Waldorf Baseball Could Not Hold Off Concordia in 5-4 Loss
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Concordia (NE) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
|
Waldorf | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
FOREST CITY, Iowa. Waldorf carried a two-run lead into the seventh inning Saturday, but Concordia (NE) answered with a pair of home runs and pushed across the go-ahead run in the eighth to hand the Warriors a 5-4 loss in Forest City, Iowa.
The decisive moment came in the top of the eighth. After Concordia tied the game with back-to-back solo shots in the seventh, Bronx Lewis came around to score on Jimmy Blumberg's second double of the day, giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 advantage that stood as the final margin. Concordia finished with nine hits, while Waldorf was limited to six.
Concordia struck first with a two-run second inning. Blumberg doubled home Alex Draper for the game's opening run, and another run scored when Jaeden Jordahl reached on a Waldorf fielding error. The Warriors answered in the bottom of the third. Mason Smith doubled in AJ Toulouse to trim the deficit to 2-1, and Cameren Rindone followed with another RBI double to tie the game at 2-2.
Waldorf moved in front with solo power in the middle innings. Toulouse led off the fifth with a home run for a 3-2 lead, then Elijah Guemez added a solo homer in the sixth to make it 4-2. Toulouse scored twice for the Warriors, who made the most of their six hits and briefly appeared in control heading into the late innings.
That lead disappeared in the seventh when Draper opened Concordia's rally with a solo home run, and Jake Tyler followed with another solo blast to knot the score at 4-4. Concordia's pitching staff then closed the door. Micah Sweeton worked three innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits while striking out seven, and the Bulldogs' staff combined for 12 strikeouts. Waldorf drew three walks but did not score after Guemez's sixth-inning homer.
Blumberg paced Concordia with two hits, both doubles, and two RBIs. Draper added two hits, two runs and a home run. For Waldorf, Toulouse's homer and Smith and Rindone's back-to-back doubles helped build the lead, but Concordia's late surge and eighth-inning RBI double proved to be the difference.