Concordia seniors joe abellera and jake waldman, both minnetonka, minn. Natives, hit back-to-back home runs in a four run first inning as the golden bears (26-14) cruised to an 8-2 victory over bemidji state (16-25-1) on friday afternoon in the nsic tournament in wayne, neb. box score

sophomore blake devries (eden prairie, minn.) retired the first 12 batters of the game. He finally allowed a runner to reach on an error to start the fifth and retired the next two batters on a fielder's choice and a groundout before allowing his first hit.

devries hurled eight strong innings to win his fifth consecutive decision to improve to 5-3 on the year. Devries allowed one earned run (two runs) on three hits while striking out nine with no walks in the win.

derek mason (sr., minnetonka, minn.) moved from his shortstop position to pitch a scoreless ninth inning with one strikeout.

abellera's home run was his 13th, leaving him one shy of the single season school record set by matt borman in 2007. Waldman now has eight home runs in 2008. The two seniors were each 1-5 with their only hits being the home runs.

junior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) went 3-5 and added a solo homer to left center in the fourth inning and he hit his 15th double in the first. Furrow also scored three runs and raised his average to .453.

senior john maciej (elk river, minn.) added two more rbi, giving him 45 for the season, just two shy of furrow for the team lead. Junior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) was 2-4, driving in three runs and adding a double. Schmidt extended his hitting streak to eight.

the golden bears built up a 6-0 lead after four innings before devries finally surrended a run in the fifth and a run in the sixth.

josh juntunen took the loss for the beavers, falling to 5-5. He pitched five innings allowing six runs. Randy amos worked three shutout innings of relief, one hitting cu in the process.

the golden bears advance in the nsic tournament to face host #15 wayne state at 10:00 a.m. On saturday morning. Both teams are 2-0 in the tournament thus far. The winner will play on sunday while the loser will play again on saturday afternoon.