The Concordia Baseball team dropped the last two games of the series with the Cal State San Marcos Cougars on Friday, finishing the four game series without a win. Both games were close fought battles but the Cougars came out on top in both seven-inning games.
Ryan Land got things started for the Eagles in game one with a leadoff double.
Haloa Dudoit grounded out to advance Land to third before
Jair Donovan sent a sacrifice fly to center field to bring him in for the first run of the game.
In the top of the second,
Cade Temple singled into left. A ground out from Tony Garcia moved him into scoring position and then a passed ball put him on third. Chris Martin singled through the left side with two outs to bring in Temple, putting the Eagles up 2-0.
Mike Killeen got the start in game one, and in the second inning the Cougars chipped away at the Eagle lead. A leadoff walk put a runner on first and an error would bring him around to score later in the inning, giving San Marcos their first run.
Donovan's first hit of the day came by way of a single up the middle in the top of the third inning. A walk and a fielder's choice would move him to third. With two outs, the San Marcos pitcher was called on a balk which allowed Donovan to cross home plate and put the Eagles up 3-1.
San Marcos answered back in the bottom of the third, aided by back-to-back walks to start the inning. A double from Andy Garreston would bring in one, and another would score on a fielder's choice, tying the score at three.
The Cougars carried this momentum into the bottom of the fourth inning when a homerun put them in front 4-3.
Killeen finished the game, going six innings and allowing four runs on five hits. His record drops to 1-1.
Donovan recorded three hits in the game with an RBI and a stolen base.
Carpenter Pagget got the nod in game two, and he would begin his game with a 2-0 lead thanks to the Eagle offense.
Land and Dudoit led off with back-to-back singles. A double steal moved each Eagle up one base. The designated hitter,
Dominic Castro, recorded his first career hit with an RBI sinlge through the left side. Land scored and put the Eagles up 1-0. With Dudoit on third, Castro managed to get himself into a pickle between first and second, allowing Dudoit to score.
Dillon Millar singled to lead off the top of the second inning and a sacrifice bunt from Temple would move him to second. Senior
Joey Thompson came up big with a two-run blast to left field, the first of his career, to stretch the Eagle lead to 4-0.
The Cougars answered right back in the bottom of the second, recording four hits in the inning and tying the game up 4-4.
Concordia continued their two-run trend in the top of the third, beginning with three straight singles from the freshman trio of Dudoit, Donovan, and Collins. Dudoit scored on Collins' sinlge, and then a walk to Castro would load the bases. A wild pitch brought in Donovan, giving the Eagles a 6-4 lead.
Cal State San Marcos got one back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring one on two hits.
Neil Lang took over in relief in the bottom of the fourth and in the fifth two hits and a wild pitch led to two more Cougar runs, putting them up 7-6.
The game took a turn in the top of the sixth. Martin was hit by a pitch and then advanced on a passed ball. He then tagged up on a fly ball and took third. Dudoit came to the plate with two outs and was then hit by a pitch. The Cougars made a pitching change and the first batter the new pitcher faced was Donovan, who became the third batter in the inning to take first on a hit by pitch. A passed ball would move all three runners up one bag, scoring Martin from third. A wild pitch then brought in Dudoit. Collins would also get hit by a pitch and was awarded first base. Castro singled to left and brought in the run to cap to the Eagles' three-run inning. They would go into the seventh leading 9-7.
The Cougars battled back in the bottom of the seventh. Back-to-back singles and an error loaded the bases with one out before a double brought in two to tie the game. Back-to-back walks would then bring in the game-winning run, giving Cal State San Marcos a 10-9 win.
Lang took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season.
Donovan had four hits on the day, Dudoit collected three hits, and Martin stole two bags.
Concordia now sits at a record of 3-7. The Eagles are back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Cal State San Bernardino at 6 p.m
