. Concordia relievers threw the final 6 2/3 frames to finish out the game. Freshman Griff Kilber (Chanhassen, MN) threw solid out of the pen. I myself threw two innings of relief work going 1-2-3 in the 6^th, and erasing a bases loaded jam in the 7^th with a strikeout and a double play. Freshman hurler Zach Goodwin (Mahtomedi, MN) threw the final frame for the Golden Bears. It was a sluggish day for all in the Blue and Gold suffering a 13 to 6 loss when it was all said and done. The loss dropped the Golden Bear record to 6-7, and 3-1 for the trip.

Florida – Day Four

Tuesday brought more good weather and more baseball for the Golden Bears. We arrived at the ballpark for a 1:00pm clash with central region opponent Saginaw Valley State (MI). Again Concordia pitching met hot bats. Starter Ryan Rodeck (Lino Lakes, MN) and relievers Griff Kilber, and Hogan Jackson (Oakdale, MN) all suffered the same fate as the the Saginaw hitters drove the ball all over the park. It was one of those days where the ball just couldn’t escape the bat, and all the balls fell where our fielders weren’t. One bright spot came in the form of left-handed reliever Ty Hall (Spring Lake Park, MN) who in his second appearance of the season threw four innings allowing just one run, and cooling off the hot Saginaw bats. Senior Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA) paced the offensive side with a 3 for 3 performance and sophomore Troy DuBay (Johnston, IA) added a pair of hits of his own. It was another sluggish day, and we dropped our second straight decision 13 to 2. With our off day coming up we will have plenty of time to rest and get ourselves back in the right frame of mind before taking on a very talented and nationally ranked Nebraska-Omaha team on Thursday.

Florida – Day Five

Wednesday brought a much needed off day. The trip started on such a high note with three great performances from both the pitching staff and the offense, but the roll was slowed the last couple of days by solid pitching performances from St. Joseph’s (IN) and Saginaw Valley State (MI), and consecutive days of hot bats. Our off day was another bright and sunny day with blue skies and temperatures rising as high as 80 degrees. The team went on all sorts of adventures as people spent the day going to various local beaches, checking out restaurants, and even some players took in a Concordia girls softball game in nearby Kissimmee, FL. The girls won both games of their twin bill for those wondering. It was nice for everyone just to relax and recharge the batteries before getting back into the grind of playing every day. It was a great day for sun and being out at the pool. I think everyone enjoyed their day off and got ready to take on Nebraska-Omaha the next morning.

Florida – Day Six

After a day of rest we were woke up ready to go. We had two let downs and needed to get some momentum back. Today’s matchup was with University of Nebraska-Omaha, a team that has historically been successful and came in with a 9-1 record and a #25 national ranking. We played at Historic Henley Field, a former home of the Detroit Tigers organization and current home of the College of Southern Florida baseball team who is holding down the #1 spot in a lot of Division II national polls. We sent out the Fagely battery to face the Mavericks as Redshirt Freshman Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN) tossed to older brother junior catcher Sam Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN). A. Fagely battled his way through an intense pitcher’s duel. The Mavericks hard throwing starter struck out the first four batters he faced. It took a gutsy inning of small ball for the bears to break the game open. With runners on first and second S. Fagely was called on to lay down a sacrifice bunt. He offered the bunt at a pitch he couldn’t get down to put himself in a two strike hole. With two strikes Coach Lunch McKenzie put on the bunt sign again and Fagely put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third with just one out. This brought up freshman second baseman J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI) to the plate. Schneider took the first pitch, a called strike. Then Coach McKenzie rolled the dice and called on the freshman to execute the suicide squeeze. Ben Lemke (Rosemount, MN) took off on a dead sprint from third base as the pitch was delivered, the pitch bounced in the dirt and Schneider pulled back just in time as the ball escaped the catcher and Lemke slid in to successfully steal home. Then on the very next pitch coach called for the pitch again, this time Schneider got the bunt down as Logan Bouts (Hopkins, MN) crossed the plate. It was small ball managing at its finest with squeezes on back to back pitches with the same hitter at the plate, and both runs scoring. These runs would be all the Fagely would need as he went six innings spreading out eight hits, and allowing just a single run. Troy Dubay knocked in two more insurance runs with a base hit in the later innings. Junior Nick Anderson (Plymouth, MN) tossed the last three innings completing a 5 to 1 victory for the Golden Bears. It was a huge win and built up a lot of momentum for the team. UNO is clearly a great team, and we couldn’t have been more pleased to pull out a victory against them. The stat line would surprise most baseball watchers as Concordia scored five runs on just three hits, while UNO pushed across just one run while collecting ten hits. No matter how it was done we will take the victory against a top 25 team. The excitement was enjoyed by all the players and coaches, and a group of fans that sat through a rain delay including members of the Concordia softball team, who returned the favor from the day before by coming to support us on our off day. Ironically both Golden Bear teams won with their counterpart in attendance. We fought dark and rainy skies all day, and solid pitching from UNO to scratch out the victory. The win improved us to 7-8 on the season. Tomorrow we square off against another nationally ranked opponent with a 1:00pm contest with Ashland University (OH).

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: Ashland University (OH), Friday, March 12^th 1:00pm in Orlando, FL

Overall Team Record: 7-8

Central Region Record: 3-3

Conference Record: 0-0

Conference Standing: 8^th (Preseason)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-