TUCSON, Ariz. – Let’s call it a GPAC, non-GPAC doubleheader. Concordia and familiar foe Mount Marty got together on Friday (March 8) as part of the Tucson Invitational. The Bulldogs experienced both ends of the spectrum in the twin bill. They took the first game, 7-0, before suffering a 19-5 defeat in game two.
The win in Friday’s opener put an end to what had been a four-game skid. Concordia now sits at 5-9 overall heading into the final day of the road trip in Arizona.
“In that first game we played really well,” Dupic said. “(Jake) Fosgett pitched well and tt was probably the best game we’ve played this year. That second game we got out to a good start and got the lead right away. Mount Marty had a couple huge innings and we made some mistakes. It was one of those games that got away from us.”
The Bulldogs came up with a combined seven runs in the first inning of the doubleheader. They staked Fosgett to a 6-0 lead by scoring three times in the first and three times again in the second in game one. Wade Council, Christian Meza and Jesse Garcia each pounded out two hits with Meza and Garcia both collecting a pair of doubles. In consecutive at bats in the first, Council tripled, Garcia doubled, Meza doubled and Evan Bohman singled. Then in the second, Council singled in a run and Meza doubled in two.
It was plenty enough support for Fosgett, who turned in the best start of his career. The junior from the San Diego area fired all seven innings and allowed just two hits and one walk. He struck out seven. Only rarely did Fosgett put himself in trick situations. He worked around a leadoff triple in the third and a walk and a hit batter in the seventh.
Game two looked like it might go a similar route after Concordia tallied four runs in the first inning. However, the Lancers put up two runs in the third, five in the fourth, four in the fifth and eight in the seventh to make it a blowout. Five Mount Marty hitters collected three or more hits as part of a 21-hit team attack.
Meanwhile, the Bulldog offense went cold after the first inning. Garcia, Meza, Luciano DePamphilis and Beau Dorman notched one hit apiece. On the flip side, three Concordia pitchers were tagged for a combined 18 earned runs.
The Bulldogs will return to the diamond at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson on Saturday to take on two NCAA Division II foes: Minot State University (N.D.) at 9 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. CT and Southwest Minnesota State University at 12:30 p.m. MT / 1:30 p.m. CT.