MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (6-6) dropped both games of a doubleheader to Concordia-Moorhead (7-6) to close out the non-conference slate at US Bank Stadium on Saturday evening. The Cobbers took game one 3-2 and game two 2-0.
 
As has been the case in all six games played at US Bank Stadium, offense was in short supply as the two teams combined for seven runs in the two games. CSP managed just six hits total, with three in each game.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-Moorhead 3, Concordia-St. Paul 2
In game one, the Golden Bears rallied late with a pair of runs in their half of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead, but the Cobbers responded with two of their own in the bottom of the inning to grab a 3-2 win.
 
Zack Nelson (1-1) kept CSP off-balance for six innings as he limited a strong Golden Bear lineup to just three hits, allowing two runs (one earned) while striking out four. Joe Hallock followed suit in the seventh as he picked up the save with a shutout inning.
 
Gus Varland (2-1) took his first loss of the season for CSP as he struck out seven allowed just a pair of earned runs in his six innings of work in a complete game loss.
 
The Golden Bears got hits from each of the top two hitters in the lineup as Connor Olson and Isaac Hormann each went 1-3 with a run scored while Mickey Leius added the other hit, going 1-2 with a walk. Carter Schmidt joined Leius in reaching base twice as he drew a pair of walks.
 
CSP nearly opened the scoring in the top of the first as Olson reached via hit by pitch to lead off the game before being replaced by Hormann on the base paths on a fielder's choice. After a strikeout, Schmidt drew a walk and both runners moved up on a wild pitch before shortstop Nate Hoeft made an incredible diving play up the middle to rob Roch Whittaker of a hit.
 
Varland worked out of a jam in his half of the first as well with a pair of strikeouts to strand runners on the corners, but the Cobbers broke through for a run in the second. Three singles sandwiched around a line out pushed across the opening run as Hoeft delivered the RBI hit up the middle.
 
Threats were hard to come by on either side until the sixth when the Golden Bears were finally able to string together an inning against Nelson. Olson opened the inning with a single just past the reach of the second basemen in center and moved up to second on a wild pitch before a perfect bunt resulted in a hit for Hormann to put two runners on with nobody out. Connor Trygstad tied the game with a deep sacrifice fly to left before another Schmidt walk put runners on first and second. The Cobbers tried to turn a double play to end the inning on a grounder to short off the bat of Whittaker, but Schmidt broke it up with a strong slide into second which allowed Hormann to score the go-ahead run on the throw over to first.
 
The CSP lead would be short-lived as the Cobbers scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to grab the decisive 3-2 advantage. Cody Rahman doubled and Nate Leintz walked to start the inning as both eventually came across to score. Hoeft delivered another RBI single to tie it before Chad Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the eventual winning run.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-Moorhead 2, Concordia-St. Paul 0
While game one was a swift one hour and 30 minutes, game two was even quicker as the full seven innings were completed in just 1:19. Lone runs for Concordia-Moorhead in the third and the sixth proved to be the difference as the game featured just 10 combined hits.
 
Austin Ver Steeg (2-1) followed Nelson's game one outing with an even better one in game two as he threw a complete game shutout in the win, allowing three hits and three walks to go along with four strikeouts.
 
Kevin Woebke (1-2) was solid on the other side as he gave up a pair of runs and struck out four in his six innings, but took the loss for CSP. Jake Kounkel came on to work a perfect seventh with two strikeouts.
 
For the second game in a row it was three different Golden Bears collecting hits as Adam Hildebrandt and Patrick Bordewick each went 1-3 while Roch Whittaker went 1-2 with a walk.
 
CSP's best threat in game two came in the bottom of the second as Bordewick and Whittaker singled and Suits walked to load the bases with two down, but a groundout ended the inning before the Golden Bears could push a run in.
 
The Cobbers responded in the next half inning to open the scoring as they strung together three hits in the inning, including a Chad Johnson RBI single, to make it 1-0.
 
It was quick innings back and forth until the top of the sixth when Concordia-Moorhead grabbed three more hits to double their lead. This time it was Turner Storm's single down the left field line that brought in Grant Toivonen to add the insurance run. CSP went down in order in each of the past two innings.
 
Concordia opens the NSIC season this weekend as they take on Southwest Minnesota State for a four-game series starting on Saturday.