Cooking A Wind-Blown Sweep
WEST FARGO, N.D. (5/01/23)---Mix together a wind blowing out to right field with gusts up to 35 mph, a ballpark with a short left-field porch and 4-foot fences, and you have the perfect recipe for a massive batch of runs and a long day for the pitchers.
All those ingredients were on the recipe card in the Cobbers' doubleheader played at Starion Field in West Fargo on Monday as Concordia cooked a batch of 28 runs and 35 hits in their 12-5, 16-2 sweep over Macalester.
The Cobbers stirred together four home runs and 11 extra-base hits in the two games to come up with their fifth MIAC sweep of the year. Concordia has now won 11 of their last 14 games. CC is 17-15 in all games and 11-5 in conference play which is good for sole possession of third place with four games left in the regular season.
Concordia's first batch of the day didn't turn out very well, as they were burnt for five runs in the first inning of Game 1. The Scots' 5-run first frame would be their last multi-run inning of the game which was a testament to the Cobbers' two starting pitchers – Ashwin Stratton and Jacoby Nold.
Stratton would set down 11 straight Scot batters from the second to the 2-out mark of the fifth inning. He conceded only four hits in the final six innings of play and didn't have a runner advance past second base until there were two outs in the seventh inning.
Concordia used the strength of Stratton's final six innings to find their offense and hammer out three runs in the fourth and then a 9-spot in the fifth inning.
Matt Gruber opened the scoring when he connected on the first of his two home runs on the day to lead off the fourth. The Cobbers missed a chance to take the lead in the fourth when they left the bases loaded with only one out in the inning.
The Cobbers made sure the missed opportunity in the fourth wouldn't turn into a missed opportunity as they knocked out eight hits and scored nine runs in the fifth. Gruber and Thomas Horan came through with the biggest hits in the inning. Gruber had a 2-run single up the middle, and Horan hit the gap in left-center field that scored two more runs with a double.
Concordia outhit Macalester 17-8 in Game 1. The Cobbers had four players with at least three hits in the opener. Horan led all players by going 4-for-4 with three RBI.
Jake Christianson was 3-for-5 with two RBI from the leadoff spot. His bat might have been cooking, but his glove provided the tastiest treat of the game. He made a full-out diving, over-the-shoulder catch of a wind-blown fly ball in the fourth inning that would have made the ESPN Top 10 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe went 3-for-4 and drove in a run, while David Dorsey was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Stratton went the distance on the hill to earn his team-leading fifth win of the year. He only allowed three earned runs and struck out six.
The second was over by the end of the third inning as the Cobbers scored 14 runs in that stretch.
Macalester (15-17, 7-11 MIAC) took the lead in the first inning for the second straight game when they posted the first of five home runs in the game.
The Big Maroon Machine took over after that. They scored four runs on three hits in the first, eight runs on nine hits in the second and finished it off with two runs on one hit in the third.
Carter Mulcahy provided the most eye-catching long ball of the afternoon in the 8-run second inning. He turned on a pitch, got it into the jetstream and by the time it landed, the 400-foot plus shot had rolled down the road behind the left-field fence and stopped over a block away from the ballpark. Mulcahy's Stanton-Special would have been a home run in any park in the MIAC, SEC or MLB.
Mulcahy was the chef of Concordia's 18-hit performance in Game 2. He went 4-for-4, scored three runs and drove in two more. Mulcahy was one of five Cobber players who put up multiple hits. Christianson and Gruber had three hits each, while Henkemeyer-Howe and Andy Gravdahl had two hits each.
Nold took the baton from Stratton and held the Scots to only two runs in 6.0 innings of work. He gave up five hits and struck out a career-high seven batters to pick up his third win of the year.
SCORING STAT STUFF: Concordia has scored at least 10 runs in 10 of its last 14 games. During that stretch, CC is averaging 11.3 runs and 13.9 hits per game. The Cobbers lead the MIAC in runs per game, batting average and hits in conference games.
STREAK STUFF: Thomas Horan has turned around his season in the 14-game offensive explosion for the Cobbers. He has gone from hitting just above .200 to second on the team with a .359 average. Horan is the only CC player with a hit in all 14 of those games, and his 14-game hit streak is the longest of the year by any Concordia player.
THE BIG MAROON MACHINE: Concordia has five players hitting above .400 in the last 14 games. Besides Horan, Gravdahl is hitting .547, Max Boran checks in at .524, and Gruber and Dorsey are both hitting .478. Add in Henkemeyer-Howe (.392), Christianson (.358), Mulcahy (.346) and Caiden Kjelstrom (.333), and you have all nine starting players in the order hitting above .330.
UP NEXT: Concordia will take a break for finals and return to action on Saturday, May 6, when they host league-leading Bethel at 1 p.m.