Clarksville, Ark.-The pitching staff for Concordia (6-7, 2-1 ASC) combined for 24 strikeouts and claimed both wins on the road in Saturday's doubleheader.
In game one, Lane Hobbs tossed a complete seven-inning game for the Tornados, which included fanning 11 batters while only allowing one walk and no earned runs.
Ozarks (7-6, 2-4 ASC) starter Eli Gordon (2-2) allowed a pair of two-run home runs early in the game, one from Race Mellman in the first and another from Jake Valadez in the third. Concordia added a final run off of Gordon in the fourth before Hayden Keller took over on the mound for the Eagles in the fifth. The Tornados plated two runs off of Keller in the fifth and two more in the seventh before claiming the 9-0 victory.
Zach Walker led the team with two hits in game one and the Eagles recorded six altogether.
The Eagles had a chance to strike first in game two after loading the bases with only one out in the second inning, but instead stranded three base runners and allowed Concordia to get the first lead of the game in the third.
Ozarks senior Grady Finley got the offense going in the third with a leadoff double to left center field. Andrew Beck kept the momentum with a single through the left side. With runners on first and third, Justin Crider came up big with an RBI single through the right side. Beck then took advantage of an error by Concordia's second baseman, making it 2-1 and giving the Eagles their first lead of the day.
Concordia broke the game open in the fourth with five runs off of six hits. The first two were off of starter Jacob Barker (1-1) who then came out after 4 1/3 innings pitched and he was replaced by Luke Dyer. The Tornados brought two runs across on Dyer before closing out the inning.
The start of the fifth appeared to be promising thanks to Finley and Beck blasting back-to-back singles to right field, but the Eagles were unable to produce after that and trailed 6-2 through five innings.
A pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth put the Tornados on top 9-2. Casey Jirkovsky tried to light a spark for the Eagles in the bottom of the eighth by adding a solo home run into the trees over the left center field wall. Zach Walker followed with a single through the right side and Zach Jones got on base after a hard hit ball back to the pitcher, but the next two batters struck out and Ozarks went on to fall 9-3.
The Eagles put together nine hits and were led by Beck who went 3-for-5, but the Tornados were on fire and pounded out 16 hits in game two.
Ozarks continues action in a series against Millikin University starting Saturday, March 12.
By Jackie Bacon
