STERLING, Kan. – The Concordia baseball team dropped a pair of contests to the 20th-ranked Sterling Warriors on Friday afternoon. The first half of the day went into a lengthy 14 innings where Sterling eventually scored the winning run to take the first game 5-4. In the second game, the Bulldogs were outscored 22-3.
The Bulldogs move to 2-4 on the season. The Warriors are now 8-0 this year.
Head coach Ryan Dupic said, “I thought we played really well the first game. It was good to see Cole (Jackson) do well to start off and then Mark (Harris) did really well in the relief spot. Those two played really well defensively.”
Cole Jackson started on the mound and pitched through six innings for Concordia. Jackson struck out three batters. Also pitching six frames was Mark Harris who provided a defensive spark to keep the Bulldogs in the game. The senior struck out seven and walked three batters while allowing just one hit through the majority of the extra innings.
Despite an explosive eighth inning, the Bulldogs were not able to come out ahead in the 14 inning battle. During the eighth frame, Concordia tied the game at four. The scoring sequence was started with Ryan Fesmire sending the ball to right field for a single. After Josh Mondt came into pinch run for Fesmire, Taylor Dudley batted Mondt home for the Bulldogs’ first run. Later in the lineup, Christian Montero hit a deep double to right field to bring in two runs, tying the score at four. The score remained tied until the bottom of the 14th until Sterling’s Aaron Stubblefield batted in the winning run.
“We just couldn’t get it going offensively soon enough in the first game,” Dupic said. “It was a very well-played college baseball game and the guys played really well defensively but unfortunately couldn’t get that big hit at the end.”
The second game of the double header again went in favor of the Warriors. Sterling got out to a 2-0 lead in the first and scored at least one run in every inning to grab a 22-3 victory. Kaleb Geiger, hitting in the five spot, shot a solo homerun in the seventh to start a three run inning. Dudley and Jacob Adams each crossed the plate for the Bulldogs.
Dupic said, “They (Sterling) played way better in the second game. We just did not execute like we needed to. Once Sterling gets hot and comfortable offensively there’s no stopping them. Christian Meza played well offensively in the game. It was good to see Kaleb (Geiger) back in the lineup and see him get a homerun as well.”
The Concordia baseball team will be back on the field tomorrow to wrap up a four-game series with Sterling. The first game of the twin bill is set to begin at Noon. A webcast will be available HERE and live stats available HERE.