MINNETONKA, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (9-7, 3-1 NSIC) took advantage of an extra inning walk-off grand slam from Connor Olson to complete the doubleheader sweep of Southwest Minnesota State (6-8, 1-3 NSIC) at Veterans Field on Sunday. The Golden Bears cruised to an 11-1 win in game one before the walk-off gave them a 7-3 win in 10 innings in game two.
 
The offense came to life with 26 hits (.371 team batting average) while the pitching staff was lights out, giving up just 10 hits (.167 opponent average) on the day.
 
Six of the team's seven hitters that started both games hit at least .375 in the two games, led by Isaac Hormann's six hits in 10 trips to the plate. Connor Olson and Tanner Holmquist each chipped in four hits as well while Olson and Patrick Bordewick each drove in four (all four of Olson's RBI coming on the last pitch of the day).
 
After Keanu Mendez shut down the Mustangs in game one in the complete game victory, Connor Hurley put up an even more impressive outing out of the bullpen in game two as he threw six hitless innings to pick up the win.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 11, Southwest Minnesota State 1
The Golden Bear bats came out in full force in the first game as they hammered out 11 runs on 15 hits. Clutch two-out hitting played a major role in the team's success at the plate as 10 of the 11 runs and 10 of the 15 hits came with two down in the winning effort.
 
The top six hitters each contributed multi-hit games while the group combined to go 14-24 (.583) with three walks and eight of the nine starters reached base at least once. Tanner Holmquist and Isaac Hormann led the way with three hits apiece while Connor Olson, Carter Schmidt, Roch Whittaker and Zach Elder all had two apiece. Schmidt continued his role as a run-producer with three more RBI while Elder also drove in three.
 
Keanu Mendez (1-2) had more than enough run support as he kept the run of solid starts going for the CSP pitching staff with the complete game victory for his first win of the year. Mendez allowed a lone run in the first inning before blanking the Mustangs for the final six innings of the game, including retiring the final 12 hitters in a row. The sophomore allowed just one run on three hits while striking out seven.
 
Erik Thorvilson (0-2) took the loss for the Mustangs as he lasted just 1.2 innings before the bullpen worked the rest of the way.
 
The Mustangs briefly held a lead as Jayden Fleck led off the game with a single before Derek Branson drove a run-scoring single to center with one out to make it 1-0 in the top of the first.
 
Concordia quickly responded in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good. With Olson and Schmidt on base with one out, Holmquist stepped in with an RBI single through the left side to tie the game at 1-1. After a fly out resulted in the second out, Elder sent a double to the left center gap off the glove of the centerfielder to bring in two more runs. Ben Suits was then hit by a pitch before Patrick Bordewick sliced a single down the right field line to double the lead at 5-1.
 
In the second inning with two outs and a runner on first, Holmquist provided another single to extend the inning before Whittaker and Suits each drove in runs with back-to-back RBI singles to push it out to 7-1.
 
The third inning was Schmidt's turn to come through with the two-out run-scoring hit as he singled to left to bring in Olson, who reached on a double, to push it 8-1.
 
The Mustangs walked the bases loaded in the fourth to set up the fourth consecutive two-out rally. Hormann dribbled one down the third baseline for a hit to bring in a run before Schmidt made it two straight innings with a run-scoring hit as he brought home two more with a run-scoring single to push the advantage to double figures.
 
Mendez avoided any trouble the rest of the way as he didn't allow a baserunner through the final three innings to finish off the 11-1 win.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 7, Southwest Minnesota State 3 (10 inn.)
Olson's heroics in extra innings keyed a comeback victory as the Golden Bears erased a 3-0 deficit to claim the win in the game and in the series.
 
Olson stepped up to the plate in the 10^th with one hit in his first five trips to the plate before sending the Golden Bears into a frenzy at home plate with the homer. Isaac Hormann once again helped the cause offensively with three hits while Patrick Bordewick reached base all five times, including a two-run triple.
 
Josh Lenz allowed three runs in four innings of work in the start before Connor Hurley came on and closed the door on the Mustangs. Hurley (2-0) didn't allow a single hit in his 6.0 innings of relief as he walked one and hit one with six strikeouts to pick up the win.
 
Jeremy Stouffer picked up a no-decision for SMSU in 6.0 innings in the start while Jared Tschetter gave up one hit, the grand slam, with three walks in 2.0 innings of relief in the loss.
 
The Mustangs came out swinging in the top of the first as Jayden Fleck led off the game with a triple that dropped in just inside the right field line before Derek Branson drove him in with a one-out single. Later in the inning, Shane Sellner added another RBI hit with a single up the middle to give SMSU a 2-0 before the Golden Bears stepped up to the plate in the first.
 
The score held until the fourth when Southwest Minnesota State added another run to push their lead to three. Another hit down the right field line, this time a double off the bat of Tanner Luebke set things up for Kody Larson to drive in Liam Lopez, who was hit by pitch, with an RBI groundout to third base.
 
Concordia's offense came alive in their half of the inning with three runs to even the score up at 3-3 heading to the fifth. Singles from Tanner Holmquist and Roch Whittaker to start the inning preceded a two-out two-run triple from Patrick Bordewick to cut the deficit to one. Adam Hildebrandt followed suit with a line drive over the shortstop's head to bring home Bordewick and tie it up.
 
The Golden Bears had several chances to take the lead in the later innings as they left the go-ahead run in scoring position in both the seventh and the eighth. Hormann led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and moved up to third on a Schmidt sac bunt, but he wouldn't move any further with a pop out and a groundout ending the inning. Two two-out walks in the eighth put another runner in scoring position but a hard hit fly ball to center sent the game into the ninth with the score tied.
 
Both teams went 1-2-3 until the bottom of the 10^th when Whittaker drew a tough walk to lead off the inning. After a sac bunt and a lineout to right, Bordewick was walked to bring Hildebrandt to the plate. Hildebrandt made it three walks in the inning with another hard-fought walk to load the bases for Connor Olson. It looked like things were headed for a fourth consecutive walk after Tschetter's first three pitches missed the zone, but Olson unloaded on a 3-1 fastball and sent it into the parking lot in left field to complete the walk-off in grand fashion to secure the doubleheader sweep and series win.
 
The Golden Bears is scheduled for another home series next weekend with Minot State coming to town on Saturday and Sunday.