PORTLAND, Ore.—Behind a complete-game shutout from CU starter Larsen Kohler, the Concordia baseball team wrapped up a series win over Patten with a 1-0 victory on Sunday.

Kohler completed the shutout while giving up only three hits and three walks in the game. In addition, Kohler faced just five more batters than the minimum 27 and let only three Patten runners reach second base.

For Concordia (9-5, 3-1 NAIA West), the win gave them a 3-1 series win over Patten (4-10, 1-3 NAIA West), as the Cavs head to the University of Portland on Tuesday, March 6 for their next game. The Cavs will play their next conference games at Menlo in a four-game series from March 9-11. Patten, meanwhile, also returns to conference action with next weekend, as the Lions host a four-game series against Oregon Tech.

On Sunday, though, Concordia rode Kohler’s arm and its own solid defense to victory.

Patten got runners on in both of the first two innings, but a double-play in the first and three straight outs in the second squelched any sort of rally for the Lions. The three straight outs in the second also started a streak of 13 straight batters that Kohler and the Cavs retired.

In the meantime, the Cavalier offense provided all the run support Kohler would need with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Sean Myrom provided the heroics, as the senior launched a one-out double to the gap in right center that scored Jordan Keeker all the way from first. The Cavs’ continued to threaten later in the inning with a two-out hit from Sheldon Austria, but Patten leftfielder Jesse Madrid threw out Myrom at home on the play to end the inning.

On the flip side, Patten attempted a threat in the sixth inning with Denis O’Connor reaching second on a one-out double down the left-field line. That gave the Lions a runner in scoring position with the top of the lineup coming up. However, Kohler got Patten’s Sean Rogers to fly out to right field, then struck out Tyler Provost looking to end the inning.

Patten threatened again in the seventh, as David Whiteside led off the inning with a single, but CU catcher Ben Talbot came to his pitcher’s defense, gunning Whiteside down on a stealing attempt.

Then, after a perfect top of the eighth for Kohler, the Lions’ attempted their final assault on the CU starter. Kohler started the inning well, inducing a fly ball from Rogers to left, but then walked Provost to put a runner on first. Patten’s Perry Rogan pinch ran for Provost after that and moved to second on a wild pitch during Whiteside’s at-bat, giving the Lions a runner in scoring position with the heart of the lineup coming up. However, confident from his previous 8.1 innings of flawless work, Kohler induced a fly ball from Whiteside, then, after another walk, got Jacob Betancourt to fly out to right for the final out of the game.

The shutout was Kohler’s first as a Cavalier and came two days after he teamed with Mitch Ludtke on Friday to shut out the Lions’ 1-0 in the series opener. All told, Kohler finishes the weekend with 11.2 innings of shutout ball, while giving up only four hits and striking out nine batters.

Somewhat cruelly, Kohler’s performance saddled Provost, Patten’s starter, with the loss despite a solid showing from the right-hander. Provost also pitched the complete game, giving up only one run off eight hits and three walks.

Finally, the Cavalier offense outhit Patten 8-3 with Keeker as the only player with more than one hit in the game at 2-for-3.