AUSTIN, Texas – Three first-inning homeruns from
Brandon Goynes,
Grayson Lee, and Mason Dubois kicked off the day with fireworks, but ultimately the Concordia Texas baseball team would split the series-opening doubleheader against UT Dallas on Friday.
The Tornados flexed their power in game one, utilizing the long ball to jump out to an early lead and never look back, eventually taking the first game of the day 8-4.
Colton Hunter got the nod for the seven-inning series opener, turning in a gutsy performance that saw him earn the win, scattering seven hits and giving up only one earned run in 5 innings of work.
Goynes started the bashing in the first inning, hitting a solo shot to plate the Tornados first run of the day, and
Bret Leiferman followed by working a walk to set up Lee's two-run big fly. Two at-bats later, Dubois blasted the third homerun of the inning to give the Tornados a 4-0 lead after one.
Hunter suffered his only run of the game in the following frame due to an RBI double, and the Comets chipped away at the lead, making it a 4-1 game in the top of the second inning.
The Tornados answered with another offensive outburst in the bottom of the second, adding another four runs to their total.
Ryan Clouse and
Marcus Thach came to the plate first in the inning, and they took advantage of a couple of UTD blunders, both of them reaching base by error. Novak followed this up by dropping down a bunt single, and CTX loaded the bases with no outs.
Leiferman worked his second walk of the day to drive in the first run of the frame, and Lee followed that up with a deep sacrifice fly to bring home another score.
Owen Hill capped off the inning with a two-RBI double down the left field line, and the Tornados extended their lead to 8-1.
The score remained 8-1 until the top of the seventh, when the Comets struck for three runs on two hits in a last-chance effort, but
Otto Franz was able to thwart UTD's comeback and the Tornados came out on top in game one 8-4.
In the second game,
Easton Migl suffered the loss despite a dominant performance on the bump, tossing 5.2 innings of one-run baseball and punching out six.
The two starting pitchers dealt their way through four scoreless innings to begin the game, but the Comets put the first run of the board in the top of the fifth with a solo shot to take a 1-0 lead.
In the following frame,
Kalen Moreno's one-out hit gave the Tornados a chance to even the score, and
Dalton Watts delivered with an RBI single to bring the game to a 1-1 tie after five.
The UT Dallas offense busted the game open in the seventh inning, pushing across six runs on six hits and two CTX errors to jump out to a 7-1 lead.
The Comets added two more runs to their total in the eighth, one run scoring on a CTX error and another on a sacrifice fly, and the Tornados trailed 9-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Concordia Texas chipped away in the bottom of the inning, starting with back-to-back singles from Watts and
Riley Becker to set up an RBI fielder's choice from Leiferman. Lee then drove in Leiferman with an RBI single, and the Tornados cut the lead to 9-3 heading into the final inning.
The Tornados had one final chance but were unable to mount a comeback, being retired in order, and CTX fell 9-3 in the second game of the day.
Concordia Texas has a chance to win their second straight conference series on Saturday, squaring off with UT Dallas in the rubber match in Austin, Texas at Tornado field at 1 p.m.
