DULUTH, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (16-6, 9-4 NSIC) dropped a Saturday doubleheader 7-1 and 7-2 at Minnesota Duluth (19-9, 12-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon in UMD's home opener at Bulldog Park. The two teams will square off to complete the four game series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow as Concordia looks to snap its first three game losing streak of the year.

GAME 1: UMD 7, Concordia 1
The Bulldogs established the tone early as national home run leader Alex Wojciechowski delivered his 18th long ball of the year, a two-run shot to give UMD a 2-0 lead.

Concordia senior left handed starter Zach Rengel settled in after that, retiring 10-straight of one of the nation's top hitting teams from the end of the first through the first two outs of the fourth.

In the top of the fourth, Concordia attempted another comeback as Ryan Poppitz led off with an infield single to the pitcher, and Alex LaPorte and Isaac Hormann followed with doubles with Hormann driving in Poppitz. After a strikeout with runners on second and third, Carter Schmidt drew a walk to load the bases with one out for the top out of the lineup.

UMD starter Bo Hellquist, who showed signs of fatigue in the inning as Concordia took him deep into counts and threatened with a big rally, shut the door as he picked up a strikeout and a ground out to work out of trouble to preserve the lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Rengel ran into trouble as he allowed a single, stolen base and a hit by pitch before getting a big strikeout. Wojciechowski delivered his third RBI on a single through the left side and then UMD executed a double steal to put runners on second and third. A ground out to third put Concordia an out from ending the threat before a two out walk led to a grand slam.

Rengel struck out the next batter to end the inning and worked around a one out single in the seventh. In all, Rengel put up four scoreless innings against the potent UMD lineup, but the Bulldogs scored two in the first and five in the fifth to put Concordia away.

The Golden Bears left eight runners on base in the game including four on second base and one on third, and also had three 1-2-3 innings at the plate.

Hormann went 2-3 with his fourth double and an RBI while Poppitz and LaPorte were each 1-3. Connor Olson also added a hit, going 1-4 while Schmidt was 1-2 with a walk at the top and bottom of the lineup, respectively.

Rengel went the distance for the loss, falling to 2-2 as he allowed seven runs in 6.0 innings on seven hits while striking out four and walking a pair.

Hellquist improves to 5-1 as he allowed a run on five hits with nine strikeouts to just one walk.

Wojciechowski went 2-3 with a pair of runs, three RBI and his 18th homer. Eric Yachinich was 1-1 with his first home run, a grand slam.

GAME 2: UMD 7, Concordia 2
The two teams played scoreless ball through the first three innings as freshman Gus Varland worked his way out of a tough situation in the first inning. With runners on first and second and no outs, he was faced with the task of stopping UMD slugger Alex Wojciechowski. Varland induced a double play, putting a runner on third with two outs when a slow bouncer was fielded by Ryan Poppitz who fired across the diamond to end the threat.

A pair of 1-2-3 innings followed for Varland as he recorded nine consecutive outs after the two singles to start the game.

In the fourth, Concordia put together its first threat of the game with a Ben Suits leadoff single followed by Ryan Poppitz taking a hit by pitch. A sacrifice bunt by Alex LaPorte put runners on second and third with one out for Isaac Hormann, who delivered a sacrifice fly for to give Concordia its first lead of the day, 1-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Wojciechowski produced in his second at bat against Varland, dispatching a two-run homer to center to claim UMD's first lead of the second game. It was Wojciechowski's 19th home run of the season and second of the day.

In the fifth, Eric Fasnacht hit a one out single and advanced on a wild pitch, moving up to third on a ground out. But the tying run was stranded 90-feet away.

In the bottom of the inning, UMD's offense came alive with five runs to extend the lead to 7-1.

Concordia looked to rally in the eighth inning as Fasnacht drew a leadoff walk and Suits was hit by pitch with one out. A Poppitz single loaded the bases with one out when LaPorte drove in a run with a ground out.

Fasnacht went 3-4 with a walk in game two while Poppitz was 2-3.

Varland was charged with the loss, falling to 1-3 after allowing seven runs (six earned) in 5.0 innings. Senior Tyler Schmitz worked 3.0 shutout innings in relief, allowing just one hit with a strikeout and no walks to finish the game.

Wojciechowski led the UMD offense by going 2-3 with a pair of runs and two RBI with his second homer of the day, also drawing an intentional walk and a hit by pitch. He was the only Bulldog to drive in multiple runs in the contest.

Austin Vaske improved to 3-1 with the win for UMD, working 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.