Mapes stays hot despite Bulldog struggles

FREMONT, Neb. – Midland pitchers Sammy Hislop and Sarah Leimser combined to limit Concordia to just two runs in 14 innings as the host Warriors earned the doubleheader sweep on Thursday. Midland boosted its conference record to 10-6 with wins by scores of 8-2 and 2-0. The Bulldogs, which fell to 12-23 overall and 6-10 in GPAC action, managed only 11 combined hits in the twin bill.

Head coach Frank Greene’s Bulldogs never did lead at any point on Thursday as the Warriors jumped on top with a huge seven-run first inning in game one. Midland pounded out seven hits and sent 12 hitters to the plate off of Concordia’s Julia Tyree. The Bulldog hurler settled in and only gave up one run over the last five innings, but Concordia could not recover.

The Bulldogs got their game one runs on an error in the third inning and then on a Natalie Svoboda RBI single in the fifth.

Concordia senior Nicole Mapes, who recently converted to shortstop, continued her run of hot hitting with a 3-for-7 day. She has at least one hit in four-straight contests and in six of her last seven games. She is 12-for-26 (.462) over her last seven games, raising her season average from .267 to .317 during that time.

The Bulldogs got another quality outing from Amanda Beeson, who fired all six innings of game two and struck out seven. She now has 120 strikeouts in 115 innings of work this season.

Thursday’s games were the first since Greene announced he will resign at the conclusion of the 2013 season. The Bulldog skipper is the program’s all-time wins leader with 301.

Concordia sits in eighth place and remains in good shape to reach the GPAC tournament, which includes the standings’ top eight teams. Green’s club has four regular-season games remaining.

The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday when they travel to Dakota Wesleyan for another road GPAC doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. from Mitchell, S.D. Live audio will be available via the Concordia Sports Network with Mike Meyer on the call.