ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (20-23, 11-19 NSIC) dropped two games to Minnesota State (34-10, 24-7 NSIC) on Senior Day at Barnes Field. The Mavericks took game one 10-4 and game two 10-1.
 
GAME ONE: Minnesota State 10, Concordia-St. Paul 4
With the wind blowing out at Barnes Field, the long ball played a major role in the first game of the day as the two teams combined for six home runs, with both teams hitting three. Minnesota State took the lead with a three-run shot in the first and held the lead throughout as they cruised to a 10-4 victory.
 
Patrick Bordewick, Cole Kirchoff and Isaac Hormann hit the three home runs for CSP as Bordewick finished 2-4 and Kirchoff drove in two of the team's four runs. Each of the top six hitter in the CSP lineup registered at least one hit.
 
Ryan Christopher (2-3) got the start for the Golden Bears and worked the first 2.2 innings in the loss. Connor Hurley followed with 4.1 innings of two-hit ball as he allowed a pair of runs before Luke DeGrammont worked the final 2.0 frames, allowing just an unearned run.
 
Hunter Even (1-1) picked up the win in relief for the Mavericks as he threw the final 5.0 innings, giving up two runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
 
The Mavericks greeted Christopher with two straight singles on the first two pitches of the game before Ty Buck launched three-run shot on top of the Gangelhoff Center to make it 3-0.
 
MSU utilized the long ball again in the third inning as Cam Kline hit a line drive three-run homer before Ty Denzer went back-to-back with a home run over the high fence in left.
 
It was Concordia's turn to take advantage of the dimensions of Barnes Field in their half of the inning as they also went back-to-back. Hormann put the Golden Bears on the board with a homer onto the softball field with one out before Bordewick hit the next pitch nearly in the same spot.
 
The two teams matched zeroes over the next two innings until Minnesota State added to their lead with two runs in the sixth. Jordan Hart and Ty Buck each delivered two-out RBI hits to extend the MSU lead to 9-2.
 
After the Mavericks added another on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, Concordia got two back in the bottom of the inning. Following two quick outs to start the frame, Suits kept the inning alive to set up Kirchoff's two-run blast over the wall in left.
 
That would be it for the scoring as Minnesota State closed out the conference portion of the series with a 10-4 win.
 
GAME TWO: Minnesota State 10, Concordia-St. Paul 1
On the back of senior right-hander Ben Suits' strong performance on the mound, the Golden Bears held a 1-0 lead into the fifth, but the Mavericks scored 10 runs over the final three innings to claim the win and the sweep of the series.
 
Making his first career start on the hill for CSP, Suits scattered four hits over 3.0 scoreless innings as he walked none and struck out four in an impressive outing. Ross Bastyr (0-2) followed with 2.1 innings in relief, taking the loss. Isaac Hormann also made his debut on the mound in the game.
 
Suits added to his pitching performance with two of the team's five hits at the plate. Seniors Isaac Hormann, Kyle Horstmann and Jeffrey Kressler added the other three hits. Senior Cole Kirchoff scored the lone run while fellow senior Jake Steckler drove him in.
 
Jack Zigan (4-2) came within an out of the complete game win for MSU as he worked 6.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out seven in the win. Jack Rasmussen came on to collect the final out of the game.
 
With Suits keeping the Mavericks scoreless for the first two innings, the Golden Bears took the lead in their half of the second. Cole Kirchoff nearly singlehandedly put CSP on the board as he was hit by a pitch, stole both second and third, and scored on a Jake Steckler sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
 
The lead held until the fifth when Minnesota State finally broke through against the CSP pitching staff. MSU took advantage of a Concordia error to start the inning as a sacrifice bunt and a groundout moved the tying run to third with two down. Nick Altermatt came through with the two-out hit as he hit a high chopper over the third baseman's head to even the score at 1-1.
 
The Mavericks were back at it one inning later as they hung four on the board to build the decisive advantage. Cam Kline delivered the go-ahead hit with a two-run single to right before pinch hitter Jack Mattson doubled home another. A fourth run came across on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
 
MSU tacked on five more runs in the seventh via four home runs to bring the score to the final margin of 10-1.
 
The Golden Bears wrap up the regular season on the road as they travel to Winona State on Wednesday and Sioux Falls on Friday and Saturday.