NORTHFIELD, Minn. – It was the home opener at Mel Taube Field, but the Carleton College baseball team lost both ends of its doubleheader against Concordia College-Moorhead, falling 5-3 (8 inn.) in the opener and 15-1 (7 inn.) in game two.
Game 1 Recap
Concordia 5, Carleton 3 (8 inn.)
After immediately falling behind 3-0, the Knights (4-13, 0-6 MIAC) rallied and had a chance to secure a walk-off victory, but Concordia (12-12, 6-2 MIAC) had a little magic on reserve and managed to pull out a 5-3 win in extra innings.
Carleton starting pitcher
AJ Staff (Sr./Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge) struggled early, starting the game with back-to-back walks followed by consecutive singles in what became a three-run top of the first inning for the Cobbers. The Knights answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame when
Sam Zacks (So./Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) singled, stole second, and later scored on
Ananth Iyer's (So./Redmond, Wash./Overlake) RBI groundout.
Staff looked like a different pitcher when he returned to the mound for the second inning and limited Concordia to only one hit—an infield single—over the next six innings.
Carleton tied the game with two runs in the sixth inning. Zacks and
Aaron Rice (So./Evergreen, Colo./Colorado Academy) drew walks to open the frame, and Iyer followed with an RBI single to left field.
Steve Antrim (Jr./Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) bunted the runners over, and
Ryan Chang's (Fy./Alameda, Calif./The College Preparatory School) sacrifice fly knotted the game at 3-3.
After Staff tossed a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, it appeared that the Knights may finish off the comeback.
Jack Hommeyer (So./Bronxville, N.Y./Suffield Academy) started the bottom of the frame with a double. After a popout,
Kai Oishi (Jr./New York, N.Y./Trevor Day School) hit a groundball up the middle that was misplayed first by the Concordia shortstop and then the centerfielder. The Carleton pinch runner easily advanced to third and but was thrown out attempting to score the winning run, a play that eventually sent the game to extra innings.
Staff went back to the bump to pitch the eighth inning, but a pair of clutch two-out hits by Concordia chased home two runs, and the Knights went down in order in their half of the inning.
Hommeyer had two of Carleton's five hits in the contest.
Staff fanned five batters over his 8.0 innings of work, allowing eight hits and the five runs. Luke Levasseur pitched 2.0 scoreless frames of relief for his first win of the season.
Game 2 Recap
Concordia 15, Carleton 1 (7 inn.)
The Knights had baserunners aboard in every inning but left 11 men on base—five of them in scoring position—which is something they could ill afford as the Cobbers scored multiple runs in five of the seven innings.
Michael Berler (Sr./San Francisco, Calif./The Bay School) came off the bench to collect two of Carleton's eight hits. His RBI single in the fifth inning brought home Iyer with the Knights' run.
Andy Gravdahl went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and six RBI to pace the Cobbers' attack which totaled 16 hits, including six extra-base hits.
Five pitchers toed the rubber for Carleton, with
Ethan Chan's (Fy./San Marino, Calif./Polytechnic School) scoreless frame making him the lone member of that group to escaped unscathed.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will host Augsburg University on Tuesday, April 18 for a twinbill that begins at 2:30 p.m.
