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ROCHESTER, Minn. - With two outs and nobody on the top of the seventh inning, Tessa Ewert (Hutchinson, Minn.) delivered a game-tying home run on a 1-0 pitch. In the eighth inning, Missie Feuerbach (Iowa City, Iowa) hit a bases loaded 2-run single followed by Bekah Roth's (Shoreview, Minn.) 3-run home run as Concordia-St. Paul (29-14) defeated Wayne State (28-15) 6-1 in the NSIC Tournament's opening round at the RCTC Dome.

The two teams met earlier in the season in Wayne, Neb. with Concordia winning a pair of 1-0 games behind back-to-back shutouts from senior Ashley Kluever (Cottage Grove, Minn.). The shutouts were her ninth and 10th of the year, and she held WSC to just five total hits in the two games consisting of 14 innings of pitching.

This morning, Concordia started strong with Alicia Meiser's (Circle Pines, Minn.) bunt single to start the game, advancing to second base on Teona Zepeda's (Woodbury, Minn.) sacrifice.  But Meiser was left in scoring position, a problem that would persist throughout the first six innings.

The Golden Bears left five runners in scoring position in the first six innings including two runners on third base.

In the bottom of the first, Wayne State wasted little time getting the lead. A lead-off single up the middle led to a sacrifice bunt and an error which put runners on first and third with no outs. Kluever then induced a double play ground out, which scored the unearned run. After a pair of walks, Kluever worked out of the inning with another ground out.

The score remained 1-0 as Concordia was unable to take advantage of runners in scoring position while Kluever settled into a groove in the circle.

Wayne State left two runners on base in the first and third innings, and a runner on second in the sixth. Kluever recorded eight straight outs between the third and sixth innings, though.

In the top of the seventh, with two outs quickly recorded, Ewert took the 1-0 pitch over the center field fence to tie the game.

Kluever worked out of a runner on second with one out jam by getting a line out and a strikeout on a 10-pitch at bat to put the game in extra innings.

In the eighth, Meiser led off with a walk and moved up on a sacrifice bunt and error by Zepeda but was thrown out at home on Jamie Fleischhacker's (Maplewood, Minn.) squeeze attempt. A walk to Brynn Larsen (Oconto Falls, Wis.) loaded the bases for M.Feuerbach who delivered the two-run single up the middle. Roth followed by hitting a homer to the opposite field in right, her seventh of the year to drive in three more runs.

Roth had already hit a ground rule double down the right field line earlier in the game as well, finishing 2-4 with two extra base hits.

In the bottom of the eighth, Kluever struck out a pair around a two-out single to end the game.

She improved to 18-8 with the win, scattering five hits and one unearned run. She struck out nine and walked five.

Wayne State's Sara Scheffert took the loss, falling to 17-8 with the complete game. She allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.

Concordia advances to face the No. 2 seed Minnesota Duluth (39-11) at 2 p.m. this afternoon at RCTC Dome's North Field. The winner of that game will move on to play the No. 3 Winona State / No. 6 Augustana winner at 4 p.m. on Saturday on the North Field. The loser will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday on the North Field.

Concordia was swept by UMD at Carlander Field in its only home games of the 2013 season. Both games were close, however, and the Bulldogs only scored in two of the 14 innings played. Concordia is 17-20 all-time against the Bulldogs, but Concordia defeated UMD last year in the NCAA Regional Tournament 7-5 in Mankato, Minn.