Concordia Baseball Blows By Minneapolis
The Concordia Panther baseball team began a six-game road stretch to end the season with a doubleheader at Minneapolis on Friday, May 2nd. Concordia started the road trip with two dominant victories, winning game one 20-2 and game two 27-0.
The young Panthers got things started quickly in game one. In the top of the first, the Panthers brought 9 batters to the plate and scored 5 runs. After Boone Richard started the game with a single, Drake Blochlinger blasted a ball over the left-center field wall for the two-run homerun, his second of the year. Parker Jackson walked, and a pitch hit Chane Parker, and with one out, Rush LeDuc came through. The Junior singled into left field, bringing in both Jackson and Parker around to score. Koehn Williams then singled with two outs for the 5th run of the first inning!
After Chane Parker got three quick outs on the mound, the Panther bats were back. The second inning proved to be more dormant as the Panthers only brought five to the plate and scored two runs. Boone Richard singled for his second hit in only the second inning, and Blochlinger drew a walk. Both of the Sophomores came around to score with their baserunning ability. Richard stole second, got to third on a passed ball, and scored on another passed ball. Blochlinger stole second, got to third on a strikeout, and stole home.
Parker on the mound was once again quick. A three-up, three-down inning with two strikeouts and a groundout. Concordia in the third sent 11 to the plate, scoring 7 runs! Kale Schroeder singled to start and was brought in on a Williams triple. Brandon Vignery brought in Williams with a single into center, and Concordia led 9-0 with one out in the top of the third. This is when the game got wild. Boone Richard came to the plate and blasted a ball over the right field wall for the 2 run homerun, his third hit in three innings! Two pitches later, Blochlinger sent a ball deep over the wall in center for his second home run of the game! After a Parker Jackson single and a Chane Parker walk, Kale Schroeder was back at the plate for his second at-bat of the inning with two outs. Schroeder tripled to deep centerfield, bringing in the Panthers 13th and 14th runs of the game!
Minneapolis finally put some offense together in the bottom of the third. Scoring two runs on three hits and a walk. Parker would get the three outs and end his day on the mound. The Junior faced 14 batters, giving up four hits, a walk, and two earned runs. Parker also struck out seven Minneapolis batters.
In the top of the fourth, it was more of the same from the Panther offense. Concordia brought 12 to the plate and scored 6 more runs. The big swing of the inning belonged to Rush LeDuc, who had a 2-RBI double into the left field corner.
Parker Jackson came out to close the game in the bottom of the 4th, and Concordia won on the 15 runs after 5 innings run rule with a 20-2 victory.
In game two, once again, Concordia got started quickly. The Panthers sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring 7 runs. The big swing of the inning was a 2-RBI double to center field from Chane Parker. Concordia had 4 hits and 3 walks in the inning.
Boone Richard got the call to pitch for game two, and the Sophomore made quick work in the bottom of the 1st, facing only three batters and striking out two.
The second inning was one of the wildest offensive outputs you will see at any level of the game of baseball. Concordia sent 26 batters to the plate and scored 20 runs on 16 hits and 4 walks! Here's how the lineup did in this inning:
Parker Jackson- walk, grand slam, single, 3 runs scored.
Chane Parker- reached on an error, reached on an error, 2-run homerun, 3 runs scored.
Kale Schroeder- RBI single, RBI single, double, 3 runs scored.
Koehn Williams- single, walk, hit by a pitch, 3 runs scored.
Rush LeDuc- single, RBI single, RBI single, 2 runs scored.
Brandon Vignery- 3 RBI double, single, RBI single, 2 runs scored.
Boone Richard- single, walk, single, one run scored.
Drake Blochlinger- a walk and reached on two fielders' choices, two runs scored.
Ayden Krier- singled and scored a run.
In the third, the Panthers put in some reserve players to close out the game with Ayden Krier to get the final outs. After a five-game losing streak, the young Panthers have now won four in a row and put themself back in position to host a Class 4A West Regional. Concordia will travel to Marysville on Tuesday, May 6th, for a NCKL doubleheader beginning at 4:30 in the afternoon.