ABERDEEN, S.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (15-13, 13-7 NSIC) was just one big hit away from pulling out a road sweep at Northern State (16-16, 10-10 NSIC) in a pair of games decided by a single run at Fossum Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Northern State was able to get that big hit in game one, defeating Concordia 1-0 in a seven inning affair in a game that Concordia stranded nine runners on base, had multiple runners on base in five of the seven innings and hit into double plays in five of the seven innings.

In game two, Concordia was able to execute in the clutch in picking up a 5-4 comeback win in 10 innings to salvage the road split to remain six games over .500 in conference play.

David Henke went 3-4 with two walks, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt in the doubleheader. Kyle Dalton went 4-9 while Ryan Poppitz and Connor Olson each went 3-7.

The Golden Bears are now 8-2 in road games on the year and 5-1 on the current 12-game road stand. This weekend, Concordia plays at #5 Minnesota State (25-4, 15-3 NSIC) in a four game series in Mankato, Minn. where the Mavericks are 8-1 on the year. MSU is riding an 8-game winning streak.

GAME 1: Northern State 1, Concordia 0
Right handed starting pitcher Tyler Brekke was excellent in his second start of the year, holding the Wolves without a hit over the first three innings and shutting them out through four frames.

He pitched around a walk in each of the first and second innings, erasing the one out walk in the first with a 4-6-3 double play and stranding a leadoff walk at third base in the second inning. In the fourth, he allowed a pair of hits to start the inning but made a play to save himself with runners on first and second by flipping a sacrifice bunt attempt into a 1-5-3 double play.

Concordia's bats were putting pressure on Northern State starter Colton Boucher from the start. Kyle Dalton led off the game with a double and Alex LaPorte followed with a walk. Connor Olson's one out single through the right side loaded the bases before Eric Fasnacht hit a foul fly to right field with Dalton getting thrown out at the plate to end the threat on a swing.

Concordia loaded the bases again in the third with one out before a double play grounder ended the inning and the Bears left runners on first and second with one out in the fourth inning as well.

In the fifth, Jack Schmidt led off with a homer down the left field line to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

After the homer, Brekke retired the final six Wolves hitters of the game.

He allowed only three hits and two walks in the complete game loss as he fell to 0-1 in a tough luck start.

Concordia continued to make things hard on Boucher after the homer, putting runners on first and second in the sixth with a pair of singles but the Wolves fittingly ended the game with a runner on first and one out by inducing the fifth double play of the day.

Boucher improved to 5-2 on the year with the shutout win, scattering six hits and four walks with five strikeouts.

Olson led the Golden Bears by going 2-3 while Ryan Poppitz and David Henke each went 1-2 with a walk. Dalton's double with his fifth of the year.

Fasnacht's 10-game hitting streak came to a close in the contest, the second longest streak of the season although Olson would match it in game two.

Concordia was 4-18 with runners on base, 2-10 in RBI opportunities, 0-2 with the bases loaded and 0-2 with a runner on third and less than two outs in the game.

By comparison, Northern State only had six at bats with runners on base against Brekke (1-6), was 0-4 in RBI opportunities and didn't load the bases or put a runner on third base with less than two outs against him.

GAME 2: Concordia 5, Northern State 4 (10)
Concordia seized the moment early in game two as Kyle Dalton once again led off the game with a hit. He advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Connor Olson's two out single to left field.

In the second inning, Ryan Poppitz led off with a base hit up the middle and was sacrificed to second base. David Henke singled to center to move him to third and Poppitz scored as Henke got into a run down attempting to steal second, eventually being tagged out.

Right handed starter Cody Schacht was strong early for Concordia, blanking the Wolves for the first three innings while not allowing a runner past first base.

In the fourth, NSU struck back with a leadoff triple and a pair of RBI singles in the inning to tie the game.

The Wolves made a pitching change after three innings as Concordia chased Cody Johns from the game by scoring two runs on four hits in three innings against him.

Shawn Powers had Concordia's number in long relief, retiring the Golden Bears in order in his first inning in the fourth and pitching out of trouble in the fifth and seventh innings.

Northern State rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, getting three singles to start the inning with the third bringing home a run. A double steal gave NSU runners on second and third with no outs with a sacrifice bunt giving the Wolves a 4-2 lead. Schacht pitched out of trouble to limit the damage while keeping the game close at 4-2 after six innings.

Schacht was done after six innings for the Golden Bears, allowing four runs on eight hits with a strikeout and no walks. Although he left the game trailing by two runs, he would not factor in the final decision.

The Golden Bears were down to four outs and still trailing by two runs with Powers cruising in relief when Eric Fasnacht singled through the left side with two outs. Poppitz followed with an RBI double (his fifth) to the opposite field gap in right center and move up to third base on an error.

He scored on Joe Muench's RBI single through the left side to tie the game.

The Poppitz double ended Powers' tenure in relief for Northern State after 4.2 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts and would not factor in the decision.

Right handed reliever Yuji Suzuki was strong for the Golden Bears out of the bullpen and was able to pitch out of trouble in big spots. He stranded a runner on second with one out in the seventh, left a runner on third with two outs in the eighth, and a runner on second with one out in the ninth.

In the 10th inning, Henke delivered a one out single through the left side to get things going and advanced to second base on Tyler Krekling's grounder to short. With two outs and Dalton at the plate, Henke stole third base to get within 90 feet of scoring the go-ahead run.

Dalton delivered a base hit to center to score Henke and then stole second base (his seventh) although he'd be stranded in scoring position.

Henke had a big second game, going 2-2 with a walk, hit by pitch, sacrifice bunt and a run. Dalton went 3-5, scoring the first run of the day and driving in the eventual game-winner.

The Wolves challenged Suzuki once again in the 10th inning, getting a leadoff single and advancing to third base on a failed pickoff attempt with no outs. Suzuki picked up a big strikeout of NSU third hitter Lucas Lorenz (a .390 hitter) and forced a grounder to first to hold the runner at third with two outs. After a two out walk, Suzuki retired the final batter for the win.

Suzuki improved to 2-3 on the year as he worked four shutout innings, allowing four hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

Marcus Manderbach took the loss (1-1), allowing a run on three hits and two walks in 2.1 innings.

Poppitz and Muench also had multi-hit games for Concordia as Poppitz went 2-5 with two runs and Muench 2-4 with each player driving in a run.

Concordia was better in the clutch in game two, going 5-14 in RBI opportunities, 6-19 with runners on and successfully advanced runners in 14 of 25 opportunities. Concordia was 0-3 with the bases loaded and 0-2 with runners on third and less than two outs.

Golden Bear pitchers held Northern State to 4-20 hitting with runners on base and 3-16 in RBI opportunities although NSU executed three times in five tries with a runner on third and less than two outs.