Concordia Texas wins 300th for Boggs

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AUSTIN, Texas – Behind a pair of stellar pitching performances and clutch at-bats, the Concordia Texas baseball team took care of Louisiana College in a doubleheader sweep on Friday to open a three-game set and head coach Tommy Boggs earned the 300th coaching win of his career.

Entering the day, coach Boggs, already the winningest coach in program history, stood at 299 wins in his collegiate coaching career, all 11 seasons having been spent with the Tornados' baseball program.

In the first game, behind Calvin Bush's six-inning start where he allowed only one run on five hits while striking out nine batters, CTX took advantage of a late-inning Wildcats error to win the game 2-1 and give coach Boggs his 300th win.

The Tornados opening the scoring in the second inning, pushing across a run off an LC throwing error, allowing Grayson Lee, who led off the inning with a single, to score and make it 1-0.

The Wildcats responded with a run in the fifth inning and the teams were tied at 1-all heading into sixth.

In the sixth inning, Bret Leiferman, the program's current all-time hits leader, smacked a one-out double to put himself in scoring position. One out later, Leiferman reached third on a wild pitch and came around to score the go-ahead run after another Wildcats throwing error.

Daniel Lewis entered in relief of Bush in the seventh and retired LC in order, finishing the game off with a strikeout and earning his second save of the season.

Leiferman finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate, while Lee and Kalen Moreno each recorded a hit.

In the second game of the night, Matthew Williams, who entered the night leading DIII in strikeouts with 34 in over 20 innings of action, took a no-hitter into the seventh and finished with a two-hit, complete game performance, as CTX walked it off 2-1 on an Owen Hill sac fly in the ninth.

Williams went the distance for the Tornados, throwing nine innings, not allowing a hit till Alex Ashby's two-out home run in the seventh, and striking out 11 LC hitters, the third straight game the Austin, Texas native has registered double-digit strikeouts.

Concordia Texas opened the scoring first on Leiferman's RBI single through the right side, scoring Casen Novak, who led off the inning with a walk, from second.

Williams, meanwhile, was dominating, racking up five strikeouts through the game's first four frames. He would lose the no-hitter and the shutout in the seventh on the home run, but struck out the following hitter to keep it tied at 1-1.

Williams recorded two more strikeouts in the ninth to give him 11 for the game and the Tornados came to bat in the bottom half of the frame, seeking late-inning magic.

Concordia Texas loaded the bases with one out after a Novak single followed by back-to-back hit batsmen to Jacob Gwynne and Leiferman. Owen Hill, who had been hitless on the night, came through for the Tornados with a sac fly to center, scoring Novak from third for a 2-1 walk-off win.

Leiferman and Novak went a combined 4-for-5 at the plate with three walks and two runs scored as CTX clinched their second straight conference series win.

The Tornados will go for the sweep on Saturday, playing Louisiana College in the series finale at noon at Tornado Field.