TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (5-6) picked up a split on Saturday night as they fell to Concordia-Nebraska (11-3) 6-3 in the first game before knocking off Jamestown (12-4) by a score of 3-1 in the second game.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-Nebraska 6, Concordia-St. Paul 3
The Golden Bears spent much of the first game of the day playing from behind as they battled back even at 3-3 in seventh before the Bulldogs regained the lead with one in the seventh and two more in the eighth to come out on top.
 
The CSP offense continued to collects hits at a solid clip as they finished the game with 12, but they were held to just three runs as the CUNE pitchers coaxed a pair of double plays and stranded nine on the bases.
 
Jarod Wandersee and Ryan Christopher combined for six of the team's 12 hits as both went 3-4 in the game. Wandersee scored one of the team's three runs while Christopher also drew and intentional walk to reach safely a fourth time in the contest. Pekarek finished 2-4 with a double while Patrick Bordewick added a hit and an RBI walk as well.
 
Joey Atkinson made his first start in navy and gold and limited the Bulldogs to two runs on five hits over 4.0 innings while piling up four strikeouts in the no-decision before Ryan Fering came on to pitch 2.0 innings of one-run ball while striking out four in relief. Christian Morel (0-1) took a tough-luck loss as he worked the final 2.0 innings, coming inches away from getting out of both frames unscathed as he allowed three runs (two earned) while punching out one.
 
CUNE starter Nick Little (3-0) scattered 10 hits while allowing three runs over 7.0 innings with six strikeouts to pick up the win before Jacob Lycan and Ryan Samuelson came on to put up scoreless innings to seal the win.
 
Both teams put some runners on base in the early innings, but neither broke through until the Bulldogs grabbed a pair of runs in the fourth. A leadoff single followed by a double off the bat of Jakob Faulk put two in scoring position with nobody out before Keaton Candor singled up the middle to bring both home. Atkinson buckled down from there as he retired three straight after a walk to limit the damage to two in the inning.
 
The Golden Bears looked primed to potentially even the score or take the lead in the top of the sixth as they led off the frame with three straight singles, but Little limited the damage to one run to maintain the lead. Matt Pietsch narrowly missed delivering a huge blow as a deep fly to the right field corner was tracked down by the right fielder for a sacrifice fly before back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning.
 
Concordia-Nebraska got that run back in the bottom of the inning, however, as Candor deposited a pitch over the left center wall for a solo homer.
 
The momentum shifted back the other way in the top of the seventh as CSP scored twice to tie the game up at 3-3. Ryan Bastyr came off the bench and lined the first pitch he saw to center for a pinch-hit RBI single to cut it to one before Bordewick battled his way to a hard earned walk with the bases loaded to even the score heading to the CUNE half of the frame.
 
The Bulldogs took advantage of some fortuitous bounces in their half as a dropped fly ball put a runner on second before a high hopper bounced over Wandersee's head to allow the run to score from second on an RBI single.
 
CUNE tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Jesse Garcia extended the inning with a two-out single before Thomas Sautel drove in a pair with a double to the right center gap to make it 6-3.
 
Pekarek laced a double off the wall in the top of the ninth, but Samuelson held the Golden Bears off the scoreboard to seal the CUNE victory.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 3, Jamestown 1
The Golden Bears finished the day strong as their pitchers blanked the Jimmies over the final seven innings while the hitters hung runs on the board in the second, fifth and seventh innings to come out on top.
 
The duo of Griffin Lapp and Ross Bastyr overpowered the Jamestown lineup as they combined for 14 strikeouts while allowing just one run on six hits in the game. Lapp (1-1) picked up his first collegiate win as he limited UJ to four hits and a run over 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts in an impressive showing. Ross Bastyr didn't miss a beat from there as he came on to pitch 4.0 scoreless innings of relief while striking out seven with just two hits allowed to pick up his first save of the year.
 
At the plate, it was Jack Young who did the heavy lifting as he finished 2-4 with his first career home run to go along with a run-scoring single in the win. Matt Pietsch and Justin McGuigan each added a pair of hits as well while Ryan Christopher chipped in an RBI double.
 
The Jimmies opened the scoring in the second as Dirk Eymundson followed up a bunt single with a double down the left field line to score the first run of the night.
 
That lead did not last long, however, as CSP answered with one of their own in the bottom of the inning. Matt Pietsch led off with a single before moving into scoring position with a stolen base to set up Young. With two down, the Golden Bear centerfielder came through with a big hit as he lined a single over the shortstop's head to tie the game at 1-1.
 
That score held until the bottom of the fifth as Young took the first pitch of the inning and hooked it just inside the left field foul pole for a long solo home run.
 
With Bastyr continuing where Lapp left off, Concordia doubled their lead to two at 3-1 two innings later in the seventh. Back-to-back one-out singles for Wandersee and McGuigan put a pair on base and got the rally started before Christopher came to the plate one batter later. Christopher bounced a ball over the third base bag for a double as Wandersee scored and McGuigan was thrown out at the plate on the play to end the inning.
 
The Jimmies put together their best late-inning threat in the eighth as they loaded the bases with one out, but Bastyr came up with a few of his best pitches of the day to strike out back-to-back hitters to end the inning. He picked up where he left off in the ninth as he struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning to complete the save.
 
Concordia wraps up play at the Tucson Invitational Games tomorrow as they take on Bemidji State at 5 p.m. and Southwest Minnesota State at 8:30 p.m.