Metro Lex News

Asbury Slides in Game One of Series with No. 3 Concordia

No. 3 ranked and reigning NCCAA World Series champion Concordia - Ann Arbor (9-1) showed off their powerful offense on Monday night in Wilmore, defeating Asbury 15-4 in game one of the three-game series.

Concordia outhit Asbury 11-6 while AU (4-5) took the defensive battle, only committing one turnover compared to the Cardinals' three. Concordia left only three runners on base with timely hitting while AU left eight on. 

Both teams allowed multiple free bases as Concordia walked four with two hit by pitches and Asbury walked six. Strikeouts ruled the night as AU sat down 11 Concordia hitters with Asbury was struck out nine times themselves. 

Jackson Cole got the start for AU and went four complete innings before being pulled out by Coach Cervantes. Concordia got seven earned runs off Cole as he walked two and struck out four. 

Sophomore Quinn Nobles led Asbury offensively, being the only Eagle with a multi-hit game going 2-4 with an RBI and run scored.

Noah Brown continued his offensive success, going 1-2 with a double to leadoff for Asbury's offense in the first inning. Brown led the team in runs scored with two, also being walked once and hit once to be on base three of four plate appearances. 

Graduate right hander Tyson Kleinfelter got the ball for Concordia and went 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts to receive his fourth win of the year out of his team's nine games. Kleinfelter gave up six hits, walked four, and allowed three earned runs. 

Concordia's leadoff hitter (Townshend) started the game off with a blast over the right field wall to go up 1-0. Asbury's leadoff Noah Brown responded in the bottom half by doubling to right-center, later scoring from an Ethan Cartwright RBI to tie the game at 1-1. 

Townsend struck again for Concordia in the second with a two-RBI double down the left field line to score two, 3-1. The Cardinals scored two more in the third and fourth to go up 7-1. 

Asbury clawed back within three after a run in the fourth and two in the fifth powered by a Quinn Nobles RBI single, making the score 4-7 heading to the sixth. 

David Savastio struck out two hitters in the sixth with bases loaded and got one one strike away from the final out of the inning before the Cardinals answered strongly with a grand slam, 11-4. Concordia hit another grand slam in the seventh to extend their lead to 15-4. 

With this loss AU moves to 4-5 on the season and will get two more chances at Concordia tomorrow as AU hosts the Cardinals for a home doubleheader starting at 12 pm. 

 

Original source can be found here.