Feb. 24, 2008

Box Score

DENVER, COLO. - Senior outfielder Jake Palmer went 4-for-9 with five RBI to lead Metro State to a doubleheader sweep of Concordia (Neb.), 11-5 and 13-7, in a nonconference baseball doubleheader, Sunday afternoon at Auraria Field.

Unlike yesterday when pitching dominated, hitting was the name of the game Sunday. The two teams combined for 36 runs and 52 hits in the two games.

In the opener, Concordia came out hot, sending nine men to the plate in the first inning and scoring four runs. Jack Holmberg, D.J. Juelfs and Nick Jones all had RBI singles for the Bulldogs. However, Metro State answered with three in its half of the first as Palmer had a three-run home run.

The Roadrunners went up 7-4 in the bottom of the second as Mike Coffey tripled, then came home on a sacrifice fly by Brennan Brown. Reece Gorman then homered to left center and Tyree Abshire connected for an RBI double. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with just one out in the top of the fifth but Ryan Eccles came on in relief of starter Ted Jamison and got the last two outs without allowing a run.

Palmer went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Gorman had three hits and an RBI for Metro State. Holmberg and Juelfs each had two hits and an RBI for Concordia.

In game two, Concordia again jumped on top 2-0 in the top of the third as Casey Rodriguez had an RBI single and later scored on an error. Metro State answered back, though, with three runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Brown and a two-run home run by Palmer.

The Bulldogs tied it up at three in the top of the fourth, only to see Metro State score seven runs in the bottom of the inning. Mike Coffey, Brown and Gorman all had RBI hits, while Alex Krohn added a three-run home run to center field to give the Roadrunners a 10-3 advantage. Concordia scored single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth, including a home run by Marcus Nathan in the eighth, but the Roadrunners closed it out.

Krohn had three hits and three RBI, while Coffey had three hits, and Brown had two hits and two RBI for Metro State. Rodriguez had two hits and two RBI for Concordia.

In the series, Palmer went 10-for-16 with two home runs and 11 RBI.

With the sweep, Metro State improves to 7-2 overall, and has won six straight contests, while Concordia falls to 0-4 overall. The Roadrunners host Colorado Christian in their RMAC opener, Feb. 29 at noon.