WAKEFIELD, Neb. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (13-7, 6-4 NSIC) fell short in Friday's doubleheader against Southwest Minnesota State (9-11, 4-6 NSIC) as the Mustangs took the two games 4-3 and 5-2.
 
GAME ONE: Southwest Minnesota State 4, Concordia-St. Paul 3
The series opener proved to be a back and forth game with the Golden Bears erasing 2-1 and 3-2 deficits before the Mustangs walked it off with a run in the last half of the seventh to claim a 4-3 win.
 
The middle of the CSP order did nearly all of their damage at the plate as the two through five hitters combined for six of the team's seven hits and all six hits from the starting lineup. Isaac Hormann put up a pair of extra-base hits as he went 2-3 with a triple and a double along with an RBI and a run scored in the loss. Connor Trygstad finished 2-4 with a double and two runs scored while Drew Sannes went 2-3 with a double and a run batted in as well.
 
On the mound, Connor Hurley picked up a no-decision as he threw 4.0+ innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks. The sophomore also struck out four before giving way to the bullpen. Ross Bastyr came in and worked out of trouble in 1.0 scoreless innings before Riley Sweeney came on for the sixth and seventh. Sweeney (0-1) took the loss as he worked a scoreless sixth before giving up the winning run with one down in the seventh on a single.
 
Justin Clark got the start for the Mustangs and worked 5.0 innings of three-run ball as he walked none and struck out five in a no-decision. Alex Jorgensen (1-2) came on to work the final 2.0 innings as he picked up the win with a scoreless outing.
 
The Golden Bears struck first with a run in the top of the second to take an early lead. Hormann delivered a leadoff triple before Sannes added an RBI single to make it 1-0.
 
An inning later in the bottom of the third, the Mustangs took their first lead of the day as they put two on the board. SMSU manufactured the first run of the inning as the leadoff man reached after getting hit by a pitch and moving up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Ben Heichel drove in Liam Lopez with a run scoring single to tie it before two-out singles from Jayden Fleck and Jake Hendricks brought home another to give Southwest Minnesota State a 2-1 edge.
 
That lead would be short-lived as CSP tied it back up a half inning later as they utilized another extra-base hit to start the rally. Trygstad led off with a double before coming around to score on back-to-back passed balls. Sannes added another double in the inning, but was stranded at second to keep it even at 2-2 through three and a half innings.
 
The back and forth action continued as the Mustangs regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth before Concordia responded with a run of their own in the top of the sixth to pull back even again. Southwest Minnesota State took advantage of a two-out walk and a Golden Bear error to put their third run of the game on the board before Hormann came through with an RBI double in the sixth to score the third for Concordia.
 
CSP made a bit to take the lead in their half of the seventh as they put two runners on with less than two outs, but a strikeout and a groundout put SMSU at the plate with a chance to win it. They did just that with a single to start the inning followed by a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk to put runners on first and second with one out for Connor Johnson. Johnson wasted little time taking care of business as he lined a single to left to drive in the winning run.
 
GAME TWO: Southwest Minnesota State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 2
After the Golden Bears traded blows in game one, they found themselves in an early hole that they were unable to dig out of in game two. The Mustangs put up two in the second and two in the third along with another in the fifth while CSP was held to lone runs in the third and seventh innings.
 
Drew Sannes made it three consecutive multi-hit games as he raised his average to a hefty .448 through his first 20 games at the hot corner. He doubled twice in the game while also drawing a walk and driving in one.
 
Patrick Bordewick added a solo homer while also drawing a walk while Connor Olson also reached twice with a double and a walk.
 
John Bezdicek and Chase Meyer combined to strike out 12 Golden Bears in the game as Bezdicek worked 4.2 innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts before Meyer (2-0) worked the final 4.1 innings, also allowing one run and striking out six while picking up the relief win.
 
Keanu Mendez (1-1) took the loss for the Golden Bears as he allowed four runs over 3.0 innings. The bullpen unit of Blake Stelzer, Luke DeGrammont and Ryan Christopher combined to throw 5.0 innings while allowing just three hits and one run to keep the team in it.
 
Southwest Minnesota State carried the momentum into the second game as they quickly jumped ahead with two runs in the second. After a leadoff hit for Jake Hendricks, Connor Johnson launched a two-run shot to center to open the scoring.
 
Concordia answered with a run in the next half inning on a Sannes RBI double with two down, but the Mustangs tacked on two more in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to three. After scoring in the second, it was Hendricks' turn to drive in runs in the third as he drove in two with a double.
 
The Mustangs added an insurance run in the fifth as they pushed the lead to 5-1 on a Shane Sellner RBI double.
 
Patrick Bordewick provided a late inning highlight with his first home run of the year as he put one over the left field wall to lead off the seventh, but that proved to be all for CSP as rallies fell short later on in the seventh and again in the eighth.
 
The Golden Bears and the Mustangs will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow with games three and four of the series. First pitch is scheduled for noon.