Split In St. Peter

ST. PETER, Minn. (4/18/21)---The Cobbers upped their win streak to five games with a 6-1 win over Gustavus in the opening game of their doubleheader on Sunday. The streak came to a close in Game 2 when the Gusties were able to come through with a game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning and win 3-2.

The split in St. Peter moves Concordia's overall record to 17-13 on the season. CC is 5-7 in the MIAC which is good for a tie for sixth place in the league standings. The top 6 spots in the conference earn a berth in the MIAC playoffs. Gustavus is now 9-11 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

GAME 1 RECAP: The Cobbers used a 3-run second and a 2-run fourth to win by five in Game 1. Concordia outhit the Gusties 9-6 and were aided by the 5-strikeout performance of pitcher Megan Gavin.

Ellie Tofteland and Landry Maragos had run-scoring hits in the second inning. CC score their three runs on four hits. Tofteland doubled home Drew Syverson with the eventual game-winning run after Syverson reached on an infield single. Maragos then plated Tofteland with a 2-out single.

Maragos played another key role in the 2-run fourth when she scored Kenzie Leither from third on a sacrifice fly to center field. Riley Bergstrom came up with an RBI single in the next at-bat to plate CC's fifth run of the game.

Syverson and Tofteland had the multiple-hit games in the opener. Syverson was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI while Tofteland went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Gavin gave up just the one run and allowed six hits to record her seventh win of the year. She is now 7-7 for the season.

GAME 2 RECAP: Concordia scored both of their runs in the finale in the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead.  The Gusties then posted a single run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 2-2 and then won it with a walkoff double in the seventh.

Bergstrom produced the biggest hit of Game 2 for Concordia. She recorded a 2-run single in the fifth that scored Maragos and Leither after both players reached on an error.

Concordia had five hits in the nightcap. Hannah Wilke went 2-for-3 to lead the way for the offense. Bergstrom, Taylor Erholtz and Syverson had single hit games.

The pitching tandem of Tori Herrboldt and Amber Taylor worked the second game in the circle for CC. Herrboldt went the first 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits. Taylor pitched the sixth and seventh frames and allowed two hits and one run.

GAVIN WATCH: Gavin had a smaller K outing on Sunday but earned the win that kept Concordia in the playoff chase. She had five strikeouts against the Gusties and now has 151 for the year. That total is the highest single season mark of her Cobber career. She had 148 in her sophomore season in 2018.

Gavin now has 428 career strikeouts and needs only 13 more to break the Cobbers single season record of 440 set by Abby Haraldson from 2014-18.   

WEEKEND AT DREWS: Syverson entered the weekend with only three hits in her first 14 games of the year. She quickly changed that theme by recording back-to-back multiple hit games and coming away with five hits in the three games she played. Syverson went 5-for-10 (.500) and upped her season batting average to .320.
 
UP NEXT: Concordia has a midweek encounter with Bethel. The Cobbers will play in Arden Hills on Wednesday, Apr. 21 at 3:30 p.m. before returning home to host St. Thomas on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 1 p.m.