GAME ONE BOX SCORE

GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Robert Brown went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple and C.J. Riojas hit a key single in the sixth inning to propel the Concordia University Texas baseball team to a 6-2 come-from-behind victory over Ozarks in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, March 5 at Tornado Field. The Eagles defeated the Tornados in game two by a 5-4 score to salvage the split and end an 11-game slide.

Pitcher Pedro Maldonado started the first game off strong for the Tornados, extending the pitching staff's streak of not allowing a run up to 14 innings. Brown, meanwhile, plated the contest's first run in the bottom of the second when he scored on a wild pitch after blasting a triple off the wall in right center earlier in the frame.

After stranding four runners in the first four innings, Ozarks (3-13) finally got to Maldonado and scored twice in the fifth to take a one-run lead. Jake West drilled a one-out RBI triple to right center, scoring the tying run, and Kurt Shemanske followed with a sacrifice fly on the next play to put the Eagles ahead by a run.

Concordia, however, fought back and scored five times to get all the insurance they needed in the sixth. After Colton Gommert became the second Tornado to score in the game on a wild pitch, two more runs came home on a Riojas single to right field. Following the Eagles' second pitching change of the inning, Riojas came across for the Tornados' fourth run when Brown reached on an error by the second baseman. Bucky Bryant walked with the bases loaded to make it a 6-2 affair before Kevin Long, the third pitcher of the inning, induced a groundout and a popup to get out of the inning.

Bryant Hernandez, who hurled two scoreless innings to close out the game, was credited with the victory for Concordia to improve to 1-0. He registered four strikeouts while not allowing a hit or issuing a walk. Ozarks' Bobby Osburn was credited with the loss and fell to 0-2 on the year. He failed to record an out and yielded two hits and three runs which were all earned.

Collin Janssen, who was the Tornados' starting pitcher in the nightcap, hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first before allowing the Eagles to score four runs on six hits in the top of the second. Drew Clark delivered the biggest hit with a two-run single down the line in left.

The Tornados were able to rally and tie the game at four runs apiece by plating two in the sixth and one in the seventh. Nolan McClosky, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, hit a two-run single to make it a one-run game before Maldonado knotted the score with a single throught the right side one frame later.

Concordia appeared to get out of trouble in the eighth when Tony Morales appeared to ground into a double play with two on and one out. Matt McManemin fielded the ball cleanly near the second base bag and made a short toss over to Gommert for the second out, but Gommert's throw to first to get the Tornados out of the inning was in the dirt. The costly error allowed Shemanske to score what would stand as the winning run.

Despite hurling three stellar innings in which he allowed only one hit and one run to score which was unearned, Ryan Ullmann was tagged with the tough-luck loss to drop his record to 2-1. He also had three strikeouts in relief of Jansssen. Bo Thomas, who relieved Osburn in the seventh inning, earned the victory to up his record to 1-3. He allowed two hits and the tying run to score. Freddy Prince picked up the save by keeping the Tornados off the board in the ninth.

Concordia (8-6) will continue its eight-game homestand when it hosts Robert Morris (Illinois) on Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m.
-agate-
Ozarks                    000     020     0     2     4     2
Concordia              010     005     x     6     6     1
Ozarks: Tyler Erickson, Bobby Osburn (6), Kevin Long (6), Travis Conner (6) and Zac Mitchell.
Concordia: Pedro Maldonado, Sean Thompson (6), Bryant Hernandez (6) and Collin Janssen.

Ozarks (3-13)         040     000     010     5     9     0
Concordia (8-6)     100     002     100     4     8     1
Ozarks: Bobby Osburn, Bo Thomas (7), Travis Conner (8), Freddy Prince (9) and Chris Young.
Concordia: Collin Janssen, Ryan Ullmann (6), Bryant Hernandez (1) and Alec Carter, Collin Janssen (7).