BOONE, Iowa – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (18-17, 9-14 NSIC) rode a game one shutout victory to claim a split with #20 Augustana (25-11, 18-4 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at DMACC Baseball Field. CSP claimed a 1-0 win in the first game of the day before falling 7-1 in game two.
 
The Golden Bears picked up their first win since 2016 against the defending national champions as they moved to 5-29 in the all-time series.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 1, Augustana 0
Against one of the top lineups in the conference, the senior duo of Zach Lauzon and Blake Stelzer combined for an impressive two-hit shutout as they kept the Vikings guessing throughout the contest.
 
Lauzon (2-2) worked the first 6.0 innings of the game, striking out three to pick up the win. Stelzer came on in the seventh and faced the minimum as he picked up a strikeout and a game-ending double play to grab his second save of the year.
 
At the plate, the Golden Bears tallied eight hits despite being held to just one run as Roch Whittaker and Tom Austin each registered two-hit games. Austin picked up the team's lone extra-base hit with a double while Cole Kirchoff drove in the game's only run with an RBI single in addition to drawing a walk. Ryan Christopher also reached base safely twice with a single and a walk.
 
Augustana starter Seth Miller (3-3) nearly matched Lauzon throughout the game as he allowed just an unearned run on the eight hits over 6.0 innings while striking out four as he took the tough luck loss.
 
After Lauzon stranded the bases loaded in the top of the first, CSP took advantage of some two-out hitting in the bottom of the frame to take the lead. With two outs and a runner on first, a potential inning-ending groundball to short bounced off the glove of the shortstop to allow the inning to continue. Kirchoff did not waste the opportunity as he followed with an RBI single to center on the first pitch he saw to score Isaac Hormann from second.
 
The Golden Bears put two men on again in the second, but that proved to be the last real threat until the top of the fifth. After two straight walks and a wild pitch put two in scoring position with nobody out, Lauzon worked some magic to work out of the jam. The right-hander picked up a strikeout, a fly out and a foul out against the top three of the Augie order.
 
Lauzon followed a similar script in his final inning of work in the sixth as he worked around two walks to put up another scoreless inning.
 
Stelzer picked up where Lauzon left off as he followed up a one-out single with a textbook double play ball to second to seal the 1-0 victory for the Golden Bears.
 
GAME TWO: Augustana 7, Concordia-St. Paul 1
While the Golden Bear pitching staff stifled the Vikings in the first game of the day, their bats came alive in the second as Augie hammered out 17 hits and seven runs to pull away from CSP in the series finale. The Vikings scored in six of nine innings en route to claiming the win.
 
For the third game in a row, Cole Kirchoff provided the run production for the Golden Bears as he delivered an RBI hit in all three games in the series. The CSP right fielder picked up two of the team's six hits in the loss with a 2-4 effort. Jarod Wandersee added a hit and a walk while Roch Whittaker drew two walks for Concordia.
 
Keanu Mendez (3-4) got the start and battled through 6.0 innings but took the loss for the Golden Bears as he allowed five runs while walking none and striking out five. Nate Stolte followed with 2.0 innings of relief before Shane Benson threw the ninth.
 
Augustana used four different pitchers on a bullpen day as Thomas Bruss (4-1) picked up the win with 2.2 innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts. Jed Schmidt worked the final 4.0 innings, not allowing a run on four hits while striking out four as well.
 
While it was the Golden Bears that put up a run in the first in game two, it was the Vikings' turn to score first in game two as they put a run on the board in the top of the first. The first three runners of the game all reached safely to load the bases before a Ryan Nickel sacrifice fly made it 1-0. Mendez did a good job of limiting the damage as he picked up an inning-ending double play to keep the score there.
 
The Vikings were back at it again in the third, however, as back-to-back singles to start the frame set up a Will Olson run-scoring single one batter later. Augustana added another to their lead as Sam Baier successfully executed a squeeze bunt to bring in the second run of the inning and the third of the game.
 
Augie continued to add to their lead with single runs in each of the next two innings to push it to 5-0 heading to the home half of the fifth. JT Mix delivered the RBI single in the fourth while Seth Miller added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
 
Concordia answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth as Cole Kirchoff beat out a double play attempt to drive in a run, but were unable to get more as they left the bases loaded in the inning.
 
Augustana added an insurance run in the seventh on a wild pitch and another in the ninth on a Bjorn Hanson RBI single to bring it to the final score of 7-1 as CSP was held off the board over the final four innings.
 
Concordia is scheduled to return home on Tuesday to play host to Upper Iowa in an NSIC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Check back to cspbears.com for any schedule updates.