PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (13-9, 6-6 NSIC) dropped both contests to Minnesota State (18-7, 13-3 NSIC) at Plattsmouth High School on Thursday as the Mavericks took game one 13-2 and game two 5-1.
 
GAME ONE: Minnesota State 13, Concordia-St. Paul 2
The Mavericks put pressure on the Golden Bears throughout the entire contest with runs in six of the seven innings as they pulled away for a comfortable game one victory.
 
The offensive explosion was more than enough for the Minnesota State ace as Dalton Roach (6-0) limited Concordia to just two runs on five hits while striking out six in his 6.0 innings of work to stay unbeaten on the year.
 
In a matchup between two of the top arms in the league, Gus Varland (3-1) was unable to keep pace as he lasted four innings in the loss. Varland was the victim of some defensive miscues as four of the five runs he allowed were unearned. The right-hander finished with four walks and four strikeouts while allowing three hits. Four different CSP relievers combined to allow eight runs over the final three innings of the game, with Michael Voss tallying a shutout inning in the sixth.
 
Mickey Leius provided the pop in the Concordia lineup with his first homer of the season while Carter Schmidt was the lone Golden Bear with a multi-hit game as he registered his 10^th with two hits in three trips. Connor Trygstad and Isaac Hormann provided the other two hits for CSP.
 
It was a balanced offensive output for the Mavericks as six different players drove in runs, led by Luke Waldek, who homered and drove in three, and Josh Wenzel, who drove in three of his own.
 
MSU did some early game manufacturing of runs as they used a CSP error and a wild pitch to set up a run in the first before taking advantage of a pair of sacrifices in the second to pull ahead 2-0.
 
Leius tied it up in the bottom of the frame as he followed a Roch Whittaker walk with a two-run blast over the left field wall, but the Mavericks were quickly back at it as they took the lead for good in the third.
 
Minnesota State jumped back out front with one in the top of the third before adding two in the fourth, three in the fifth and five in the seventh to bring it to the final margin of 13-2.
 
GAME TWO: Minnesota State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 1
Minnesota State followed a similar recipe for success in game two as they took an early lead before pulling away late. The Mavericks held a 1-0 lead until the Golden Bears tied it in the fifth, but MSU scored in three of the final four frames to grab the 5-1 win.
 
After having six of MSU's 13 runs in the first game go as unearned runs, three of the five in the second game also came off of Concordia errors. Zach Lauzon (1-3) was harmed by unearned runs in the game as he gave up four runs (one earned) over 6.1 innings in the start as he took the loss. Lauzon allowed five hits and walked three to go along with eight strikeouts in the game. Josh Gaworski came on to grab the final two outs of the seventh before Louie Varland worked the final two frames.
 
Aaron Rozek (4-1) kept the CSP hitters off balance during his 7.0 innings as he allowed just five hits and a run while striking out eight in the winning effort. Carlo Graffeo came on to work two perfect innings with three strikeouts to claim his third save of the season.
 
The Golden Bears scattered five hits throughout the order as no player picked up more than one. Mickey Leius was once again the lone run producer as his RBI triple scored CSP's only run in the game. Carter Schmidt, Isaac Hormann, Kyle Horstmann and Adam Hildebrandt all added singles.
 
Game two began much in the same way as game one with MSU utilizing an error to start the game to open the scoring. After the leadoff error, Noah Bluth singled home Wenzel with two down to give the Mavericks a 1-0 edge.
 
That lead held until the bottom half of the fifth inning as the Golden Bears broke through for their first run since the second inning of game one. Ben Suits got the rally started with a leadoff walk before Leius roped a triple to the gap in left center to bring him home. Rozek avoided more damage as the next two hitters were retired before Leius was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch to end the inning.
 
The tie game lasted just three pitches in the sixth as Ty Buck launched a solo shot to lead off the inning to give the Mavericks the lead back at 2-1. One inning later, Minnesota State once again took advantage of a CSP miscue to add to their lead. With one out and runners on the corners, a dropped pop up allowed the runner to score from third before a two-out single pushed another across to give MSU a three-run edge at 4-1.
 
The Mavericks added one more insurance run, the first of the year off of Louie Varland, in the ninth to bring the score to the final at 5-1.
 
Concordia's weekend series with Minot State has been cancelled due to unplayable field conditions in Minot and inclement weather in the forecast throughout the Midwest this weekend. The Golden Bears are scheduled to return to action next Wednesday at U-Mary in NSIC action.