MINNETONKA, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (12-9, 4-6 NSIC) bounced back from a 6-4 game one loss to pick up a 9-1 win in game two against Bemidji State (2-16, 1-6 NSIC) on Wednesday night at Veterans Field.
 
The Golden Bears came within an out of a doubleheader sweep as a two-out rally in the seventh inning of the first game of the day for the Beavers kept CSP from taking both.
 
The duo of Ryan Christopher and Patrick Bordewick each picked up multi-hit games in both contests as Christopher finished 4-8 with a pair of runs scored and RBIs while Bordewick extended his hitting streak to 11 by going 4-9 with two driven in as well. Christopher was also impressive on the mound with 6.0 innings of one-run ball to pick up his second win of the season.
 
GAME ONE: Bemidji State 6, Concordia-St. Paul 4
After clawing their way back from an early deficit, the Golden Bears found themselves one out away from victory, but a three-run seventh gave the Beavers the decisive advantage.
 
Patrick Bordewick's go-ahead two-run single in the fifth looked to be the game-winner until the late push for BSU spoiled that. The junior shortstop also added a double on the day. Ryan Christopher also finished 2-4 with a double as he scored a run and drove in another. In total, eight of CSP's nine starters collected hits as the team finished with 10 total.
 
Josh Gaworski got the start for CSP and pitched 4.0 innings in a no-decision. He struck out four and allowed three runs before giving way to the bullpen. Shane Benson (1-1) held the Beavers off the board for his first 2.2 innings of work before seeing three runs cross the plate as he took the loss.
 
Tommy Geisenhof (1-1) picked up the win for Bemidji State as he threw a scoreless inning in relief of starter Kevin Smith. Jesse Palafox added a save as he struck out three Golden Bears in the seventh.
 
The Beavers came out firing in the first as a hit by pitch to start the game followed by a stolen base set up one-out single off the bat of Noah Boser to bring in the game's first run one batter later.
 
After a scoreless second inning, Concordia evened the score in the bottom of the third. Drew Sannes got the innings started with a single before moving up on a Nessler bunt. Carter Schmidt followed with a single to put runners on the corners with Christopher stepping up to the plate. The sophomore put CSP on the board with a double to deep center as the Golden Bears found themselves with a chance to take the lead with runners on second and third with one out. Smith put an end to the rally with a strikeout and a fly out to keep it at 1-1.
 
Bemidji State regained the lead a half an inning later as BSU picked up back-to-back run-scoring singles to make it 3-1. Blake Huntley picked up the go-ahead hit with a bloop single to left before Jackson Back knocked an RBI hit through the right side.
 
The Golden Bears quickly erased that lead as they scored one in the bottom of the fourth before scoring two more in the fifth to take the lead. In the fourth, Isaac Hormann nearly single-handedly manufactured a run as he singled, stole second, and moved up to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Kyle Horstmann groundout. It was Patrick Bordewick's turn to do the damage in the fifth as he lined a single to center to drive in Nessler and Christopher and give CSP their first lead at 4-3.
 
CSP looked to be headed to a victory as they held the 4-3 edge into the seventh, Bemidji State quickly put themselves in a good position in the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Benson rebounded by retiring the next two hitters to bring the Golden Bears within an out of a win. Matt Kummet extended the game, however, as he singled home the tying run before Kade Nelson gave the Beavers the lead with a single of his own. Huntley added to the lead with a single to bring it to the final score of 6-4.
 
The Golden Bears did manage to bring the tying run to the plate with one down in their half of the seventh, but back-to-back strikeouts brought the game to a close.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Bemidji State 1
In the second game of the day, the CSP bats combined for nine runs on 11 hits while the Golden Bear pitchers held the Beavers to just one run on four hits in an impressive all-around performance.
 
Cole Kirchoff and Ryan Christopher each put up two-hit games with a triple mixed in as Kirchoff drove in three and scored another while Christopher picked up a run scored and an RBI. Patrick Bordewick added another two-hit game as well while Isaac Hormann launched his team-leading third home run.
 
On the mound, Christopher (2-0) was dominant as he allowed just an unearned run on two hits over 6.0 frames while striking out seven. Connor Hurley followed with 3.0 scoreless innings of two-hit ball to register his first save of the year.
 
The Golden Bears got off to a strong start in game two as they opened the scoring with two runs in the first. With two on and two out, Kirchoff delivered a line drive double that hopped over the short wall in left to score two.
 
Bemidji State got a run back in the third as they benefitted from a pair of CSP errors, but the Golden Bears quickly got the run back with Hormann's solo shot just over the left field wall.
 
Concordia continued to pour it on in the fourth as they added three runs to their lead to make it 6-1. Christopher got things rolling with a triple to the left center before Kyle Horstmann sliced a single down the right field line to bring him home. A Sannes single and a Jeffrey Kressler walk loaded the bases as Schmidt followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in the second run of the inning. Isaac Hormann beat out a potential double play ball one batter later to allow another run to score and push the lead to five.
 
With the CSP pitching staff continuing to put up zeroes, the Golden Bears put it further out of reach in the seventh. This time it was Kirchoff's turn to leg out a triple as he drove Bordewick with the shot. Christopher followed with a solid single past the drawn in infield to push the lead to 8-1.
 
CSP added one more in the eighth as Schmidt scored on a balk to bring the score to the final margin of 9-1.
 
The Golden Bears hit the road this weekend as they travel to Minnesota Duluth for a three-game series.