Concordia-St. Paul improved to 10-3 on the season as Tony Boxwell singled to right field in the top of the eighth inning to put the Bears ahead for good as they defeated Macalaster (3-9) 6-4 Thursday afternoon.
Jon Schemmel led off the game with a walk and advanced to second after Chris Duda was hit by a pitch. They each advanced on a double steal to give Concordia runners on second and third. Schemmel crossed the plate on Bobby Meier's RBI groundout to short to give Concordia a 1-0 lead.
Erik Quarberg led off the top of the third with a solo blast over the left-center field fence, his third of the season, to put the Bears ahead by two.
But their inability to convert rallies in the second, fourth, and fifth allowed Macalaster to stay in the ballgame.
Then Nick Davis, who was cruising through the early innings, allowed a two-run homer with two outs in the fourth inning to tie the score.
But Davis recovered and threw a perfect fifth inning, and a pair of RBIÂ singles by Meier and Boxwell in the top of the sixth put Concordia back up by two.
That would be all for Davis, who left the game with the lead after pitching five strong innings for Concordia.
But Ryan Fixell and Brian Bach were unable to hold the lead for him, as Macalaster manufactured an unearned run in the sixth off Fixell and a run in the seventh inning off Bach to tie the score heading into the final two frames.
With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Boxwell stepped up and drilled in Quarberg on a single to right. Andy Hanson followed with a RBI single to left to give Concordia an insurance run and a 6-4 lead.
Rob Maslowski, who came on to relieve Bach in the bottom of the seventh, finished off Macalaster, hurling 2.2 innings while allowing two hits and one walk with one strikeout to pick up his first win of the season.
The 3-4-5 hitters for Concordia combined to go 8-14 with five RBIs, four runs, a double, and a home run to power them to the win.
The Bears return to action on Saturday and Sunday in their home opener as they take on Bemidji State in league play. The doubleheaders start at 1:30 on Saturday and 12:00 on Sunday.
