st. Paul, minn. - on the warmest day of 2009, the golden bear offense was scorching hot as concordia university (26-11, 7-8 nsic) picked up a pair of northern sun victories over northern state (5-19, 1-11 nsic) on wednesday afternoon at bob barnes field in a league doubleheader that was moved from aberdeen, s.d. Due to an unplayable field. Concordia hit six home runs and had six stolen bases in the doubleheader sweep of the wolves. Senior zane froehlich (sioux falls, s.d.) was 3-5 with two home runs, a double and five rbi in the first game while senior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) came through with a go-ahead two run home run in the sixth inning of the second game. game 1 box - game 2 box

the golden bear bullpen came up with big innings today as the starting pitchers combined to throw 2.1 innings. The bullpen provided 11.2 innings allowing five runs in the two games. Junior steven king (johnston, iowa) threw 3.2 scoreless innings allowing one hit with three strikeouts to earn his first win of the season while sophomore nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) improved to 4-2 in the second game with senior jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) picking up his first save of the season in relief.

game 1: cu 19, northern state 4
although the 15 run final deficit indicated a blowout win, the golden bears and wolves were knotted at four apiece heading into the top of the fifth when froehlich heated things up. Already with a home run under his belt, a solo shot in the third inning to tie the score at four, froehlich delivered a two run double in the fifth inning to blow the game open. The hit started a six run inning as concordia took a commanding 10-4 lead.

in the sixth, froehlich hit a laser to left for a two run home run to start a five run inning as cu went up 15-4. The two home run performance gives froehlich three on the season, hitting his other homer a week ago at barnes field also against nsu.

in the seventh inning, concordia added two more runs when freshman ty hall (spring lake park, minn.) connected on a two run home run in his first collegiate at bat to complete a four run inning to give concordia a 15 run victory.

in the game, concordia clubbed nine extra base hits with 21 total hits. Senior zach strouts (st. Louis park, minn.) was 2-5 with four rbi and schmidt was 3-5 with three rbi and stole a pair of bases at the top of the order. Freshman logan bouts (hopkins, minn.) was 4-4 and scored three runs.

everyone who played had a hit with the exception of sophomore sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) who was hit by pitch in his only plate appearance.

senior kirk ingram (woodbury, minn.) pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts allowing just one hit to finish off the wolves.

game 2: cu 13, northern state 10
while the offense provided plenty of support, the golden bears found themselves in another nail biter. Eager to prove the difficulty of going undefeated against a team in six games in a season, the wolves were pesky in game two.

the golden bears picked up where they left off in the first game offensively as they scored five in the first for a fourth straight inning with at least four runs. Schmidt started things off with a leadoff home run to left, his eighth of the season. Froehlich and bouts each added rbi singles in the inning and cu scored two others on an outfield error allowing runners to advance two extra bases on froehlich's bases loaded single.

but the wolves answered with four in the bottom of the inning and scored four more in the second to take an 8-5 lead.

ingram, who came in with a runner on first in the second inning, allowed the runner to score and let in three of his own runs in a tough inning for a pitcher with multiple sure outs falling in for nsu hits in no-man's-land.

concordia tied the score in the third with a solo home run by senior chris herbert (white bear lake, minn.), an rbi single by senior adam bertrand (la salle, ill.) and an rbi double to the right center gap by strouts. Herbert's homer was the seventh of the season for the cu rbi leader.

ingram would settle in following the tough luck second inning and work into the fifth inning effectively. He allowed four runs but was able to hold the wolves at eight runs until the fifth, when he left after a single and a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position with two outs. When ingram left the game, cu led 9-8 in the fifth.

cu reclaimed the lead when bertrand and freshman troy dubay (urbandale, iowa) lined back-to-back doubles into the right and left centerfield gaps.

although anderson allowed ingram's baserunner to score in the fifth, the golden bears stormed back in the top of the sixth with a four run inning sparked with a one out two run go-ahead home run by furrow. Furrow's liner over the left center fence was his first of the season.

bertrand was hit by pitch later in the inning with the bases loaded to score a run and dubay hit a sacrifice fly to shallow center to score froehlich, who alertly utilized the second baseman catching the ball running away from the infield to easily score the run.

in the sixth, the wolves scored a run off anderson to bring the score to 13-10 and in the seventh, anderson walked the leadoff hitter and with one out another batter reached on an error.

schmidt was brought in to close the door, and he did. After allowing a single to load the bases, schmidt got nsu clean-up hitter nathan zacher to ground into a game ending double play.

while schmidt provided the speed on the bases in the first game out of the leadoff spot, it was sophomore jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) in game two out of the second spot in the lineup who used his speed. Stockton stole three bases and went 3-4 with a walk and a pair of runs as he set the table for the middle of the cu lineup.

everyone in the starting nine had at least one hit with the 2-8 spots in the order all having two-plus hit games.

after the two game sweep, concordia is now 6-0 against northern state this season with four of those games being nsic games, the other two non-conference.

the golden bears are now four wins shy of their single season wins record with 16 scheduled games remaining.

after their 1-6 start to league play, concodia has won six of eight in league play and have moved into a tie for seventh with augustana. Concordia will be fighting for the top six in the league for an invitation to the nsic tournament in st. Cloud, minn.

doubleheader notes:
senior zane froehlich went 5-8 with two home runs and six rbi and has extended his hitting streak to eight games, the second longest on the team this season.
freshman logan bouts was 6-7 with four runs in the two wins
freshman troy dubay was 4-6 with two doubles and four rbi
senior adam bertrand was 3-5, walked twice, scored four runs and had two doubles and two rbi
sophomore jon stockton went 4-8 with three stolen bases. He has hit safely in five straight and is tied for the sb lead with eight (8-8)
senior chris herbert broke a 12 game homer-less drought and stole his eighth base of the season
senior brenden furrow broke a 39 game homer-less drought. Of his four hits today (4-10), three were for extra bases (2 2b, 1 hr)
senior jake schmidt earned his first save since may 11, 2008 (at wayne state, nsic tournament)