ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (18-16, 12-10 NSIC) bounced back from an 8-5 loss in game one to take game two 11-1 in seven innings for the doubleheader split with U-Mary (8-23, 4-18 NSIC) on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears picked up a crucial game two win to snap a four-game losing streak to remain above .500 in conference play.
 
The offense put up a big performance in both games as the team hammered out 22 hits, 11 in each, en route to scoring 16 runs.
 
Tanner Holmquist played a big role in the offensive outburst with five hits in seven at-bats while driving in four runs. Carter Schmidt added four hits of his own, including his first home run of the year in game two.
 
GAME ONE: U-Mary 8, Concordia-St. Paul 5
The opener was a fairly sloppy contest for both teams as just five of the 13 runs scored in the game were earned with the two teams combined for five errors. The offenses took advantage of the extra outs as they combined for 23 hits as each team had at least 11 hits.
 
Tanner Holmquist and Connor Olson each drove in a pair for CSP as Holmquist finished 2-4 with a double while Olson went 1-4 and was hit by a pitch. Patrick Bordewick and Roch Whittaker each picked up two hits as well.
 
Travis Stevens did a little bit of everything for U-Mary as he worked the first 4.2 innings, allowing just one earned run, with four strikeouts to go along with three hits and two RBIs at the plate from the three spot in the order. He did not factor into the decision as Chris Scott (1-0) picked up the win in relief with 2.1 scoreless innings.
 
Josh Lenz (2-3) took the tough luck loss as he allowed six runs (two earned) on nine hits in 6.0 innings while striking out seven.
 
The Marauders opened the scoring early as they loaded the bases with one out before Darius Barlas beat out a potential double play to allow Seth Meide to score the opening run of the game.
 
U-Mary added two more in the second as they took advantage of a CSP miscue to keep the rally going. A two-out error with runners on second and third allowed the first run to cross the plate before Stevens helped his own cause with a run-scoring single to make it 3-0.
 
The Golden Bears responded with a four spot to take the lead as five straight reached base safely with one out. Mickey Leius and Zach Elder got things going with singles before Patrick Bordewick reached on an error to load the bases. Roch Whittaker then opened the scoring with a soft line drive single to center and Connor Olson followed by being hit pitch with the bases loaded to add another. Holmquist doubled the total in the inning with a bloop double into no man's land behind first base to put CSP in front 4-3.
 
It was a brief lead as another error gave the Marauders the lead back in the third. With two on and two out, Seth Siverson put down a bunt but Carter Schmidt's throw skipped past Suits into the right field corner allowing both runs to score.
 
Concordia put up threats in each of the next two innings before pulling even in their half of the fifth. They once again loaded the bases with two outs as Connor Olson came through with a clutch single to left to tie it at 4-4.
 
Once again it was a quick response from U-Mary as they regained the lead with a run in the top of the sixth with a two out rally. Seth Meide got things going with a double to right before moving up to third on an error. Stevens followed with another big hit as he dropped a single in center to bring him home.
 
The Marauders added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh in the form of a Connor Doll solo homer and a Seth Siverson RBI single.
 
Concordia put up another threat in their half of the seventh by putting runners on the corners with one out, but Scott worked out of the jam to close out the 8-5 Marauder win.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 11, U-Mary 1 (7 inn.)
CSP bounced back in a big way in game two as they rolled to a seven-inning victory over the Marauders.
 
Carter Schmidt and Tanner Holmquist each contributed huge games from the third and fourth spots in the order as they went 6-6 with a homer and a double as well as six RBIs and six runs scored. Schmidt finished 3-3 with his first home run of the year to go along with a walk, four RBIs and three runs scored while Holmquist added three hits of his own, including an RBI double, while scoring three and driving in two.
 
The Golden Bear pitching staff combined for a stingy performance, holding the Marauders to just one run on seven hits while walking two and striking out five. Connor Hurley picked up the start, working the first 3.0 innings, allowing just one run on two hits. Kevin Woebke (3-3) picked up the win as he hurled three shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts and a pair of pickoffs. Gus Varland worked around two baserunners in a shutout seventh to finish it off.
 
James Swofford was the losing pitcher for U-Mary as he lasted just 2.2 innings while giving up five runs in the start.
 
After trailing for much of game one, the Golden Bears wasted little time taking the lead in game two. Concordia put together a two-out rally beginning with a Tanner Holmquist hit by pitch before a Schmidt walk and a Suits RBI single. Schmidt scored one batter later when the U-Mary catcher threw one out into left field as Schmidt was moving up to third on a wild pitch.
 
U-Mary got one back playing small ball in the second, but it was all Golden Bears from there.
 
Concordia broke it open with three runs in the third and three more in the fourth to put it out of reach. Schmidt lined a single to left to bring in Olson for the first run of the third before a run-scoring single from Zach Elder and a run-scoring double from Mickey Leius pushed it to 5-1 through three innings. In the fourth, Holmquist added a sun-aided RBI double before Schmidt launched his first homer of the year over the wall in left center in front of the Gangelhoff Center to extend it to 8-1.
 
CSP pushed the game into ten-run territory in the bottom of the sixth when Holmquist sent a long single high off the wall in left before yet another run-scoring hit from Schmidt, this time a single. A throwing error on a potential inning-ending double play ball off the bat of Ben Suits allowed pinch runner Jake Steckler to score the 11^th run to set up the seven-inning finish.
 
Varland allowed the first two hitters to reach, but picked up three straight outs to hold the 11-1 lead to seal the doubleheader sweep.
 
The Golden Bears have the weekend off before returning to action next Wednesday in Minnesota Duluth.