MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (1-1) opened the season with doubleheader split against Minot State (2-4) at US Bank Stadium on Monday afternoon. The Golden Bears cruised to a 4-1 win in game one before seeing the Beavers take the lead late in a 3-2 game two loss.
 
Offense was at a premium in spacious US Bank Stadium as the two teams combined for just 10 runs and 26 hits total in the two contests. Connor Trygstad was the lone Golden Bear to register more than two hits on the day as he went 3-5 with a walk, a pair of RBIs and his first career home run as the team's designated hitter role. Carter Schmidt also added a pair of hits, including a double, while driving in two as well.
 
It was the pitching that shined as all four starters combined to record 81 of the 84 outs on the day. None of the four starters allowed more than three earned runs, led by Gus Varland's dominating performance in the first game. Varland threw a complete-game four-hitter while striking out nine in the game one victory.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 4, Minot State 1
CSP spotted Varland (1-0) a run before he even stepped on the mound and the Maplewood native took it from there. The Concordia ace opened his season in a very similar fashion as last year as he allowed just one run while registering the win in both. Varland faced very little resistance throughout the afternoon as he allowed just seven baserunners over his seven innings of work.
 
Justin Demary (0-2) was unable to keep pace for the Beavers as he coughed up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in a complete game effort.
 
Offensively, it was Schmidt that did the heavy lifting as he collected two of the team's eight hit, including one of their two extra-base hits, while driving in two of the team's three runs. Trygstad and Isaac Hormann collected the team's two other RBIs as Trygstad had a run-scoring double and Hormann had a run-scoring infield single.
  The Golden Bears struck first in the opener as they took advantage of a Minot State miscue to get on the board in the top of the first. Leading off the game, Connor Olson sent a fly ball fairly deep into the gap in left center that the left fielder seemed to have tracked down, but it deflected off of his glove and dropped to the turf which allowed Olson to move up to second. After a pair of unproductive outs, Carter Schmidt came through with a double down the line past a diving third baseman to bring in the game's first run.
 
The Beavers threatened to score in their half of the first with a pair of one-out singles, but Varland responded with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. After a quiet top of the second, Varland picked up where he left off with three more strikeouts in the bottom of the inning to bring his tally to five through two innings.
 
CSP looked to add to their lead in the fourth, but stranded a pair of runners as the score remained 1-0 midway through the game. They finally broke through again in the fifth with a leadoff single off the bat of Patrick Bordewick followed by a sacrifice bunt and a deep fly out to center put him on third with two down. Falling behind in the count 0-2, Isaac Hormann came through with an infield single to third to drive in Bordewick to make it 2-0.
 
While Varland continued to put up zeroes, the Concordia offense continued to add to their lead as they added insurance runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to put it out of reach. Roch Whittaker got the rally started in the sixth as he laced a one-out single through the hole before Trygstad roped a double to the wall in right center to bring him in. Schmidt added his second RBI of the contest with an infield single to bring home Olson in the seventh to extend the advantage to 4-0.
 
Minot State got one back in the seventh as they spoiled Varland's shutout bid in the process. It was the leadoff walk that led to the only damage against the junior right-hander as the walk set up a fielder's choice before a Geordie McDougall single with a full count and two down drove in the run.
 
GAME TWO: Minot State 3, Concordia-St. Paul 2
Concordia looked to be headed to another low-scoring victory on the back of an impressive pitching performance as they held a 1-0 lead into the sixth before Minot State exploded for three runs in the sixth to take the decisive edge.
 
CSP starting pitcher Zach Lauzon (0-1) was cruising along through the first five innings, allowing just three hits and no runs during that span, ended up taking the loss. The junior transfer worked 6.0 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out four in his Golden Bear debut. Connor Hurley came on to work a scoreless seventh in relief.
 
Andres Hackman (1-1) stymied the Concordia offense in the second game of the day as he scattered seven hits and allowed just two runs to go along with five strikeouts in the complete game win.
 
Trygstad nearly completed the cycle for the day as he followed up his game one RBI double with a single and a homer in the second game. He finished the game as the only Golden Bear to put together a multi-hit game as he went 2-3 in the contest. Patrick Bordewick also reached base safely twice with a run-scoring double and a walk.
  Celestino Rodriguez delivered the knockout blow for Minot State as he launched a go-ahead two-run homer for his only hit of the game.
 
After CSP left a runner in scoring position following an Isaac Hormann double in the first, they broke through to open the scoring in the bottom of the second. The inning started innocently enough with a pair of groundouts before Mickey Leius singled up the middle to keep the inning alive. After he moved up to second on a wild pitch, Bordewick delivered a double to left to bring in Leius.
 
Lauzon and Hackman matched zeroes for the next three innings as both teams had several opportunities to put runs on the board but were unable to capitalize. Perhaps the best chance came in the bottom of the fifth as Bordewick walked and Olson singled before they both moved into scoring position with one out on a wild pitch. The heart of the order was unable to get them in as two groundouts in a row got Hackman out of the jam.
 
The inability to add any insurance runs proved costly as the Beavers took control in the next half inning. Kyle Williamson led off the inning with a booming double before Wyatt Schlosser followed with one of his own to tie the score at 1-1. Lauzon then coaxed a groundout before Rodriguez stepped in and deposited the first pitch he saw over the left field wall to give Minot State their first lead of the day at 3-1.
 
With two out and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth, Trygstad went deep for his first homer in navy and gold to cut the deficit in half, but they were unable to push across the tying run as Hackman shut the door from there. The Minot State hurler retired the final four batters he faced to salvage the split for the Beavers.
 
The Golden Bears will travel south to Arizona tomorrow as they up a stretch of eight games in five days at the Tucson Invitational Games starting Wednesday afternoon.