BISMARCK, N.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (14-12, 12-6 NSIC) added two more close wins on Sunday on the road at the University of Mary (3-29, 1-17 NSIC) to pick up the four game series sweep at Municipal Ballpark.

Concordia won 8-5 and 4-2 as all four games in the series were decided by three runs or less.

Senior Kyle Dalton hit .412 (7-17) on the weekend including a 3-5 game one performance with two runs and two RBI today in the 8-5 win. He becomes the third player in program history to reach 200 career hits, joining Bryan Lippincott (254, 2009-12) and Brenden Furrow (262, 2007-10). At least one of those three players has been in the Golden Bear lineup since the 2007 season, with Lippincott being teammates with both players.

In the series, Concordia hit .306/.387/.355 and outscored the Marauders 21-13 with the pitching staff putting up a 2.81 ERA compared to U-Mary's 4.78. Concordia held U-Mary to a .227/.344/.291 weekend hitting line and threw out four out of seven attempted base stealers while Concordia was successful on six of seven stolen base attempts.

Concordia pitchers also worked into the sixth inning of all four games as the bullpen was needed for just 7.1 total innings in the four games, allowing one relief run.

The Golden Bears open a 12-game road set with a 4-0 record and are 7-1 in eight road games during a stretch of baseball that has the team playing 16 road games in an 18-game stretch that spans the first three weeks of April.

Concordia is now in third place in the Northern Sun standings, trailing only #7 St. Cloud State and #9 Minnesota State (Div. II Coaches Poll) while holding slim leads over Augustana and Sioux Falls (10-6), Minnesota Duluth (11-7) and Winona State (12-8).

This week, Concordia travels to Northern State (9-9) for a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader in Aberdeen, S.D. and a four game weekend road trip at #9 Minnesota State.

GAME 1: Concordia 8, U-Mary 5
Concordia started the day strong in the first inning as Kyle Dalton led off with a single to center field and scored on Connor Olson's two out RBI double to left field.

The Marauders answered with a pair of unanswered runs in the bottom of the inning to claim the lead with southpaw starter Kody Knaus working out of a jam with runners on first and third with two outs, getting Cory Dixon out attempting to steal as Olson delivered a strike to Alex LaPorte to end the inning.

Knaus settled in despite the early deficit, holding the Marauders off the scoreboard for the next five innings as U-Mary stranded two runners in scoring position, had another 2-4 caught stealing and had a runner thrown out trying to stretch a double to left field.

Concordia's bats would reclaim the lead for Knaus in the third inning as Andrew Shotwell scored on a Ryan Poppitz fielder's choice and Connor Olson scored on a double steal with Poppitz for a 3-2 lead.

Dalton padded the lead for Knaus in the fourth, delivering a two run single to right field with Shotwell adding an RBI single and Eric Fasnacht hitting a sacrifice fly in a four run frame.

Knaus would cruise with the 7-2 edge all the way to the seventh inning.

The Marauders finally chased him from the game with two runners on and one out in the seventh, with senior Adam Fredericks ending the threat for a three run win.

Knaus allowed four runs (two earned) in 6.1 innings, striking out five while surrendering six hits and six walks to improve to 2-1.

Fredericks allowed a run in 0.2 innings before getting out of the final inning jam.

Michael Vollrath took the loss for U-Mary as he allowed seven runs (six earned) in 3.0 innings to fall to 1-5. Will Pettener worked 4.0 innings, allowing a run on five hits to finish the game for U-Mary.

While Dalton's 3-5 performance led the Golden Bears, it was a strong team offensive effort as the 3-4-5 hitters (Shotwell, Olson, Fasnacht) each had two hit games as Krekling from the eighth spot. The first six players in Concordia's lineup all had an RBI with Dalton driving in two.

GAME 2: Concordia 4, U-Mary 2
Runs were harder to come by in the series finale as Concordia plated three in the second inning without an RBI. Ryan Poppitz led off with a walk and moved up to third on Trevon Bargfrede's double to center. They moved up on a wild pitch with Bargfrede scoring the second run on a double steal with Tyler Krekling. Krekling would score on a two-out error by the Marauders.

The three run lead was all sophomore lefty Josh Lenz needed as he shut out U-Mary for the first five innings and pitched into the sixth. After a leadoff walk and one-out RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth, his day came to a close. The inherited run scored as Lenz allowed two runs on just two hits with seven strikeouts and five walks in 5.1 innings.

Concordia turned to another sophomore left handed pitcher in relief as Erik Monson went the rest of the way. Although he allowed the Lenz runner from third to score, that was the only damage done against him as he worked 3.1 shutout innings, allowing a hit and two walks for the save.

The Golden Bears forced the Marauders to leave four runners in scoring position including two runners on third base and doubled off another from second base in the game.

Concordia added a ninth inning insurance run for Monson as Poppitz led off with a single and scored on Krekling's RBI single with two outs.

After having five players record multiple hits in game one, the Golden Bears didn't have anyone register two hits in game two as eight different players had a hit. Poppitz scored twice and Krekling had the only RBI.

U-Mary starter Nicholas Stobbe took the loss as he allowed three runs (two earned) over 8.0 innings. Concordia picked up five hits and three walks against him as he had eight strikeouts but fell to 1-6.