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ST. CLOUD, Minn. - No. 5 seed Concordia-St. Paul (20-16) lost in a 2-0 pitching duel to top seed, host and eighth-ranked St. Cloud State (32-8) on Thursday afternoon at Joe Faber Field in an NSIC Tournament elimination game. The Golden Bears season comes to a close after reaching the conference tournament for the first time since their 2008 championship season.

The Golden Bears served as the home team in the game despite it being considered an away game on St. Cloud State's home field. In the top of the first inning, St. Cloud State put runners on first and second with one out before junior right hander Adam Kramer (Wausau, Wis.) worked out of the early jam.

In the bottom of the second, Concordia threatened when freshman Ryan Poppitz (Plymouth, Minn.) led off with a sharp double on the first pitch he saw down the left field line. A single through the left side by senior Paul Giel (Minnetonka, Minn.) and a walk to junior Drew Turk (Plainfield, Ill.) loaded the bases with no outs.

But St. Cloud State right hander Kyle Fischer worked out of the threat by getting an infield fly and a pair of strikeouts to the bottom of the order.

The Huskies put runners on first and second again in the third before Kramer struck out Sean Borman looking to retire the Huskies.

St. Cloud State broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth with a two-out rally. The Huskies hit four straight singles, scoring on a squeeze bunt hit and a blooper into shallow right center in between Giel and sophomore Kyle Dalton (Minnetonka, Minn.).

It was all Fischer needed as the Golden Bears would get just one more hit after the bases loaded threat in the second inning. Dalton lined a single the other way to left with one out in the third, but senior Greg Larpenter (Urbandale, Iowa) grounded into a 5-4-3 double play and Fischer went the rest of the way without allowing a baserunner.

Including the double play from the third inning on, Concordia was retired on 14 ground outs, four strikeouts and an infield pop up.

Fischer improved to 10-2 with the complete game shutout, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out eight.

Kramer fell to 6-2 in his ninth start, pitching seven inning innings while allowing two runs on 10 hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He finishes the year with a 2.32 earned run average.

Senior right hander Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, Minn.) went two hitless innings with a strikeout and no walks to finish the game in his last appearance, finishing the year with a career low 3.81 earned run average.