JOPLIN, Mo. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (9-4, 1-1 NSIC) opened the NSIC regular season with a split against Southwest Minnesota State (2-5, 1-1 NSIC) on Friday as they rebounded from a tough 6-5 loss in game one to pick up a walk-off, 10-inning win by a score of 3-2 in the second game.
 
GAME ONE: Southwest Minnesota State 6, Concordia-St. Paul 5
The Golden Bears looked to be headed to a conference-opening victory in game one as they held a 4-1 lead moving into the latter innings, but the Mustangs flipped the script with a big five-run sixth to come out on top.
 
The big blow came on a Jayden Fleck grand slam as the SMSU second baseman turned a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead with one swing of the bat. Fleck was one of two Mustang hitters to register a two-hit game as he finished 2-3 with four driven in.
 
Concordia, on the other hand, managed to out-hit Southwest Minnesota State 10-8 in the contest as four different Golden Bears registered multi-hit performances. Senior Isaac Hormann led the way as he finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-4 with a homer, a double and three RBIs in the game. Ryan Christopher added his 15^th and 16^th runs batted in on the season as he finished a perfect 2-2 at the plate. Patrick Bordewick chipped in a two-hit effort with a double and a pair of runs scored while Roch Whittaker also delivered two hits in the loss.
 
Louie Varland (2-1) carved through the SMSU lineup over the first five innings, but he was unable to escape the sixth as he was handed his first loss of the season. The junior struck out five and allowed seven hits in his 5.1 innings of work. Ross Bastyr came on to throw 1.2 shutout innings in relief.
 
Justin Clark lasted just 4.0 innings in the no-decision before Donny Schroeder (2-0) came on to pitch 1.0+ scoreless innings in relief to nab the win for the Mustangs. Teddy Broxterman got the final six outs of the game, allowing a run on two hits with three strikeouts to pick up the save.
 
It was the Mustangs that opened the scoring as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a pair of two-out hits in the top half of the second. Robbie Smith kept the inning alive with a double to the base of the wall in right field before Matt Bezdicek deposited a single into the right center gap to bring him home.
 
The lead held until the bottom of the third when Hormann put the Golden Bears in front. After a one-out walk to Schmidt, Hormann launched a 1-1 pitch just past the outstretched glove of the right fielder over the short wall in right to make it 2-1. Bordewick added a double one batter later before coming around to score on Christopher's second hit of the game.
 
Hormann was back at it again two innings later as he came through with a big two-out double to drive in Jake Steckler, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, to extend the lead to 4-1 heading to the fifth inning.
 
One inning later, Southwest Minnesota State came roaring back. The sixth inning started with a pair of soft singles to the opposite field off of Varland before a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Varland followed with a big strikeout for the first out of the frame, but Jayden Fleck promptly unloaded the bases with a grand slam to left center. Tanner Strommen then brought a close to Varland's day with a triple before scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Smith to give SMSU a 6-4 lead.
 
The Golden Bears put the pressure on the SMSU in the bottom of the seventh as they brought the winning run to the plate with nobody out after back-to-back singles for Bordewick and Whittaker put runners on the corners to start the inning. Christopher then cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly, but Broxterman slammed the door with two straight strikeouts to end the game.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 3, Southwest Minnesota 2 (10 inn.)
Nine innings weren't enough to determine a winner in the second game of the day as the Mustangs tied the score at 2-2 in the seventh before Roch Whittaker laced a walk-off single in the 10^th to claim a 3-2 win for the Golden Bears.
 
Whittaker's lone hit in the game proved to be a big one as he drove in the game-winning run after going hitless in his first three at-bats. Carter Schmidt scored two of the team's three runs as he finished the game 3-5 with a double for his second three-hit game of the season. Ryan Christopher continued to raise his average as he picked up his fifth multi-hit effort of the year, and second of the day, by going 2-4. Patrick Bordewick also finished 2-4 with an RBI in the contest.
 
On the mound, Zach Lauzon was dominant in a no-decision as he reached double-digit strikeouts for the second time in his career, striking out 11 in his 7.0 innings of work. He allowed just four hits and two runs in the game before handing it over to the bullpen. Blake Stelzer followed with 2.0 scoreless frames as he scattered three hits to lower his ERA to 1.13 on the season. Shane Benson (1-0) added his first win of the year to his two saves as he worked around a single and faced just three hitters in his lone inning in the 10^th.
 
John Bezdicek matched Lauzon for much of the afternoon for the Mustangs as he did not allow an earned run in 6.1 innings as he struck out six and gave up six hits. Jeremy Stouffer (0-2) took the loss in relief as he allowed a run on two hits in 3.0+ innings.
 
Southwest Minnesota State was the first on the scoreboard again in game two as they grabbed the first run of the game in the third inning. A hit by pitch and a stolen base for Spencer Rudnik set up Ben Heichel to delivered a run-scoring single to left with two down to break through against Lauzon.
 
The Golden Bears had to wait two more innings for their first run of the contest as they benefitted from an SMSU miscue in the fifth to take the lead. After two quick outs to start the inning, Steven Nessler was hit by a pitch before moving into scoring position on a wild pitch. Carter Schmidt followed with a bouncing ball to second that the second baseman was unable to field cleanly as he hustled down the line to beat the throw. Nessler used some similarly impressive baserunning on the play as he kept on running all the way from second base to score on the play even though the ball never left the infield. CSP made it hurt even worse as Hormann walked to extend the inning before Bordewick singled home Schmidt to put Concordia in front 2-1 through five innings.
 
Concordia's lead lasted an inning and a half as SMSU evened the score at 2-2 with a run in the top of the seventh. After the first two batters of the inning reached base safely, Lauzon retired the next two in a row as he looked to escape the inning unscathed. He came inches away from doing so as Christopher nearly made a highlight reel grab in center on a soft fly ball, but instead it dropped in to allow the tying run to score from second. The Mustangs ran themselves out of the inning one batter later resulted in a failed double steal attempt in which the final out of the inning was made at the plate.
 
It was zeroes back and forth from there as the two bullpens did their jobs and sent the games to extras. Benson came on in the 10^th and allowed a baserunner, but snagged a liner right back at him to double off the runner at first and send it to the bottom of the 10^th still tied at 2-2.
 
Schmidt got things started for Concordia with a solid single to left before moving up on a Hormann sacrifice bunt. Jarod Wandersee, in his lone at-bat in the game, fought hard to coax a walk to bring Whittaker up to the plate with the winning run at second. Whittaker wasted little time in sending the Golden Bears home happy as he lined the second pitch he saw past the diving shortstop into left field to allow Schmidt to slide in safely at the plate to seal the victory.
 
The Golden Bears and Mustangs close out the series tomorrow in a single nine-inning game starting at 11 a.m.