TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (5-1) saw their season-opening five-game winning streak come to a close in a 15-6 loss to St. Cloud State (8-1) on Wednesday night.
 
The Golden Bears scored the first four runs of the game and remained even with the Huskies at 6-6 through six and a half innings before the Huskies hammered out nine runs in their final two trips to the plate to gain the decisive edge.
 
The CSP offense continued to be productive as they extended their streak to five straight games with at least six runs scored. The trio of Ryan Christopher, Cole Kirchoff and Carter Schmidt all registered two-hit games to combine for six of the team's nine hits on the night. Christopher added to his incredible early-season RBI total with two more runs batted in on a two-run double to bring his total to 13 in just six games. He also added a single to finish the game 2-4. Cole Kirchoff reached base safely all three times he stepped up to the plate, going 2-2 with a hit by pitch and two runs scored. Carter Schmidt chipped in a pair of singles while Patrick Bordewick doubled home a run as well.
 
Connor Hurley picked up a no-decision after working 3.1 innings before Ross Bastyr, Ryan Bastyr and Ray Wellner all worked in relief. Ross Bastyr (0-1) was tagged with the loss out of the bullpen.
 
SCSU ace Dominic Austing (2-0) was not at his best as he allowed eight hits and six runs (four earned) with five strikeouts in 7.0 innings but saw his offense score seven runs in the bottom of the seventh to give him the win. Matt Butler and George Loxtercamp each pitched a scoreless inning for the Huskies in relief.
 
Toran Shahidi was the hero at the plate for the Huskies with a perfect 4-4 mark with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored while Najee Gaskins went 2-4 with a two-run homer for St. Cloud State.
 
After a quick first two innings, the Golden Bears struck first with a pair of runs in the top half of the third. Steckler led off the frame with a looping single down the right field line before Kirchoff legged down the line to beat out a bunt for a hit. On the bunt, an errant throw down the first base line allowed Steckler to move up to third. Two batters later, Isaac Hormann perfectly executed the squeeze play to bring in Steckler and move Kirchoff up to second. Bordewick doubled the lead with a two-out two-bagger down the left field line before Austing got out of the inning.
 
Concordia added to their lead in the fourth as they took advantage of a St. Cloud State error to push two runs across. A two-out miscue on a grounder to third set up a run-scoring wild pitch to bring in Steckler before Kirchoff drove in another run with his second hit of the game to make it 4-0.
 
The Huskies quickly turned the game in their favor as they hung five runs on the Golden Bears in their half of the fourth to take the lead. The first four hitters of the inning reached base safely, including a Matt Quade RBI single, before Ethan Ibarra was retired for the first out on a sacrifice fly. Mathew Meyer tied the game two batters later with a two-run single before Lenny Walker put the Huskies in front with a two-out RBI hit. SCSU continued the scoring in the fifth as Ibarra hit his second sacrifice fly in as many innings to make it 6-4.
 
The Golden Bears clawed their way back in it two innings later as a two-run inning in the seventh tied it back up at 6-6. A Kirchoff hit by pitch got the inning started before a Schmidt single and a Hormann sacrifice bunt put the tying run in scoring position. A strikeout followed by an intentional walk brought Ryan Christopher to the plate with the bases loaded and two down as the sophomore came through with a big hit yet again. The left-handed hitting centerfielder roped a double to the left center gap to even the score heading to bottom of the eighth.
 
St. Cloud State wasted little time in regaining the lead as they answered back with a crooked inning of their own a half inning later. The Huskies scored seven runs in the frame to blow the game open as Quade, Haskamp, Mallek, Walker and Shahidi all delivered run-scoring hits in the inning. Najee Gaskins added to the lead one inning later with a two-run homer to bring the score to the final margin of 15-6.
 
Concordia is back in action tomorrow night with a first pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m. against Southwest Minnesota State.