SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The fifth-seeded Concordia Golden Bears baseball team's (26-16) late push fell short in a 10-9 loss to second-seeded #11 Augustana (44-8) in the NSIC Tournament Championship on Saturday at Karras Park.
 
For the second time in three years, the Golden Bears saw their impressive run to the title game ended by the host school as the Vikings followed in the footsteps of the 2016 St. Cloud State squad that went a perfect 4-0 to win on their home field. The loss dropped CSP to 14-19 all-time in 11 trips to the NSIC Tournament.
 
The Golden Bears found themselves holding a four-run lead heading to the bottom of the fourth, but for the second day in a row the Vikings utilized a huge six-run fourth to take the lead for good. Concordia faced a four-run deficit with two innings to play and managed to cut it to one with the go-ahead run in scoring position, but Augie managed to stem the tide and secure the 10-9 victory.
 
Concordia will now hope their deep postseason run was enough to earn them an at-large bid into the NCAA Central Region Tournament. With three automatic qualifiers and five at-large spots available, the Golden Bears were not ranked inside the top-10 in the latest regional rankings released prior to tourney play. The selection show is tomorrow night on 9 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
 
CSP's offense went out with a bang as they hammered out 14 hits and nine runs with four of those hits going for extra bases. Carter Schmidt and Patrick Bordewick continued to rack up hits in bulk as both slashed out three hits apiece. Schmidt had a double, scored twice and drove in another to finish at 9-22 (.409) for the tournament to claim a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Bordewick added two more doubles to give him four for the tourney along with a home run to seal his All-Tournament Team selection. The two hitters were joined by Gus Varland as the three Concordia representatives on the All-Tournament Team.
 
A doubles machine throughout his career, Connor Olson closed out his time as a Golden Bear in fitting fashion with a two-run double as a part of a 2-4 performance with two RBIs and a run score. The double was his 48^th of his career, third most in program history, while his 214 hits ranked fourth and his 26 home runs ranked fifth.
 
Isaac Hormann also finished off a solid tournament performance as he went 2-4 with two runs scored to bring his average to .381 over the five games. Roch Whittaker also provided a big hit with a two-run homer in the third, his second big fly of the season.
 
The top of Augie's order did the heavy lifting in the win as each of their first five hitters registered multi-hit games as they combined to go 11-22 (.500). Of that group, Sam Baier and Jordan Barth both earned All-Tournament Team honors for their efforts. Augie also had Jacob Blank and Lucas Wylie named to the team.
 
Ryan Christopher got the start for CSP as the freshman worked 3.2 innings and gave up five runs while striking out two in a no-decision. Riley Sweeney came on for the final 4.1 innings in his longest outing of the season as he allowed five runs (three earned) with three strikeouts while taking the loss.
 
Austin Orvis (3-0) got the win for Augustana with two shutout innings in relief while Zach Reeg got the final four outs to grab his third save of the year.
 
As has been a theme throughout the tournament for CSP, they jumped ahead early with a run in the first. Singles from Isaac Hormann and Carter Schmidt put runners on the corners with one out before Connor Olson drew a two-out walk to load the bases. With Roch Whittaker at the plate, Collison uncorked a wild pitch to allow Hormann to score and put the Golden Bears in front 1-0.
 
The lead was short-lived as the Vikings responded with two in the bottom of the frame. Three of the first four hitters reached safely against Christopher before Ryan Nickel lined a single up the middle to tie the game. Lucas Wylie followed with a sacrifice fly to deep right before Christopher coaxed a groundout to end the inning and limit the damage to two runs.
 
The Golden Bears threatened to tie it up in the second as Mickey Leius nearly hit one out with a deep fly out to left before they put two on with two outs, but a groundout brought the inning to a close.
 
They did manage break through an inning later as Whittaker stepped up to the plate with a runner on first and two outs. The CSP first baseman unloaded on a 1-2 pitch and drove a deep two-run home run to left to put Concordia back in front 3-2 heading to the Augie half of the third.
 
Concordia continued to pour it on in the fourth as they added three runs to their lead. Patrick Bordewick led off with a double before Connor Trygstad drove him in with a solid single to center. Back-to-back singles for Schmidt and Sannes added another run before another wild pitch brought home the third run of the inning to extend the lead to 6-2.
 
Augustana put together an even bigger fourth inning as they regained the lead. All of the damage was done with two outs as Riley Johnson doubled home the first two runs with a double to end Christopher's day. Augie kept the ball rolling with four straight singles, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Michael Svozil and Jordan Barth to tie it up. The Vikings added two more on a costly error that allowed the fifth and sixth runners to cross the plate in the inning as Augie pulled out front 8-6.
 
More two-out hitting benefitted the Vikings in the fifth as Johnson drew a walk with two down before Svozil drove him in with a double down the left field line to push the lead to 9-6 moving to the sixth inning.
 
Svozil added what seemed like a meaningless insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out RBI triple, but that run proved to play a huge role.
 
Mickey Leius and Bordewick started the top of the eighth with back-to-back singles before a pair of quick outs with runners on first and third with two down and no runs in. Schmidt continued to pick up big hits with an RBI single up the middle to bring on Reeg. Sannes battled his way to a walk before Olson roped a double down the right field line to cut the deficit to one. With the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second, Reeg picked up a big comebacker to end the threat and keep Augustana out front 10-9 moving into the bottom of the eighth.
 
Sweeney retired the Vikings on just four pitches to keep the margin at one and give the Golden Bears a chance to tie or take the lead, but Reeg settled down to retire CSP in order to hang on for a 10-9.