Concordia clinches top seed in NAIA West Tourney
PORTLAND, Ore.—Needing at least one win and some additional help, Concordia swept a doubleheader against Oregon Tech (10-2, 8-2) to capture the top seed in the NAIA West Tournament to highlight Senior Day at Porter Park on Saturday.
Winners of 17 of its last 21 games, red-hot Concordia (28-21, 19-9 NAIA West) used the sweep and a British Columbia loss to earn the right to host the postseason tournament with the winner advancing to the NAIA National Championships.
Falling for the third time in two days to perennial power Lewis-Clark State, British Columbia (35-15, 18-9 NAIA West) will settle for the No. 2 seed in the tournament that will be held in Portland from May 1-4.
In between games and with the tournament seeding still in doubt, Concordia honored its 11 seniors on the field.
Eliminated from postseason play, Oregon Tech closes out the season with a 17-32 overall mark and an 8-20 record in league contests.
Game 1: Concordia 8, Oregon Tech 2
Concordia placed five runs on the board in the second inning and used seven strong innings from
Blake Evetts to post an 8-2 in in the opener.
Nate Esposito led the Cavs at the plate by going 3 of 4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Konner Reddick, meanwhile, drove in a run in the second and one in the seventh.
Oregon Tech scattered 11 hits against Evetts (8-1) and reliever
Austin Hadley, but managed to score in just one frame, getting a solo homer by Colton Minton and an RBI single by Tyson Dahl in the fourth.
Evetts struck out seven and walked one in the outing to earn a win in his sixth straight start.
Game 2: Concordia 10, Oregon Tech 2
After allowing two runs in the top of the first, Concordia retaliated with six runs in the home half en route to a 10-2 win in the fourth and final game of the series.
The Hustlin' Owls cracked three hits in the opening stanza with Ryan Grant and Morris connecting on back-to-back RBI hits to grab the early advantage.
Picking up starter
Ryan McMonigle, the CU offense registered seven hits in eth bottom of the fourth and scored five runs before recording the second out.
Handed the 6-2 edge, McMonigle allowed harmless single in the second and went on to retire 12 straight batters while heading towards his fourth win of the season. The fellow senior struck out seven batters before turning the ball over to fellow senior
Ryan Garrett. Garrett allowed just two base runners of the final 2 1/3 innings to secure the win.
Nine different Cavs collected a hit in eth final game of the series with
Nate Esposito,
Jordan Spencer, Elliott North,
Corbin Henderson and
Hunter Weiss all posting two-hit games.Henderson drove in a team-high three runs with doubles in the first and fifth innings.
Ryan Grant (2 for 4) and Beau Tittensor (2 for 3) led Oregon Tech at the plate.