TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (4-5) saw their four game winning streak come to a close in a 3-2 loss to Southwest Minnesota State (2-4) on Thursday afternoon at Kino Sports Complex.
With the score even at 2-2 after the early innings, both pitching staffs held the offenses at bay until a lone run in the eighth gave the Mustangs the victory.
Ryan Christopher got the start on the hill for the Golden Bears as he worked around three hits and three walks to allow just one run in 2.1 innings while striking out two.
Connor Hurley followed with 4.2 impressive innings of relief as he didn't give up any earned runs over 4.2 innings while scattering four hits and striking out eight.
Ross Bastyr (1-1) took the loss as he allowed a run in 0.1 innings before handing it over to
Shane Benson, who collected the final two outs.
Jack Young and
Patrick Bordewick each finished the contest 2-3 with a double as Young added a run scored and Bordewick added a walk.
Shea Pekarek added a triple as well.
SMSU starter John Bezdicek held CSP to just two runs on eight hits over 7.0+ innings while striking out eight in a no-decision. Jared Tschetter (2-0) picked up the win in relief as he scattered a hit and a walk in his 2.0 innings of work.
Pekarek put CSP in a prime position in the top of the first as he roped a triple to the right center gap to lead off the game. A pop out and a strikeout brought Pietsch to the plate with two down as the junior rolled a single up the middle to drive in the game's first run.
The Golden Bears added to their lead an inning later as Young laced a one-out ground-rule double right before Wandersee drove him in with a single down the right field line one batter later.
The Mustangs finally broke through against Christopher in the third as they loaded the bases with nobody out with a single and a pair of walks. Christopher picked up a big strikeout before a hit by pitch allowed a run to score. Hurley then came on to strike out the next two hitters to keep the Golden Bears in front 2-1 heading to the fourth.
In the fourth, SMSU took advantage of a Golden Bear miscue as Nathan Kuhn delivered a two-out single through the left side to drive in Andy Andresen, who reached on an error, to tie the game at 2-2.
Hurley and Bezdicek matched zeroes until the bottom half of the eighth inning as the Mustangs grabbed their first lead of the game. A Derek Smith leadoff single followed by a sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead run in scoring position to set up Jake Hendricks, who delivered a run-scoring single to right to make it 3-2.
The Golden Bears threatened to tie it in the ninth as
Ryan Bastyr led off with a single before pinch runner JT Hoffman moved up on a sacrifice bunt. A caught stealing followed by a groundout two batters later ended the rally, however, as Southwest Minnesota State hung on for the 3-2 win.
The Golden Bears have tomorrow off before returning to action with a pair of games against Concordia-Nebraska and Jamestown. First pitch against CUNE is scheduled for 5 p.m. while the contest against UJ is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
