Offensive Steps Up In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (4/9/25)---Concordia opened the MIAC season by scoring 10 runs in its first four games. Things took a complete 180-degree turn in St. Paul as the Cobbers exploded for 28 runs and 31 hits in a 2-game sweep over Macalester. 

 

Concordia scored six runs in the fourth and fifth innings in the opener to overcome a 3-2 deficit and post an 11-5 win. The Cobbers also rallied from a 3-2 deficit in Game 2 as they put up 5-run frames in the second and eighth innings to cruise to a 17-7 victory.

 

The two wins bring the Cobbers' overall record to the .500 mark at 10-10. CC is now 2-4 in league play. Macalester falls to 6-13 in all games and 1-5 in the MIAC.

 

Concordia scored single runs in the first and third innings of Game 1 and trailed 3-2 heading to the fourth frame. CC responded by scoring two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take an 8-4 lead. The Cobbers tacked on three more scores in the seventh.

 

Concordia outhit the Scots 12-9 in the opener with all nine players in the batting order coming away with at least one hit. Luke Knudsen, Caiden Kjelstrom and Justin Kloster posted 2-hit games, while Kloster, Ben Shumansky and Talan Plante posting 2-RBI contests.

 

Plante had the biggest blow of the game when he connected on a 2-run homer in the seventh inning. Plante is tied for the team lead in home runs with two and has only had 11 at-bats on the year. His .818 slugging and 1.247 OPS are tops by any CC player this year.

 

Dylan Erholtz picked up his first win of the season by pitching 2.0 innings, starting in the fourth inning. Ethan Beyer and Gavin Gast closed out the final 1.1 frames and didn't allow a run.   

 

The Cobber hitters were fighting each other in the on-deck circle to get up to the plate in the finale. Concordia had four players with three hits in the game, two more with 2-hit games and had nine players with at least one hit. In the end, Concordia scored 17 runs on 19 hits. The 17 runs are the most since exactly one year ago when they scored 18 in an 18-7 win over the Scots. The 19 hits are the most since the very first game of the 2023 season when they dropped 19 hits on Gwynedd Mercy in a 12-2 win.

 

Concordia actually trailed 3-2 after the first inning in the nightcap. The Cobbers then scored the next six runs of the game and added seven of the final eight runs in the game after the sixth inning. 

 

The Top 5 in the CC lineup of Knudsen, Kjelstrom, Thomas Horan, Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe and Shumansky combined to go 13-30 (.433), score nine times and drive in nine runs.

 

Kjelstrom was 3-for-7 with two runs scored and two RBI. Horan went 3-for-6 with three runs scored and a pair of doubles, while Henkemeyer-Howe was 3-for-5 with two RBI and Shumansky went 3-for-6 with two RBI.

 

Brayden Wolfgram and Kloster had the 2-hit games as both players went 2-for-4. 

 

Kloster and Kjelstrom were the only two CC players with more than one hit in both games. Kjelstrom has now reached base safely in all 20 games this year. If you go back to last season, he has reached safely in 31 straight contests. Before this season, Kjelstrom owned the previous longest on-base streak when he reached safely in 24 games in the 2023 season.     

 

Kloster and Shumansky were the only two hitters with multiple-RBI games in both contests.

 

Concordia used three pitchers for the eight innings. Alex Rudquist went 6.0 innings to start the game and earned his first victory of the year. 

 

Grant Paffrath and Wyatt Mohr each hurled a single inning to close out the 10-run rule win.

 

Record Watch: Horan had four hits in the series and now has 187 for his career. He needs 11 more to break the school's all-time hit mark held by Andy Gravdahl. 

 

Stat Stuff: Knudsen leads the team in hitting with a .400 average. He also has the top on-base percentage (.578) and has an 11-game hitting streak…Kjelstrom leads CC with seven multiple-hit games and Shumansky is tops in multiple-RBI contests (7).