SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The fifth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (25-15) fell to second-seeded #11 Augustana (43-8) by a score of 8-4 in the NSIC Tournament semifinals on Friday afternoon at Karras Park.
 
The Golden Bears dropped to the loser's bracket where they will face the winner of top-seeded Minot State and eighth-seeded Northern State on Friday night at approximately 7 p.m.
 
A win in Friday night's contest for CSP against either of those two schools would earn them a spot in the NSIC Championship for the second time in three years and earn them another meeting with the Vikings. With the loss, the Golden Bears fall to 13-18 in 11 appearances in the NSIC Tournament.
 
Concordia jumped ahead early with two runs in the top of the first, but saw the Vikings take the decisive edge with a big six-run fourth to pull away.
 
Josh Gaworksi (3-2) took the loss for the Golden Bears as he gave up five runs in 3.1 innings of work. Gaworski cruised through the first three innings, allowing just one run on one hit, before running into trouble in the fourth. Ryan Bastyr came on to work 2.2 innings of scoreless relief while Michael Voss followed with 2.0 innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts. Walks proved to be an issue as CSP walked 10 in 8.0 innings on the hill.
 
At the plate, Drew Sannes drove in two of the team's four runs with a single while Patrick Bordewick added a solo home run on the day. Connor Trygstad paced the squad with two hits on the day while Roch Whittaker drove in a run with a single as well.
 
Thomas Bruss (1-0) came on in the third for the Vikings with CSP leading 2-1, but left the game with a three-run lead to pick up the win out of the bullpen. Bruss gave up a pair of runs in 3.1 innings while striking out three in the winning effort. Dalton Allen, Austin Orvis, and Michael Brandt combined for 3.2 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out five to finish it off.
 
For the third consecutive game in the tournament, the Golden Bears opened the scoring in the first inning. Isaac Hormann was plunked with the first pitch of the game before Carter Schmidt doubled down the line to put a pair in scoring position with one out. Drew Sannes followed with a groundball single up the middle to score both runs as CSP took an early 2-0 lead.
 
The Vikings answered back with one of their own in the bottom of the inning as Riley Johnson led off with a walk before coming around to score on a two-out, bloop double to left off the bat of Jordan Barth.
 
The score held until the bottom of the fourth when Augustana took advantage of some help from the Golden Bears to compile a huge inning. Four of the first five hitters reached via the walk to tie the score and bring an end to Gaworski's day. The streak of walks continued from there as two more runs came across on bases loaded walks before a hit by pitch brought home another. Bastyr allowed a two-run single to the first batter he faced before collecting two groundouts to bring the inning to a close. In the inning, the Vikings managed to put six on the board one just one hit to take a 7-2 lead heading to the fifth.
 
Bordewick responded for CSP as he hit the second pitch of the next half inning off the scoreboard for an opposite field homer to cut it to four. Concordia got another run back in the sixth as Roch Whittaker lined a single up the middle to score Drew Sannes. The Golden Bears had a chance to continue to cut into the deficit with runners on first and second with one out, but a fly out and a strikeout kept the margin at 7-4.
 
Augie added to their lead in the eighth as a double down the line followed by a bunt for a base hit set up a sacrifice fly for Lucas Wylie. The Vikings threatened for more in the inning, but Voss stranded two in scoring position to hold it at 8-4 with two innings to play.
 
That score held as both teams matched zeroes the rest of the way to bring it to an 8-4 final.