TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (3-3) rode a solid outing from Josh Lenz to a 10-0 win in seven innings over Northern State (0-1) before falling to Malone (3-2) 9-5 in the second game on Saturday at the Tucson Invitational.
 
Isaac Hormann and Connor Olson combined for 10 of the team's 20 hits on the day as Hormann went 5-8 and Olson went 5-9. The duo also combined to drive in seven runs while reaching base a combined 13 times in 20 trips to the plate.

GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 10, Northern State 0 (7 inn.)
The Golden Bears got the day off to an excellent start as they hammered out 10 runs while Josh Lenz held the Wolves to just two hits to lead the team to victory.
 
Lenz (1-0) was in control throughout the game as he didn't allow a single Northern State hitter to reach second base, holding NSU to just two over the minimum. The senior left-hander worked all seven innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out six in the shutout. Lenz had some help from his defense as CSP also turned a pair of double plays in the game.
 
The top of the CSP order played a major role in the win as the one through four hitters combined to hit an even .500 (7-14) with eight of the team's nine RBI.
 
Isaac Hormann finished the game at 2-3 with a double, a walk, a hit by pitch and three runs driven in while Tanner Holmquist also delivered a pair of hits and three RBI.
 
Connor Olson and Ben Suits also contributed multi-hit days as both collected two hits and a walk in the win.
 
Nick Hoffard (0-1), who went 7-4 with a 4.16 ERA last season, took the loss for the Wolves as he allowed six runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings of work.
 
After a quick 1-2-3 top of the first, CSP opened the scoring in the bottom of the inning. Hormann and Zach Elder both picked up one-out singles before Holmquist knocked a fielder's choice to short to bring in Hormann.
 
The Golden Bears were right back at it in the second as Olson singled to put Suits in scoring position with two down and Hormann drove a double down the left field line to bring in Suits to double the lead.
 
The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the fourth when Concordia broke things open. Singles from Suits, Steven Nessler and Olson loaded the bases with one down before Hormann drew a walk for his second RBI of the game. Elder followed with a sac fly for the second out and Holmquist drove in two more with a line drive single to center. CSP added one more in the fifth to push it to 7-0 as Roch Whittaker led off the inning with a hit before eventually coming around to score on a Nessler groundout.
 
After a scoreless sixth, the Golden Bears put the game away with three runs to invoke the run rule. The damage was done with two outs as Olson coaxed a bases loaded walk before Hormann was hit by a pitch to bring in another run. After a pitching change, the first pitch to Elder went to the backstop to allow Nessler to cross the plate and end the game.
 
After the afternoon game, Concordia will play their final two games of the trip tomorrow with a doubleheader against Southwest Minnesota State starting at 11 a.m.

GAME TWO: Malone 9, Concordia-St. Paul 5
Concordia took an early lead again in game two but eight runs for Malone between the fourth and fifth innings proved to be the difference as they denied the Golden Bears of their third straight win.
 
Connor Olson made it three straight multi-hit games while Isaac Hormann picked up his second of the day. Olson finished game two with three hits in five trips with a pair of RBI while Hormann also went 3-5 in the loss.
 
While the pair went 6-10, the rest of the team combined to go 3-25 at the plate with Carter Schmidt, Patrick Bordewick and Steven Nessler collected the other three hits.
 
It was a balanced offensive attack for the Pioneers as all nine starters had hits, including three from Matt Noel.
 
Blake Stelzer (0-1) held Malone to a run through the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth and fifth. He finished with four strikeouts in his 4+ innings.
 
Erik Monson gave the Golden Bears a real bright spot as he pitched four shutout innings out of the bullpen, allowing just three hits and striking out one.
 
Reliever Christian Specht (1-0) picked up the win for Malone after coming in to start the second inning and throwing 5.1 innings in relief. Jordan Knight threw 2.2 scoreless innings to finish off the win.
 
The Golden Bears took advantage of a Pioneer miscue in the first as a potential inning-ending groundout to short skipping into the outfield to put runners on the corners with Carter Schmidt coming to the plate. Schmidt came through with a single through the hole on the left side of the infield to bring in Hormann.
 
Malone responded with one of their own in the bottom of the inning as Nate Cobb led off with a hustle double and Brenden Wells drove him in with a triple two batters later, but Concordia jumped back in front just a half inning later.
 
Patrick Bordewick got the rally started with a one-out single and Steven Nessler followed with a perfect bunt for a base hit to put runners on first and second. Connor Olson made it three hits in a row as she roped a triple into the gap in right center to bring both runs in. Olson was stranded at third, however, as a foul out and a groundout got Malone out of the inning.
 
That 3-1 lead held until the bottom of the fourth when the Pioneers got to Stelzer and took the lead. Andy Fletcher beat out an infield single to bring in the first run before a Todd Ropp ground-rule double, the second of the inning, tied it at 3-3. Zach Mottice gave Malone their first lead with an RBI single of his own before Cobb drove in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.
 
The Golden Bears got one back in the fifth on a Schmidt sacrifice fly to bring in Hormann to cut it to 5-4, but Malone matched their four runs in the fourth with another four in the fifth.  The big hit in the inning came in the form of a three-run homer to left off the bat of Austin White to end Stelzer's day.
 
Monson shut the door from there as he held the Pioneers off the board for the final four innings to give the Golden Bears a chance to get back in it.
 
Concordia did manage to cut it to four with back-to-back doubles to lead off the seventh, but that would be all they would get as they were held scoreless the rest of the way as the game finished with a 9-5 final.