SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (16-9, 7-6 NSIC) completed a four-game sweep of Minnesota Duluth (4-16, 2-9 NSIC) as they took game three 9-2 and game four 6-3 on Monday at Superior High School.
 
With the four wins over the Bulldogs, CSP improves to 24-28 in the all-time series and 11-6 in games played at neutral sites. The first win of the day also marked a milestone for head coach Mark "Lunch" McKenzie as he registered his 450th win at the helm for the Golden Bears. His career record now stands at 451-343.
 
It was a true team effort on the day for the Golden Bears as 11 different players registered hits and 18 reached base at least once in the doubleheader sweep. As a team, CSP picked up 23 hits it 70 at-bats to slash .329/.434/.443 on the day. The pitching staff was equally effective as the four pitchers combined for a 1.69 ERA over 16.0 innings with 13 strikeouts and 14 hits allowed.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Minnesota Duluth 2
The Golden Bears jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first and didn't look back as they cruised to a 9-2 win in the third game of the series.
 
CSP hammered out 13 hits and drew six walks as the Golden Bears had nine different players reach base safely. The top six in the order did most of the damage as the group finished 13-28 (.464) with a pair of homers and a pair of doubles in the win.
 
Cole Kirchoff put up a powerful performance by going 2-5 with a home run and a double while driving in a career-best four runs. Ryan Christopher provided a big game of his own with a four-hit effort, including a double, to go along with two RBIs. Carter Schmidt launched his first home run of the year as a part of a two-hit game while Isaac Hormann collected three hits to help aid the effort.
 
On the mound, Keanu Mendez (3-2) worked deep in the game as he scattered eight hits and allowed just two runs over 8.0 innings. The right-hander struck out five in the win. Shane Benson came on to work a scoreless ninth to finish it off.
 
Concordia jumped ahead from the start as Roch Whittaker brought home the first run with an RBI groundout before Christopher singled home a second run and Kirchoff doubled home a third to build a 3-0 edge before the Bulldogs even stepped up to the plate.
 
The Bulldogs got two back in the bottom of the inning with run-scoring singles from Tyler Wojciechowski and McCale Peterson, but that would be all the damage they could muster against Mendez.
 
In the third, Kirchoff turned a one-run lead into a four-run lead as he went deep for the second time of the season with a three-run blast. Patrick Bordewick added an RBI single an inning later, extending his hitting streak to 14, to make it 7-2.
 
The 7-2 score held until the eighth when Schmidt homered and Christopher doubled home another run to bring the score to the final margin of 9-2.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 6, Minnesota Duluth 3
While the Golden Bears ran out a lineup with nine new starters in the second game, the result didn't change as they took care of business in a 6-3 non-conference victory in the series finale.
 
It was an impressive all-around performance for CSP as the offense combined for 10 hits and six runs while the pitching staff held UMD to four hits and three runs (two earned) in the win.
 
Nate Stolte (2-0), making his first start of the season, kept the UMD hitters off-balanced over 4.0 innings of work as he limited the Bulldogs to two hits and an unearned run while walking none and striking out five to pick up the win. Ray Wellner finished it out from there as he came within an out of blanking Minnesota Duluth for three relief innings. The right-hander finished with two runs allowed on two hits with two strikeouts in his 3.0 innings to tally the save.
 
At the plate, it was a memorable game for Shea Pekarek as the freshman picked up his first career hit as a part of a 2-3 effort in which he drove in three of the team's six runs. Steven Nessler added a 3-4 performance with a run scored and an RBI while Ben Suits also reached base safely three times with a pair of singles and a walk to go along with two runs scored.
 
The two pitchers matched zeroes for the first two and a half innings until the Bulldogs broke through in the bottom of the third. It took some help from the CSP defense to push the first run across as two errors in the inning allowed the first run to score.
 
The bats came alive for Concordia a half inning later in the top of the fourth as three straight hitters reached safely to start the inning. After two quick outs, Pekarek came through with an RBI infield single to tie it before a wild pitch allowed the go-ahead run to score.
 
The Golden Bears continued to add to their lead in the fifth as Nessler collected his third hit of the game, this time a run-scoring single to right, before Pekarek drove in two more with a single of his own. A passed ball allowed the fourth run of the inning to cross the plate as CSP's lead reached 6-1.
 
The Bulldogs managed a pair of late runs on a two-out, two-run double off the bat of Pokornowski, but that would be it as Concordia closed out the win and the sweep of the series.
 
The Golden Bears remain on the road in the mid-week as they travel to Bismarck, N.D. to take on UMary on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Sanford Sports Complex.