Baseball unable to rally past No. 5 Cal Lutheran in season-opener

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball team was one hit away from downing fifth-ranked Cal Lutheran in the 2015 season-opener Wednesday at the Kino Sports Complex. Unfortunately, Cal Lutheran escaped the ninth-inning, bases loaded jam, resulting in a 7-6 win.

CUW was not at its best defensively in the opener, committing three errors which led to five unearned runs for the Kingsmen. The Falcons were able to climb out of 4-0 and 7-4 holes, but were unable to push across the game-tying run in the ninth.

Despite the loss CUW had some positives to build off of, including a couple strong performances from freshmen. Nathan Thyssen (Kimberly, Wis.) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a triple, while Noah Greenberg (Libertyville, Ill.) had a two-RBI double in the third. Senior Joel Sharon (Milwaukee, Wis.) added two hits and an RBI.

The Falcons fell behind 4-0 after CLU struck for two runs in both the first and third innings. The two runs in the first for the Kingsmen were both unearned, putting the Falcons in an early 2-0 hole. CLU tallied three hits, including an RBI double from Gabe Gunter in the top of the third, making the score 4-0.

The bottom of the third was where the CUW bats came alive as they punched across four runs on five hits to make the score 4-4. Greenberg's two-RBI double highlighted the frame, while Thyssen started the rally with a triple. Freshman Matt Luft (Oshkosh, Wis.) singled in Thyssen and Sharon singled in Greenberg to cap off the frame.

Whatever momentum the Falcons built in the bottom of the third was quickly erased in the top of the fourth, again in large part to shaky defense. CLU (14-1) pushed across three runs in the frame, all unearned, to retake the lead, 7-4. The Falcons had two errors in the inning, while Gunter had an RBI single for CLU.

CUW went back to work in the bottom of fourth as sophomore Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.) and Thyssen started the frame with back-to-back singles. Sophomore Bryan Thomas (Lowell, Ind.) hit a sac fly to plate Thyssen, making the score 7-5.

From that point on the pitchers settled in as Andrew Heideman (Bakersfield, Calif.) retired nine of 10 batters he faced from the fifth through seventh. Heideman was the tough luck pitcher of record on Wednesday as he went seven innings allowing seven runs, only two earned. He struck out three and walked one against an offense that came into the game averaging 11.3 runs per contest.

The Falcons final run came in the bottom of the ninth as sophomore Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.) was hit by a pitch with two outs and the bases loaded. The next batter was retired on a punchout, ending the contest.

Evan Peterson moved his record to 3-1 for Cal Lutheran as he went six innings and allowed five runs, all earned. He finished with four strikeouts and one walk. Landry Kiyabu earned the save, pitching two innings and giving up one run with four strikeouts.

Juniors Tyler Gross (Wauwatosa, Wis.) and Josh Ruppel (Belgium, Wis.) each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Falcons. Ruppel struck out one during his time in the ninth inning.

CUW (0-1) will be back in action tomorrow with a pair of games. The Falcons will take on Carroll at 12:30 p.m. before taking on Macalester immediately following the Carroll game.