Cole Shidaki went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in during the Cavs' 6-4 loss to Montana State Billings.
Yellowjackets Rally to Sting Cavs
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. MSU Billings
PORTLAND—The Concordia baseball team dropped a mid-week, non-conference game to Montana State Billings on Thursday, losing 6-4.
The Cavs (7-10) lost to the Yellowjackets (4-14-1) thanks largely to the Yellowjackets’ five-run sixth inning that erased what had been a 3-0 Concordia lead to that point in the game.
The Yellowjackets’ first six runners reached safely in the sixth before the Cavs’ got a force out at home for the first out in the inning. By then, the Yellowjackets had tied the game at 3-3, while two consecutive hits afterwards brought in the final two runs of the inning. Fortunately for the Cavs, the team's defense helped prevent the inning from being worse, first with the force out at home which involved an athletic stretch from catcher Ben Talbot, and then later when Cavalier leftfielder Carl Beckert threw out a Yellowjacket runner at the plate.
The Yellowjackets’ big inning still put the Cavs two runs down, though, and the Cavalier offense could not find a rally until the bottom of the eighth.
Once in the eighth, the Cavs’ Cole Shidaki led off the inning with a single, then moved to third during the next at bat when a throw on an attempted force out at second sailed into the outfield. Ryne Briley then followed with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Shidaki and brouth the Cavs within one at 5-4.
Cole Buruse kept the rally going after that, lining a one-out single to left to put runners on first and second for the Cavs. Beckert would walk two batters later, loading the bases with two outs and leadoff hitter Blake Drake coming to the plate. Drake had been 3-for-4 in the game to that point, but struck out after the Yellowjackets made a pitching change.
The Yellowjackets then followed their escape in the eighth with a run in a bizarre top of the ninth that saw two batters reach on dropped third strikes. The confusion came after the umpires reversed their call on the second dropped third strike. The umpires had called the batter out, which would have been the third out of the inning, but then reversed the call a little bit later. Meanwhile, a Yellowjacket runner that was on third at the start of the play came home amidst the confusion.
The unusual events later the in the game masked what had been a strong start to the game for the Cavs as pitchers Blake Evetts and Ryan Garrett combined to shut out the Yellowjackets over the first five innings.
The Cavalier offense, meanwhile, scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the third. Drake started the rally for the Cavs with a perfectly-laid bunt down the third-base line. The Cavs' leadoff man then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch during the next at bat, before Austria plated him with a single to right. Jordan Keeker followed Austria with a hard-hit ball to second that the Yellowjackets mishandled, while Austria and Keeker would then move to third and second, respectively, on the second wild pitch of the inning. From there, Shidaki plated both of them with a single to center.
Drake and Shidaki led the Cavs offensively in the game as Drake went 3-for-5 with a run scored while Shidaki went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in.
Meanwhile, Evetts and Garrett pitched well for the Cavs at the start of the game, while Austin Hadley also shut out the Yellowjackts through 2.2 innings of relief.
The Cavs’ game against the Yellowjackets kicked off what will be a busy six days for the Cavaliers as it was the first of six games in that six-day stretch. The Cavs will play their next games on Saturday, March 9 with a doubleheader against Oregon Tech set to start at 2 p.m.