BRISBANE, Calif. – The Concordia Eagles swooped in for two more road victories on Sunday to extend their winning streak to 18 games to start the season.

Ranked No. 3 in the country in the latest NFCA DII Top 25 Coaches Poll, Concordia made its case to move up even higher in the national rankings by fending off Academy of Art in their first matchups of the season. 

Freshman Mia Saucedo had her most productive day at the plate and both of CUI's starting pitchers got into a groove which was big because only one trip to the bullpen was needed the entire day. Saucedo posted back-to-back games with two hits for the first time in her career.

The Green and Gold improved to 6-0 in conference play after securing wins with that familiar formula of dominant pitching and timely hitting. The Eagles were most recently coming off a four-game sweep of Dominican as part of their current road trip up north.

Game 1: CUI 6, Academy of Art 3

Missy Nemeth and Saucedo gave the offense a spark after ART U scored the first two runs of the contest. The Eagles scored four times in the top of the fourth to move in front and held the Knights at bay after that.

Nemeth smacked a double to plate Saucedo for CUI's first run after Saucedo started the inning by reaching on a bunt single. Three more runs would come around to touch home plate after an outfield error.

In the sixth, Nemeth sent another pitch into the gap for a double. Pinch-runner Jasmine Gorman entered for Nemeth and came around to score a few pitches later on a RBI single by Lauren Lopez. CUI added one more insurance run for good measure.

Katlin Entrup tossed a complete game on the mound and improved to a team-best record of 6-0. She struck out eight and leads all Concordia pitchers with 40 total strikeouts so far this season.

Game 2: CUI 9, Academy of Art 1

In the second game of the day, Shelby Pfeiler smashed her first career home run as an Eagle.  She cranked a two-run blast in the fifth inning and also also supplied a RBI double in the third. 

CUI put up three runs in the top of the first after loading the bases on multiple occasions. Thanks to good plate discipline, the Eagles were able to get three across while managing just two hits that inning.

The Eagles added two more runs in the second when Megan Massa's RBI triple plated Lauren Fairchild and Saucedo knocked in Massa with a base hit up the middle.

After taking a 5-0 lead into the third, CUI positioned itself to end the game early with the eight-run mercy rule.  In addition to Pfeiler's two clutch swings, Fairchild added a RBI single and Lopez also scored on a passed ball after reaching on a walk.

Erika Morris turned in another fine performance in the circle by limiting the Knights to just one hit and one walk in four shutout innings of work.  She struck out three batters and is now 5-0 with an eye-popping season ERA that has shrunk to 0.51. That's also the lowest ERA among all CUI starting pitchers.

Madison Urrutia closed it out with two strikeouts in the final frame.

Concordia will wrap up its eight-game road trip up in Northern California on Monday with another doubleheader against the Knights. Game one starts at high noon.

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