MINNEAPOLIS - Concordia-St. Paul (12-10, 5-5 NSIC) used a four run fifth inning to defeat #9 St. Cloud State (23-5, 11-1) 4-2 in the first game of an NSIC doubleheader played at Metrodome on late Sunday afternoon. In the second game, the Huskies defeated Concordia 11-1 to snap their three-game losing streak.

The series was shortened to tonight's doubleheader, however, as tomorrow mornings games were canceled due to snow on Minnetonka High School's Veterans Field. The Golden Bears will play Thursday morning at 9 a.m. against Southwest Minnesota State at Veterans Field.

CU Baseball 4.21.2013 - Images by Justin Oakman

GAME 1: Concordia 4, St. Cloud State 2
St. Cloud State jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the first inning off junior right handed pitcher Adam Kramer (Wausau, Wis.).

The lead held until the later innings, although Kramer settled into a groove on the mound, retiring eight straight from the third through the fifth innings.

The Concordia bats weren't silent the entire time, either. They left two runners on base in the first (1st and 2nd) and third innings (2nd and 3rd) and had four hits against SCSU starter Scott Lieser in the first four innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Trevon Bargfrede (Jackson, Minn.) and Eric Fasnacht (Eden Prairie, Minn.) delivered singles up the middle and Kyle Dalton (Minnetonka, Minn.) reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Bargfrede scored on a passed ball and Fasnacht darted home when Dalton was caught in a run down between second and third on Greg Larpenter's (Urbandale, Iowa) fielder's choice grounder to second. Ryan Poppitz (Plymouth, Minn.) would get hit by a pitch to give two runners on for Elliot Powell (Minnetonka, Minn.), who scorched a double to the right center field gap to give Concordia a 4-2 lead.

It was Powell's fourth double of the year and gave the squad a two run lead with six outs to go.

In the sixth, Kramer allowed a leadoff double down the right field line to Garrett Fischer, but he struck out two of the next three batters and stranded him on third base to end the inning.

In the seventh, redshirt freshman right hander Tyler Brekke (Lakeville, Minn.) came in for the save, striking out the first two batters before getting a line out to left center field as Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.) tracked the ball running towards the warning track.

Kramer improved to 4-1 with the win, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out five. Brekke picked up his third save in his fifth appearance with the perfect seventh inning.

Fasnacht went 2-4 at the top of the lineup and Bargfrede was 2-3 at the bottom of the lineup.

Lieser took the loss for the Huskies, falling to 7-3. He allowed four runs in 4.1 innings, striking out five with no walks. Concordia tallied seven hits against the Huskies' ace. Reese Gregory, SCSU's closer with nine saves on the year, allowed two of Lieser's runs to score. Concordia had two hits against him, as he struck out two over his 1.2 scoreless innings of relief despite the inherited runners. Gregory has yet to allow a run of his own all year in 12 appearances covering over 15 innings.

GAME 2: St. Cloud State 11, Concordia 1
In game two, St. Cloud State scored three runs in the first inning to once again claim an early lead. Concordia stranded four runners in the first two innings and weren't able to score with the bases loaded and no outs in the second in the inning.

The trend continued as Concordia was able to put runners on base, but couldn't bring them home. Concordia left nine runners on base in the game, with eight left in scoring position. Concordia went 0-9 in RBI opportunities and 0-4 with runners on third base in the game.

Concordia starting pitcher Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.), a senior right hander, would settle down after the three-run first, blanking the Huskies for the next three frames before allowing two runs in the fifth. He settled back into a groove by recording nine straight outs between the fifth and seventh innings and pitched out of a second and third jam in the eighth by striking out the side.

He finished the night with eight innings, five runs on 13 hits with four strikeouts and no walks using just 99 pitches to the 35 batters he'd face. He took the loss, falling to 3-2 on the year.

St. Cloud State starter Kyle Fischer pitched six strong innings, striking out seven with two walks on five hits allowed. He allowed just one unearned run.

The Golden Bears, trailing 5-0 after five innings, stranded runners on second and third in the sixth to end Fischer's night.

In the seventh, SCSU turned to Chris Kubitz who had yet to allow an earned run over 25.2 innings on the season. In the seventh, he looked the part with a pair of strikeouts in a quick inning. In the eighth, after inducing a ground out to start the inning he hit Paul Giel (Minnetonka, Minn.) and walked Mick Sawinski (St. Louis Park, Minn.) and T.J. Obermeyer (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) to load the bases.

That ended his night as Gregory came back in with the tying run at the plate and just one out in the inning. He needed just one pitch to stop Concordia's rally, inducing a 4-6-3 double play.

In the ninth, St. Cloud State rallied for six runs to put the game away.