PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (15-11, 8-8 NSIC) battled with #3 Augustana (30-2, 16-2 NSIC) on Friday night at Plattsmouth High School but came up just short as they fell 9-8 in game one and 1-0 in game two.
 
GAME ONE: Augustana 9, Concordia-St. Paul 8
While pitching duels have been the norm this season for the Golden Bears, the bats were the story in game one as the two teams combined for 17 runs on 23 hits with four home runs in the game. CSP led by three runs at 3-0 and again at 5-2 before being forced to dig themselves out of a hole after the Vikings put up seven runs between the third and fourth innings. That comeback bid came up just short as Concordia was unable to come all the way back in the 9-8 loss. The lengthy game one also featured a thirty minute lightning delay in the early innings.
 
Roch Whittaker continued his torrid stretch over the last few games as he doubled for the third consecutive game in addition to launching his second career home run to cut it to one in the seventh. Whittaker finished a triple shy of the cycle as he went 3-4 with four runs batted in and two runs scored.
 
Patrick Bordewick put up a huge game of his game with three hits in four trips, including his second homer of the year, while driving in three and scoring another. Drew Sannes and Connor Trygstad each chipped in a pair of hits as Sannes scored twice and Trygstad scored another in the loss.
 
Ryan Menssen and Michael Svozil each went deep for Augustana while Jordan Barth finished a perfect 3-3 with a pair of RBIs in the contest.
 
After allowing a total of just five hits and one run over his first three career starts for the Golden Bears, Josh Gaworski (3-1) ran into trouble for the first time all season. The junior lasted 3.2 in the loss as he picked up a pair of strikeouts. Keanu Mendez provided a bright spot out of the bullpen as he struck out two in 2.0 perfect innings to finish off the game.
 
Concordia tagged last season's National Pitcher of the Year for five runs over just 3.0 innings as they compiled eight hits to chase Jacob Blank early, but the Augie bullpen did just enough to hang on. Tyler Mitzel (5-0) picked up the win in relief as he gave up two runs in 3.0 innings while Michael Brandt allowed just the Whittaker home run in his 1.0 inning to pick up the save.
 
The Golden Bears ambushed Blank in the opening frame as Connor Olson and Connor Trygstad grabbed hits on two of the first three pitches of the game before Hormann knocked in Olson with a third consecutive hit. Whittaker delivered his first knock of the game two batters later with a two-run double to push it to 3-0.
 
Menssen got two back in the bottom of the second with a two-run shot to left, but Bordewick answered right back with a two-run single in the top of the third to regain the three-run edge.
 
The Vikings chipped away with two more in the bottom of the third before delivering the knockout blow with a five spot in the fourth. Lucas Barry gave Augie the lead with a two-run double before Svozil ended Gaworski's day with a two-run blast to left. Augustana added one more in the inning to extend their edge to 9-5 through four.
 
The Golden Bears showed some resilience late in the contest as Bordewick sent a leadoff homer over the wall in the sixth before Whittaker put another over the wall in left center to score two in the seventh with nobody out to cut it to one, but the next three hitters were retired to bring the game to a close.
 
GAME TWO: Augustana 1, Concordia-St. Paul 0
The offensive outburst did not carry over into game two as Concordia's pitchers allowed just three hits in the game but were blanked at the plate in the shutout loss. Augie's pitching staff combined for an incredible 17 strikeouts on the night over 9.0 innings
 
Louie Varland (3-1) was a tough luck loser on the hill as he limited the high-powered Viking offense to just one run on three hits over 6.0 innings. The run was the first that Varland allowed over four starts on the year and just his second run allowed overall on the season. The sophomore hurler walked five and struck out five in the outing. Riley Sweeney came on for the final 2.0 innings, allowing just a walk while striking out to give him his sixth shutout performance in eight relief outings.
 
David Flattery (5-1) worked out of trouble in the early frames before finishing strong as he picked up the win for Augie. Flattery struck out 12 while allowing five hits and a walk over 6.0 innings before giving way to the bullpen. Derek Dahlke and Zach Reeg each struck out one in 1.0 inning each before Michael Brandt struck out the final three hitters of the game for his second save of the day.
 
Drew Sannes and Carter Schmidt were the two lone CSP hitters to reach base twice as each grabbed a hit and a walk while Connor Trygstad, Isaac Hormann, Mickey Leius and Patrick Bordewick had a hit apiece as well.
 
After the Golden Bears stranded two runners in the top of the first, Augustana picked up the game's only run in the bottom of the frame. Riley Johnson led off the bottom of the first with a double before stealing third to put a runner 90 feet away from scoring with nobody out. Svozil followed with a sacrifice fly before the next two hitters were retired to end the inning.
 
From there, it was zeroes back and forth as Varland and Flattery silenced the bats over the next five innings. Despite the lack of scoring, 1-2-3 innings proved to be hard to come by as both teams stranded at least one runner in each of the next three and a half innings, including two runners for Augie in the second and two for CSP in the fourth. During that span, Varland came through when it mattered most as he stranded runners in scoring position in each of his final five innings of work. Flattery, on the other hand, finished with a flurry as he retired the final eight hitters he faced, including six via the strikeout.
 
Both starters handed it over to the bullpen in the seventh and the relievers picked up where the starters left off as the 1-0 score held. The Golden Bears threatened to tie the score in both the eighth and ninth, but were unable to come up with the big hit.
 
Connor Trygstad reached second base on a one-out error in the eighth, but a groundout and a fly out sandwiched around an infield single stranded him in scoring position. Carter Schmidt led off the ninth with a walk and moved up on a passed ball, but Brandt struck out the final three hitters to bring the doubleheader to a close.
 
With the final two games of the weekend series with the Vikings cancelled, the Golden Bears are scheduled to return to action on Wednesday at home against Minnesota Duluth. Check back to cspbears.com for any potential schedule changes leading up to the doubleheader.