Junior John Couch picked up his first win of the season as the Concordia University baseball team went 1-1 on Sunday against the Avila University Eagles. Game 1 starter John Couch pitched 6 solid innings, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and striking out 2. With the game on the line, freshman pitcher Steven Ivanoff was brought in to close and picked up the save for the Bulldogs. Freshman Jamie Dillard led the offensive strike by going 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI.
The Eagles struck first to take an early 1-0 lead with a 2-out double by Bryan Snodgrass, scoring Brandon Pearl from second base. The Bulldogs responded by scoring once in the third inning and twice in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Casey Rodriguez, BJ Swearer and Ben Placzek each picked up an RBI through this stretch. The Eagles fought back to tie the game 3-3 in the sixth inning, taking advantage of a couple of miscues in the field by the Bulldogs to bring Austin Speer around the bases. In the seventh inning, the Bulldogs were able to load the bases off an error, hit and walk. A sacrifice fly by Dillard with one out scored the go-ahead run and was enough for the Bulldogs to notch the victory.
Game 2 saw an explosion of offense from both teams. Concordia put up 7 runs, the most in a game so far for the Bulldogs. Unfortunately for Concordia, Avila had even more firepower, and the Eagles won the back end of the double header 14-7. Junior Jacob Shaffer took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing 9 runs on 8 hits, striking out 8 in four innings of work. Junior Nate Schmoll and Placzek, a freshman, led the Bulldogs' offense, both going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI's on the day.
The Bulldogs opened the doors early by scoring 3 in the first inning off of Eagles' starter Sean Belknap. Schmoll picked up his 2 RBI on the day on a double to right center, scoring Rodriguez and Morgan Blatnik. Schmoll would later score on a base hit by freshman DH Brandon Pflug. The Eagles returned the favor by scoring 5 runs of their own. Tim Matson started the offensive surge by leading the inning off with a home run to right center. Later that inning, the Eagles used a hit and a couple of walks to load the bases for Snodgrass. Snodgrass, facing a 2-1 count, found just the pitch he wanted and knocked it over the fence for grand slam home run. The Bulldogs subsequently found themselves down 5-3 in the third inning, but were able to battle back. Concordia's Swearer and Joe Becerra, helped by some miscues by the Eagles, drove in runs to tie the game at 5-5. The Avila bats, however, didn't rest. The Eagles scored 4 runs in the fourth inning and 4 more in the fifth to take the lead and put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs are now 2-3 on the year and will take a long road trip to Tennessee in order to play Freed Hardeman University in a 4-game set next weekend.