ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (20-21, 11-18 NSIC) dropped a pair of close contests to #26 Minnesota State (32-10, 23-7 NSIC) on Friday afternoon at Barnes Field as MSU took game one 5-4 in 10 innings and game two 5-3.
 
CSP held leads in both games, including a 4-3 advantage heading into the seventh inning of game one, but the Mavericks stormed back to take both games. With the two losses, the Golden Bears dropped to 7-33 in the all-time series with MSU.
 
GAME ONE: Minnesota State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 4 (10 inn.)
After falling behind 3-0 early in the series opener, the Golden Bears responded with a run in the third and three more in the fourth to take the lead. That lead would not last, however, as Minnesota State tied it with a run in the seventh and built the decisive edge with a solo homer in the 10^th to pick up the win.
 
The CSP offense managed to out-hit MSU in the contest by a margin of 12 hits to 10, but missed opportunities proved to be the difference as the Golden Bears stranded 10 runners, including six in the final four innings of the game.
 
The Golden Bears had four hitters register multi-hit efforts as Cole Kirchoff, Tom Austin, Patrick Bordewick and Ben Suits all grabbed a pair of hits. Kirchoff also drew a pair of walks to reach safely four times while Austin and Bordewick each drove in a run. Isaac Hormann picked up the team's lone extra base hit with the double.
 
CSP starter Josh Gaworski put together an impressive outing as he did not allow an earned run in his 5.2 innings of work. The senior right-hander scattered seven hits and a pair of walks while striking out seven in a no-decision.
 
Blake Stelzer (3-1) took his first loss of the season in relief as he worked 4.1 innings, allowing three hits and two runs to go along with seven strikeouts.
 
After Concordia chased Minnesota State starter Collin Denk after just 3.0+ innings, the Maverick bullpen took care of business with 7.0 shutout innings. Kyle Nordby allowed just two hits over 5.0 innings while Bobby Gauvreau (2-2) picked up the win with 2.0 innings of one-hit ball.
 
The Mavericks opened the scoring in the first inning without the benefit of a hit to the outfield. A one-out infield single followed by a failed pickoff attempt set up a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jordan Hart to make it 1-0 in favor of MSU.
 
Minnesota State once again took advantage of some CSP miscues in the third to add to their lead. RBI singles for Hart and Ty Buck after a fielding error and a walk extended the lead to 3-0 for the Mavericks heading to the bottom of the frame.
 
The Golden Bears turned the momentum in their favor in their half of the inning as they used a Jarod Wandersee single and an Isaac Hormann double to set up an RBI groundout off the bat of Patrick Bordewick to cut it to 3-1.
 
They were right back at it an inning later as they hung three on the board to take a 4-3 lead. Concordia jumped all over Denk to start the fourth with four straight singles as Christopher scored on a Kirchoff bunt single and Whittaker scored on a seeing eye single off the bat of Austin to tie it. After a pitching change, Wandersee delivered a sacrifice fly to put CSP out front.
 
MSU threatened to tie the game or take the lead with a pair of hits in the sixth, but Gaworski and Stelzer teamed up to strike out three in the inning to maintain the one run edge.
 
The Golden Bears were not quite as fortunate an inning later as Nick Altermatt followed a Tyler Berg bunt single and a sacrifice bunt with a groundball single just past the outstretched glove of Bordewick to tie the game at 4-4.
 
CSP had a chance to finish it off in the bottom of the seventh as they put two on with one out, but an inning-ending double play sent the game to extra innings. Concordia put two runners on again in the eighth and another in the ninth but were unable to capitalize as the score remained even heading to the 10^th.
 
Teddy Petersen promptly untied the score with one out in the top of the 10^th as he sent the first pitch he saw just out of reach of Christopher over the centerfield wall to give the Mavericks a 5-4 advantage.
 
Concordia had one final chance to bring home a run in extras in the bottom of the frame and drew a pair of walks to put the tying run in scoring position, but back-to-back fly outs ended the rally as MSU closed out the extra-inning win.
 
GAME TWO: Minnesota State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 3
The Golden Bears jumped ahead early with three runs in the first inning to quickly build a 3-1 lead, but that would be all they would manage as MSU scored one in the second, two in the third and one in the fifth to knock off CSP 5-3 in the second game of the day.
 
CSP looked like they were going to send Maverick starting pitcher Trevor Divinski (4-0) to an early exit, but the right-hander ended up recovering to work 6.1 innings to pick up the win. Divinski allowed only the three first inning runs and eight hits while walking two and striking out three. Hunter Even came on to pick up the final two outs to claim his second save of the season.
 
Keanu Mendez (3-5) worked the first 4.0 innings for CSP, allowing five runs and striking out a pair in the loss. Luke DeGrammont and Shane Benson followed with a combined 3.0 shutout innings with two hits allowed and two strikeouts.
 
At the plate, Ryan Christopher and Roch Whittaker tallied half of the team's eight hits with Christopher going 2-3 with a double and a run scored and Whittaker going 2-3 with an RBI. The two-hit game was Christopher's team-leading eighth of the season as he moved his total to 10 multi-hit games on the year. Ben Suits provided the highlight of the game for the Golden Bears as he launched a two-run home run for his first long ball of the season.
 
Jordan Buck put the Mavericks in front in the top of the first with solo home run to right center, but Concordia quickly answered with three runs in their half of the inning.
 
Isaac Hormann got things rolling with a one out single before a fielder's choice brought Suits to the plate with two down. The CSP designated hitter sent a deep fly ball over the wall in right to put the Golden Bears in front. A Ryan Christopher double and a steal kept the inning alive for Roch Whittaker, who sent a 3-2 pitch off the top of the wall to score the third run of the inning for the Golden Bears.
 
Minnesota State responded right back with a run in the second and two more in the third to regain the lead. Tom Imholte drove in the run with a single to left the second before Mitch Frederick delivered a single to left of his own in the third to put MSU in front 4-3 after two and a half innings.
 
The score held until the top of the fifth when the Mavericks tacked on an insurance run. The Golden Bears nearly worked out of a bases loaded jam with one out, but Tyler Berg beat out a potential inning-ending double play to allow the runner to score from third.
 
Concordia put runners on in each of the final four frames but were held off the board as Minnesota State held the score at 5-3 to pick up the doubleheader sweep.
 
The two teams will conclude the series on Sunday with a nine-inning conference game and a seven-inning non-conference game on Senior Day. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. as CSP honors their 16 seniors.