MINNETONKA, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (9-9, 3-3 NSIC) dropped the first two games of the four-game weekend series with Minot State (10-3, 5-1 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Field. CSP fell 12-0 in game one and 6-5 in game two.
 
The Beavers jumped ahead early and cruised to a comfortable win in the opener before taking game two in dramatic fashion. With the Golden Bears one strike away from claiming a split, Michael Borst sent a go-ahead grand slam to right field to give Minot State the decisive advantage.
 
GAME ONE: Minot State 12, Concordia-St. Paul 0
The Beavers scored in five of the seven innings while holding the Golden Bears off the board for the second time in as many meetings on the season.
 
Five of the six starters in the Minot State order picked up at least two hits, led by Jordan Schulz's four-hit game, as they finished the game with 14 hits resulting in 12 runs.
 
The second spot in the CSP lineup provided both hits as Isaac Hormann singled in the third and Mickey Leius singled in the sixth after entering the game as a defensive sub in the top of the inning.
 
Tanner Alexander (1-2) picked up his first win of the year as he allowed three baserunners, one hit and two walks, while striking out five in 5.0 innings of work. Brock Breshears and Domenic Selmi each pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen to finish off the combined shutout.
 
Gus Varland (3-2), fresh off a no-hitter, took the loss for the Golden Bears as he allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings while striking out four.
 
After a quick first, a pair of hits in the top of the second led to the first run of the game for the Beavers as they ended Varland's hitless-inning streak at eight. CSP followed with perhaps their best scoring chance of the game in the bottom of the inning with a pair of one-out walks, but a fly out and a fielder's choice ended the inning.
 
Minot State extended their lead by scoring in each of the next three innings, adding two in the third, one in the fourth, and six in the fifth to put it out of reach. After a scoreless sixth, the Beavers added two more runs in the seventh to bring it to a final score of 12-0.
 
GAME TWO: Minot State 6, Concordia-St. Paul 5
The Golden Bears appeared poised to bounce back for a doubleheader split as they took a 3-1 lead into the ninth on the back of a strong pitching performance from Kevin Woebke, but the Beavers hung five on the board in the ninth, capped by Michael Borst's grand slam, to pick up the win.
 
Woebke continued his tough luck start to the season as he picked up the no decision after working 8.0+ innings. The senior struck out 10 while allowing just a pair of earned runs on six hits as he was in control for much of the afternoon.
 
Josh Lenz (1-1) ended up taking the loss after coming in with two on in the ninth.
 
Reilly O'Rourke worked the first 6.1 innings for Minot State, but it was Dylan Roach who picked up the win. Roach (1-0) worked 1.2 hitless innings in relief. Justin Demary recorded the final two outs to pick up his first save of the year.
 
Isaac Hormann added two more hits in game two, giving him three of the team's 10 on the day, while he also added a run scored.
 
Jordan Schulz also picked up a pair of hits and drew a run-scoring walk as he reached seven times in the doubleheader for the Beavers.
 
The offensive output from game one carried over into the first inning as the Beavers utilized a Concordia miscue to lead off the game before Schulz continued to hit the ball hard with an RBI double to make it 1-0.
 
Woebke settled in from there as he sent eight hitters down in a row to stem the tide.
 
CSP broke through at the plate in the bottom of the third as Joe Muench led off the inning with a walk before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Adam Hildebrandt then entered the game as a pinch runner and crossed the plate to tie the game on a solid single up the middle off the bat of Connor Olson.
 
The score remained 1-1 until the sixth as Woebke strung together three more shutout innings to allow the Golden Bears to take their first lead of the day. Carter Schmidt got the rally started with a one-out single and Roch Whittaker was hit by pitch to put a pair of runners on base. After groundout moved both runners up, the Golden Bears took advantage of some savvy base running to pull ahead. Schmidt crossed the plate on a wild pitch and Whittaker eventually scored on throw from the catcher ending up in center field on a bluffed double steal attempt.
 
Woebke put up zeroes in each of the next two innings before heading into the ninth looking to finish off the complete game win.
 
Minot State had different ideas as they put a pair of runners on with a walk and a hit by pitch to end Woebke's day. Lenz then hit the next batter to load the bases before picking up a strikeout and a comebacker to record the out at home to pull CSP within an out of closing out the win. Schulz continued his massive day by drawing a tough walk to bring in a run before Borst deposited a 1-2 delivery over the wall in right to put the Beavers in front 6-3.
 
The Golden Bears showed some resilience in their half of the ninth as Hormann got things going with a leadoff single and Tanner Holmquist followed with a run-scoring double to trim a run off the deficit. Schmidt followed with a warning track fly ball before Whittaker walked to bring the winning run to the plate in the form of Mickey Leius. Leius kept the ball rolling with an RBI single through the hole into right field to cut it to one, but Justin Demary came on to retire the next two hitters to close out the doubleheader sweep.
 
Concordia will look to bounce back tomorrow with another doubleheader against Minot State, this time at Barnes Field at noon.