ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia baseball team (19-15, 10-10 NSIC) dropped a pair of tough contests to #15th-ranked St. Cloud State (27-10, 12-6 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at Barnes Field. They led late in each game, dropping game one 8-4 before an extra inning 6-5 loss in 10-innings in game two. BOX SCORES: Game 1 | Game 2

Game 1: SCSU 8, CU 4
St. Cloud State took the first lead with a 3-run third inning but stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd base when senior right hander Chris Peterson (St. Anthony, Minn.) struck out Mike Jurgella swinging to halt the damage.

Concordia got a run back in the second inning, as sophomore Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.) walked, stole second and scored on a double to right center by senior Logan Bouts (Hopkins, Minn.). Bouts moved up to third on a single by senior Doug Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.) but they were stranded giving SCSU a 3-1 lead after three innings.

Peterson pitched a perfect fourth and worked around a two-out double in the fifth as he had retired seven straight in the middle innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Elliot Powell (Minnetonka, Minn.) pulled a 2-run shot to right field, his second homer of the season to tie the game at 3-3. Senior shortstop Troy DuBay (Urbandale, Iowa) singled home Stearns in the fifth inning to put Concordia ahead entering the final two innings.

St. Cloud State rallied in the sixth, however, for a 5-run inning and SCSU starter Logan Birr finished the game strong, retiring eight of the final nine batters for the complete game win. Birr moved to 7-0 after the win, despite walking six and surrendering six Golden Bear hits including the homer by Powell.

Peterson took the loss, falling to 2-3. He allowed eight earned runs over 5.2 innings while striking out a pair. He forced 11 ground outs to just a pair of fly outs in the game.

Powell had Concordia's only multi-hit performance of the game, going 2-for-3. The Huskies held national batting leader Bryan Lippincott (Des Moines, Iowa) hitless in the game, although Lippincott walked and stole second (his seventh steal of the year) in the first inning.

Game 2: SCSU 6, CU 5 (10-inn)
The Huskies scored a run in the top of the first but Turk countered with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, his third homer of the year, to tie the game early.

Although Concordia stranded two runners on with one out in the second inning, Lippincott delivered an RBI single in the third inning to score junior Greg Larpenter (Urbandale, Iowa) from second base for the 2-1 lead after three innings.

Concordia starter Adam Kramer (Wausau, Wis.) was solid after pitching out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the first inning as he survived only allowing a run. He worked through the second and third innings fairly quickly, allowed a run but forced SCSU to leave the bases loaded again in the fourth inning, and pitched scoreless fifth and sixth frames.

Concordia added two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to break the 2-2 tie as Larpenter slugged a 2-run double to right center field, scroing DuBay and Stearns.

The four runs in four innings came off SCSU starter Scott Lieser, who entered with a 2.65 ERA. Lieser would settle down despite pitching with a deficit. He blanked the Golden Bears for the next four innings and forced CU to leave runners in scoring position twice.

Kramer left the game with the lead after six innings for Concordia. He allowed two earned runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking a pair. Relievers Cody Wilcoxson (Aurora, Colo.) and Nicho Roessler (St. Anthony, Minn.) held the lead for the next two innings, with Roessler only allowing one of the three inherited runners from Wilcoxson to score in the seventh inning.

In the ninth inning, Concordia turned to senior Ben Lemke (Rosemount, Minn.) to close the door. But with two outs and runners on second and third, Lemke allowed a 2-run single by Joey Althoff to give SCSU their first lead since the first inning.

Concordia rallied in the bottom of the ninth, with Bouts ripping a single up the middle to score Turk from second base, sliding past the tag at the plate for the tying run. But they stranded the winning run on second base with one out.

In the 10th inning, SCSU manufactured a run, making Lemke pay for a leadoff walk as they picked up a bunt single, sacrificed the runners to second and third and Brian Hansen hit a sacrifice fly to center to take the lead.

Concordia started the bottom of the inning with Stearns delivering his fourth hit of the day in a 4-for-5 performance, giving way to senior Kris Long (Rochester, Minn.) as a pinch runner. But a double play washed away the baserunner and the Golden Bears rally would fall short.

Lieser went 9-innings to pick up the SCSU victory, improving to 7-4, despite giving up 15 Concordia hits and walking three. He threw 134 pitches and struck out five.

Austan Bosch saved it for Lieser, his second of the year.

Lemke was charged with the loss in two innings of relief, falling to 2-4.

Lippincott bounced back with a 2-for-4 performance, driving in his 46th run of the year. Larpenter, Turk, Bouts and DuBay all produced 2-hit games as well as Concordia is producing with seven players hitting .320 or better.

The two teams conclude their 4-game series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud, Minn. Live online coverage is not expected to be available for the games, as there is no wireless at Putz Field.