TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (1-0) picked up a win in the season opener as they erased an early deficit to claim a 4-3 win over Concordia-Nebraska (2-4) on Saturday.
 
After finding themselves in a 2-0 hole before even stepping up to the plate, the Golden Bears clawed their way into the lead with four runs in the fourth before holding off the Bulldogs for a season-opening victory. The win extends CSP's streak to seven straight years with a win to start the season.
 
Concordia junior right-hander Louie Varland (1-0) bounced back from a tough first inning to blank the Bulldogs for the next four innings to pick up win on the mound. Varland struck out eight and allowed just two hits and two runs (one earned) in his 5.0 innings of work. Ross Bastyr picked up where Varland left off as he scattered four hits and a run over 4.0 innings to pick up the save.
 
At the plate, the Golden Bears did just enough to win as they finished the night with five hits and seven walks as a team. Patrick Bordewick picked up the team's lone extra-base hit with a double to go along with a walk and a run scored as he finished the day 1-3 at the dish. Cole Kirchoff matched his output with a 1-3 day while also driving in the team's first run of the day and scoring the go-ahead run. Carter Schmidt also had a hit and an RBI while Roch Whittaker and Drew Sannes added singles as well. Isaac Hormann and Ben Suits added a pair of walks each as well.
 
The Bulldogs got off to a fast start with three of the first four hitters of the game reached base safely as two runs crossed the plate. Wade Council was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before Christian Meza and Jesse Garcia followed a strikeout with back-to-back run-scoring singles. Varland limited the damage by striking out the next two hitters to keep it 2-0 as the Golden Bears came up to bat for the first time of the year.
 
The Golden Bears put baserunners on in each of the first three innings, but they didn't break through until the fourth. Whittaker and Bordewick got things started with a pair of hard hit balls as Whittaker delivered a single to left and Bordewick drove a double to the gap in right center before Ben Suits drew a walk to load the bases. Kirchoff picked up the first RBI of the year for the squad with a fielder's choice to third that resulted in an error to keep the bases loaded with nobody out. After a strikeout, Ryan Christopher evened the score with a walk to bring home Bordewick before Schmidt hustled down the line to beat out a potential inning-ending double play one batter later. A rushed throw from second base on the turn ended up in the first base dugout which allowed two more runs to score as CSP took a 4-2 lead heading to the fifth.
 
Concordia put runners on first and second with one down in the sixth, but they were unable to capitalize as the score remained 4-2 in favor of the Golden Bears until the eighth.
 
After two quick innings for Bastyr in relief of Varland, Concordia-Nebraska finally got to him in the eighth as they trimmed the deficit in half. A leadoff double off the bat of Garcia followed by a single from Evan Bohman put the tying run on base with nobody out. Bastyr settled back down from there as he coaxed a sacrifice fly, a soft lineout and another fly out to end the inning with the lead intact.
 
The sophomore worked out of trouble again in the ninth as he followed up a leadoff walk with a fly out and a game-ending double play to finish off the win.
 
The Golden Bears are back in action with a doubleheader tomorrow against Dakota Wesleyan. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 4 p.m.