TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (5-3) closed out the trip on a high note with a sweep of Southwest Minnesota State (1-2) on Sunday in the Tucson Invitational. CSP won game one 7-1 and game two 9-4.
 
It was an impressive day at the dish as the Golden Bears picked up 27 hits as a team to slash .429/.457/.635 in the doubleheader. All nine starters reached base at least twice on the day, including six that reached base at least three times.
 
Isaac Hormann continued his tear at the plate as two more three-hit games gives him four multi-hit games in a row. Hormann has reached base safely 14 times in the last four games, going 11-16 (.687) during that span to move his season average up to .467.
 
The pitching was nearly as impressive as Concordia's two starters combined to throw all 14 innings, allowing just a .212 opponent batting average with a 3.21 ERA. Gus Varland picked up the complete game in the first game while Kevin Woebke added one of his own in the second.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 7, Southwest Minnesota State 1
A day after the Mustangs slugged 10 runs and four homers in their season opener, Gus Varland gave them all they could handle in game one as the sophomore right-hander was in control in the complete game victory.
 
Varland (2-0) was nearly unhittable in the complete game victory as he struck out 10 in his seven innings of work, including seven of the first 13 hitters he faced. The outing marked his second consecutive start in which he has allowed just one run and four hits or less as his ERA sits at 1.50 and his opponent average sits at .163.
 
After scoring one run in the first four innings, the Golden Bears tapped into the long ball in the late innings with Zach Elder driving a two-run homer in the fifth and Connor Olson delivering a three-run shot in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
 
Overall, eight of the nine starters collected hits, with Isaac Hormann leading the way with three and Roch Whittaker adding two more.
 
Erik Thorvilson (0-1) was nearly matching Varland through the early innings until the Golden Bears chased him with three runs in the fifth. Thorvilson finished the day with four strikeouts and four runs allowed in five innings.
 
No Mustang had more than a hit as Jon Leighton drove in the lone run with a solo shot to left to start off the seventh.
 
After a quick 1-2-3 inning to start the game, Concordia very nearly took the lead in their first at-bat. Connor Olson took a 2-2 delivery and launched it to deep left field, but Liam Lopez tracked back and jumped at the ball to potentially rob Olson of his first homer of the season. The next two hitters followed suit with hard hit balls but they had nothing to show for it as they also went down in order.
 
The breakthrough came in the bottom of the second as three straight two out singles led to the game's first run. Ben Suits got the rally started with a liner to right center before Whittaker dropped one in front of the center fielder. Patrick Bordewick made it three in a row up the middle as he lined one past the second baseman to drive in Suits and give CSP a 1-0 lead.
 
The CSP advantage remained 1-0 until the fifth as Varland continued to make quick work of SMSU, including striking out the side in the fourth, before the Golden Bears started to put the game out of reach.
 
Steven Nessler opened the bottom of the fifth with a lead-off single and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches before Hormann drove him home with a hit to center. With one out and Hormann on first, Elder doubled the CSP to 4-0 with a towering home run over the wall in left for his third of the year.
 
Not to be outdone, Olson followed a double from Whittaker and a walk from Bordewick in the seventh with his own big fly over the wall in left to extend it to 7-0.
 
With just three out needed to complete the shutout, Leighton got the Mustangs on the board with a solo homer to lead off the seventh.  SMSU picked up another base runner with a one-out walk, but Varland shut the door to finish off the 7-1 win.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Southwest Minnesota State 4
After Varland's dominant performance in game one overshadowed the offensive output, the hitters took their turn leading the way in game two as Concordia slugged their way to nine runs with 16 hits in the win.
 
All nine spots in the order produced hits while five different players collected at least two. Matching his output in game one, Hormann picked up three more hits as he scored twice and drove in another. Patrick Bordewick also finished with three hits in the game.
 
Carter Schmidt once again played the role of run producer in the middle of the order with two more hits, including a double, and three more RBI to bring his total to 11 in the past five games while his batting average sits at an even .500.
 
Tanner Holmquist and Zach Elder also had a pair of hits each as Elder launched his fourth homer of the season.
 
Tanner Picht led the way for the Mustangs with a pair of homers while Jon Leighton added one as well.
 
Jeremy Stouffer (0-1) took the loss for SMSU as he worked the first 3.1 innings before Michael Revenig and James Hardy finished off the game.
 
While it took until the late innings to find a crooked number in game one, Concordia put up three runs in the top of the first to give Woebke an early cushion. The Golden Bears benefitted from a pair of SMSU errors as the team managed three runs on just two hits. Hormann picked up the first hit after Olson reached on an error and both eventually scored when the turn on an attempted double play skipped out of play.
 
The Mustangs got one back in the bottom of the second as Tanner Picht knocked the first pitch of the inning over the wall in right for his first hit of the season, but the Golden Bears responded with a run of their own in the top of the third. A single from Schmidt, a walk from Suits and a single from Bordewick loaded the bases before a Nessler sacrifice fly brought the lead back to three.
 
SMSU added another solo homer in the third off the bat of Jon Leighton, his third in three games, but once again CSP responded with runs in the next half inning. Hormann and Tanner Holmquist both singled before Carter Schmidt drove in both with a double sent to the gap in left center.
 
In the fifth, singles for Bordewick and Nessler to start off the inning set the stage for Olson and Hormann to drive them in to give Concordia their largest lead of the game at 8-2.
 
Picht took two back in the bottom of the sixth with his second home run of the game, this time a deep drive just to the left of the batter's eye in center, but Woebke settled in and held the Mustangs off the board the rest of the way.
 
Zach Elder tacked on an insurance run with his fourth homer of the season in the top of the ninth to bring it to the final score of 9-4.
 
Concordia returns to action on Thursday morning in US Bank Stadium as they take on Minot State at 8 a.m. and Wayne State at 10 a.m.