Baseball ends shortened 2020 season on an upswing

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin Baseball team closed out the 2020 season with a three-game winning streak. The Falcons were poised for even better things but the year was abruptly concluded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Falcon's season began and ended with a trip to Florida to compete in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. After falling in the first two games, the Falcons adjusted and won their first game of the season 9-4 over Grove City. The Falcons built momentum by winning their next game 6-2 over Penn St.-Altoona, and then completed a sweep of the Lions with a 6-4 victory.

By going 3-2 on the year the Falcons secured their sixth winning season in the past seven years. The lone year the Falcons finished under .500 in that span was in 2019 where they went 20-21 and won three playoff games in the NACC Tournament.

Sophomore Sam Beers (Janesville, Wis.) and junior Sam Zarling (West Bend, Wis.) led the Falcons at the plate with nine hits each and identical .500 batting averages and .667 slugging percentages. Beers led the team with eight RBI and Zarling was second with four on the year.

Seven doubles were hit by the Falcons, with Beers leading the team with three. Zarling, senior Drew Barth (Pewaukee, Wis.), sophomore Sean Tillmon (Plainfield, Wis.), and junior Blake Gosswein (Barrington, Ill.) each had one on the year.

Zarling and sophomore Daniel Hahn (Cudahy, Wis.) hit the lone two triples on the season.

Barth led the team with a pair of stolen bases on the year.

On the mound, sophomore Ryan Green (Green Bay, Wis.) led the Falcons with 6.0 innings pitched and seven strikeouts, earning the win in his lone appearance and start of the season over Penn St.-Altoona in game one.

Junior Tyler Moilanen (Pleasant Prairie, Wis.) earned the first win of the season over Grove City and sophomore Beau Wills (Coal City, Ill.) earned the final win over Penn St.-Altoona. Neither pitcher allowed an earned run on the season.

Wills led the Falcons with three appearances, a K/9 of 12.27, and picked up the lone save of the season. The sophomore pitched 2.1 innings with a 0.00 ERA, allowed just one hit, and struck out five.

The Falcons graduated five seniors: Barth, Seth Cox (Gilbert, Ariz.), Christian Gerner (Mequon, Wis.), Kenny Meloy (Gilbert, Ariz.), and Alex Prickett (Franklin, Wis.).