GAME ONE BOX SCORE

GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Collin Janssen picked up his second victory of the season on the mound in the opener and drove in the tying run to help key a rally in the eighth inning of the nightcap in leading the Concordia University Texas baseball team to twinbill sweep of Howard Payne on Saturday, March 12 at Tornado Field. With another victory over the same opponent last night, The Tornados ended the first weekend of American Southwest Conference West Division play in a tie for first place with Texas Lutheran.

Howard Payne (3-10, ASC 0-3) opened up a 4-1 lead in the nightcap by scoring once in the first and three times in the fourth. After Hannontree scored a go-ahead run on a wild pitch, Chase Holmes' second double of the game in as many tries sent home two more runs to give the Yellow Jackets a three-run cushion.

Concordia, however,chipped away at the deficit by scoring in the third and fourth innings. Brent Schaekel had an RBI single before Nolan McCloskey hit a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game.

After Ryan Ullmann pitched four scoreless innings, the Tornados made a fierce rally in the bottom of the eighth. Hitting with two outs and nobody on base, Colton Gommert singled up the middle to give the hosts some life. Kyle Bieschke was then hit by a pitch to put the tying run in scoring position, and Janssen came through with a single up the middle to plate Gommert and knot the score at 4-all.

After Bieschke scored on a wild pitch to put the Tornados on top for the first time, Brown provided the insurance hit with a single to left. Bryant Hernandez was lights out in the top of the ninth, retiring all three hitters he faced, to preserve the victory.

Ullmann was credited as the winning pitcher for Concordia, fanning six Yellow Jacket hitters over four scoreless innings of relief. He improved his ledger to 3-1. Hernandez picked up his second save. Howard Payne's Billy Ray Cruz suffered the loss and fell to 2-4, surrendering eight hits and six runs which were all earned in 7.2 innings.

In the opener, the Tornados scored at least once in the first five innings to give themselves a good cushion to pull out a win. Schaekel, who led off the game with a single before stealing second, scored the first run on a sacrifice fly to right by C.J. Riojas. Alec Carter, whose initial plan was to bunt, belted a double to left center after being faced with two strikes to give the Tornados a 2-0 lead.

Concordia continued to find different ways to manufacture runs with Riojas at the plate to end the third inning with a 3-1 lead. After Brown singled to center and advanced to second on a balk, Riojas struck out swinging and attempted to take first base. The throw from the catcher, however, went off Riojas' helmet which allowed him to be safe at first. During all of the confusion, Brown came all the way home from second.

The Tornados were able to keep the momentum going by scoring four more runs in the fourth frame. Schaekel started the scoring with an RBI single to right that scored Bucky Bryant. Batting with the bases loaded and facing a new pitcher two plays later, Brown was able to break the game open with a bases-clearing double into the gap in left. Gerry Morrison later came in with a comfortable lead to work with and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to seal the easy win for the hosts.

Janssen improved to 2-0 by earning the victory for Concordia. He surrendered three hits in 5.1 innings of work and also registered three strikeouts while allowing only one run to score. Howard Payne's Gilbert Barrera was tagged with the loss. He gave up seven runs, including six earned over 3.1 frames.

Concordia (11-7, ASC 3-0) will visit crosstown-rival St. Edward's, an NCAA Division II school, for a single game on Tuesday, March 15 at 2 p.m.
-agate-
Howard Payne                                  001     000     0     1     4     1
Concordia                                          111     410     x     8    11     0
Howard Payne: Gilbert Barrera, Will Hood (4), Tyler Gaddis (5), Corey Howie (6) and Ryan Abbott.
Concordia: Collin Janssen, Gerry Morrison (6) and Alec Carter.

Howard Payne (3-10, ASC 0-3)     103     000     000     4    8     1
Concordia (11-7, ASC 3-0)             101    100      03x     6    8     1
     Howard Payne: Billy Ray Cruz, Kevin Young (8) and Ryan Abbott, Alan Sailors (4).
     Concordia: Pedro Maldonado, Ryan Ullmann (5), Bryant Hernandez and Collin Janssen.