MANKATO, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (16-14, 9-9 NSIC) dropped a pair of Northern Sun contests at 12th-ranked Minnesota State (31-8, 20-4) on Tuesday afternoon. Minnesota State took the first game handily, 8-1. In the second game, the 9-0 final was not indicative of how the game was played as MSU scored eight runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull away.

GAME 1: Minnesota State 8, Concordia 1
The Mavericks scored one in the first and three more in the third to take a 4-0 lead, chasing freshman left hander Zach Rengel (Fergus Falls, Minn.) from the game in his shortest start of the year.

Rengel allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The four runs were the most he's allowed all season, while the two strikeouts is a season-low. Showing just how good of a season he's had, the five hits he allowed were the most since March 5 four starts ago.

Trailing 1-0 in the top of the third, Concordia started a rally as Eric Fasnacht (Eden Prairie, Minn.) started the inning with a pulled single through the left side and went to second on Kyle Dalton's (Minnetonka, Minn.) single the other way through the left side. But a foul pop out and a fielder's choice ended the threat with the tying run on second.

After the Mavericks put the three runs up in the third, Concordia didn't threaten again until the sixth inning when they trailed 8-0 at the time.

The late rally came with two outs, too, starting with a single to center by Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.) and an infield single by Paul Giel (Minnetonka, Minn.) to short. Jared Kramer (Wausau, Wis.) was hit by pitch to load the bases and Fasnacht drew an RBI walk. But a fly-out to center ended the inning and MSU's bullpen closed out the seventh inning.

Rengel took the loss, falling to 3-3 on the year. Nicho Roessler (St. Anthony, Minn.) finished the game, working 3.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with a strikeout.

Dalton and Giel each went 2-2 with a walk as the Golden Bears had seven hits and three walks as a team, leaving nine runners on base in the game.

TJ Larson got the win, improving to 6-0 with a 3.69 ERA. He worked 5.2 innings, allowing one run on six hits and three walks.

MSU's offense was led by clean-up hitter Nolan Johnson, going 3-4 with his 19th double and four RBI.

GAME 2: Minnesota State 9, Concordia 0
The second game was a high-quality pitcher's duel as Tyler Brekke (Lakeville, Minn.) went toe-to-toe with MSU's Josh Matheson. Both pitchers entered the game without a decision on the season.

Brekke was up for the challenge, retiring the first five batters of the game before a two out walk and stolen base in the second inning. He worked out of the jam and had a 1-2-3 third inning. He allowed a two out single through the left side in the fourth, the first hit against him of the game.

In the fifth, Lucas Skjefte opened with a leadoff single through the left side and stole his second base of the game. He scored on a throwing error after a ground out for the second out of the inning to give MSU the 1-0 lead after five innings.

On the other side, Matheson was brilliant for a good part of the afternoon as he took a perfect game into the sixth inning. David Henke (New Berlin, Wis.) broke it up with a one-out walk and Alex LaPorte (Minnetonka, Minn.) followed with his first career hit to break up the no-hitter. But Concordia stranded the go-ahead run on first base.

Chris Williams came in for the seventh inning for the Mavericks, and struck out all six outs he'd record while allowing just a single in two innings of work.

Brekke settled back in after allowing the unearned run in the fifth, getting a 1-2-3 sixth inning (his third 1-2-3 inning) and got an inning ending 4-6-3 double play in the seventh to leave a runner on third.

He pitched into the eighth inning, trailing by a run. After a lead-off single, Brekke retired the next better before the top of the order produced an RBI double to chase him from the game.

The Concordia bullpen couldn't hold the margin at 2-0 in an 8-run inning to put the game away.

Despite the strong start, Brekke was charged with the loss, falling to 0-1. He pitched 7.1 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He walked one and struck out two.

Matheson improved to 1-0 by pitching six shutout, one-hit innings. He struck out four and walked one.

In game two, the Concordia offense went 3-31 against the Mavericks and struck out 12 times.

Concordia closes out the regular season this weekend with another road trip to Fayette, Iowa for a four game series against Upper Iowa. The games are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.