Concordia-St. Paul (22-8, 11-3 NSIC) came back to earn a split with a 14-8 win over Southwest Minnesota State (16-17, 10-8 NSIC) after dropping the first game of Sunday afternoon's doubleheader 5-4. Leadoff hitter Jon Schemmel set the tone for the Concordia offense, going 5-8, scoring two runs, and driving in three in the NSIC doubleheader.
In game one, the Bears manufactured a run in the first inning when Schemmel led off with single and came around to score on Bobby Meier's sacrifice fly to right field.
But the Mustangs stormed back with four unearned runs in the the third inning, sparked by a Nathan Koppi two-run homer to right field following a pair of errors.
SMSU added another run in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead, knocking starter Geoff Bray out of the game after four innings of work.
Bray ended up throwing four innings, allowing one earned run (five runs) with four strikeouts and just one walk. Rob Maslowski hurled three shutout innings in relief, scattering two hits and three walks with one strikeout to keep the Bears in the game.
The CU offense scored their second run in the bottom of the fourth when Galen Wetzell drilled a single up the middle, scoring Mason Reinhart.
The Bears rallied to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh, scoring one run on an error and another on a double play, but they left the tying runner on third and the winning run on second.
Bray took his first loss of the season, falling to 5-1.
Concordia came out swinging hard in game two, posting a four-run first inning, capped off by a Tony Boxwell three-run blast over the right-field fence, his first home run of the season.
The Mustangs cut the deficit in half with a pair of runs in the second, but that was the closest SMSU would cut the lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Bears rallied for seven runs, six coming with two outs. Schemmel drilled a two-run double to right-center field, and Erik Quarberg launched a two-run shot high over the left-field fence. It was Quarberg's seventh home run of the season.
That was all Concordia needed to take the final game of the four-game series, as they went on to win 14-8.
Adam Flaherty evened his record out at 3-3 on the season with the win, pitching six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. Ryan Fixell pitched the seventh for Concordia.
The Bears have a non-conference matchup with St. John's Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Robert E. Barnes Field.
