CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (14-10, 8-4 NSIC) extended their winning streak to five after taking the first two games of a four-game series at Minnesota Crookston (11-13, 5-7 NSIC) on Saturday. CSP claimed game one 4-2 and game two 9-6.
 
The Golden Bears got production from throughout the order as four different hitters collected three hits, six different hitters drove in runs and eight different hitters scored a run.
 
The pitching staff continued their dominance through the early part of the season with 22 strikeouts in 16.0 innings while limiting UMC to a .203 batting average and putting up a 2.81 ERA.

GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 4, Minnesota Crookston 2
After a tough start last time out, sophomore Gus Varland (4-2) bounced back in a big way as he came within an out of the complete game shutout. Varland delivered his third double-digit strikeout performance of the year with 11 as he allowed just a pair of runs on six hits in the seven-inning complete game victory.
 
On the other side, Cody Pamperin (1-3) matched Varland for much of the day, but took the loss as he allowed four runs, two earned, in the complete game effort. Pamperin gave up five hits, walked none, and struck out five.
 
The bottom half of the CSP lineup had a hand in all four runs as Mickey Leius, Zach Elder and Patrick Bordewick picked up an RBI apiece in the fourth while Leius also crossed the plate on a passed ball in the sixth.
 
Connor Olson picked up two of the team's five hits while Isaac Hormann extended his hitting streak to nine, going 1-3 with a sacrifice bunt and a run scored.
 
Both teams put runners in scoring position in the first, but neither could capitalize as both pitchers worked out of jams. The two continued to match zeroes until the Golden Bears finally broke through in the fourth.
 
Isaac Hormann led off the inning with a single before Carter Schmidt reached on a fielder's choice and Roch Whittaker reached on an error to load the bases with one out. Leius also reached on a fielder's choice, bringing home the first run, before Elder singled home another and Bordewick lifted a sac fly to center to make it 3-0.
 
Leius nearly single-handedly added an insurance run in the sixth as he reached on a triple down the right field line before scoring on a wild pitch.
 
Varland was cruising heading to the bottom of the seventh as the only three hits he allowed were singles in the third, fourth and sixth before the Golden Eagles doubled that total in their last half inning at the plate.
 
Patrick Amerson delivered a pinch-hit single to right before Jeremy Spinner kept the inning alive with a two-out single of his own. With one out needed to close out the shutout, Anthony Stewart drove in two with a double before Varland shut the door with his 11^th strikeout of the game to end it.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Minnesota Crookston 6
After holding off a late UMC push in game one, Concordia erased an early 4-0 deficit for a 9-6 comeback win to win game two and sweep the day.
 
Concordia's offense came through in the second game of the day as they slugged out nine runs on 12 hits as all nine hitters reached base and four had multi-hit games. The bottom of the order put up another solid effort as the 6-9 hitters combined to finish 8-19 (.421) with a pair of runs and five RBI.
 
From the seven spot in the lineup, Zach Elder continued to show his power as he launched his team-leading seventh home run of the season as a part of a game in which he went 2-5 with four driven in.
 
Adam Hildebrandt added a solid effort from the nine hole with a team-best three hits in five trips to go along with a run and an RBI. Carter Schmidt and Mickey Leius also added a pair of hits in the game.
 
Kevin Woebke (2-3) saw his luck change as he returned to the win column after throwing a solid 7.0 innings in the victory. He held the Golden Eagles to just one earned run on three hits while striking out seven to lower his ERA to 3.69. Connor Hurley worked the final 2.0 innings as he collected four strikeouts during that span.
 
Parker Hanson (1-2) worked into the seventh for UMC but took the loss, allowing nine hits and seven runs in 6.1 innings in the loss.
 
Errors cost the Golden Bears in the first few innings as two of the three runs scored in the bottom of the first were unearned while the lone run in the bottom third was as well. UMC capitalized on a Reed Hjelle RBI single as well as a balk and a squeeze in the first before executing a rundown on a first and third situation to score a run in the third.
 
CSP trimmed the deficit to one in the top of the fourth as Roch Whittaker drew a one-out walk before Leius picked up an infield single to set up Elder. Elder followed with a three-run blast over the wall in left to chip it down to 4-3.
 
The lead held for Minnesota Crookston for two and a half innings until CSP broke through with five in the seventh. A single from Hildebrandt and a double from Connor Olson put a pair in scoring position for Tanner Holmquist, who doubled to left to put Concordia in front. The Golden Bears added an insurance run on another RBI hit from Elder, this time a single, before Patrick Bordewick came around to score on a wild pitch.
 
Hurley entered the game in the eighth and worked out of a jam to hold the 8-4 lead before CSP added another insurance run in their half of the ninth on an infield single off the bat of Hildebrandt.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, the first two hitters reached before Hurley retired the next two hitters to pull within an out of closing it out. A walk loaded the bases before Mortenson singled home a pair to bring the tying run to the plate. Hurley stepped up and grabbed a strikeout to end the threat and close out the win.
 
The two teams will meet up for games three and four of the series tomorrow at noon at Jim Karn Field.