TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (7-6) closed out the Tucson Invitational Games on a high note as they picked up a 9-3 win over Bemidji State (2-8) in game one before grabbing a 5-0 win over Southwest Minnesota State (4-5) in game two on Sunday afternoon at Kino Sports Complex.
 
The Golden Bears finished the trip with six wins in eight games, including wins in each of their final three games of the week.
 
The offense finished the week with a massive .396 batting average (110-278) and .514 slugging percentage while the pitching staff collected a solid 2.73 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 66.0 innings.
 
Blake Stelzer and Luke DeGrammont helped that pitching line in a big way on Sunday as they combined for 15.0 shutout innings in the two games while allowing just seven hits on the day. Stelzer lowered his season ERA to a microscopic 0.52 as he has gone 14.2 scoreless innings since his first start of the season. On the trip, the right-hander struck out 24 in 13.0 innings of five-hit ball. DeGrammont wasn't far behind on the trip as he registered a 1.54 ERA over 11.2 innings in two starts.
 
Jack Young and Ryan Christopher capped off highly successful weeks at the plate as both hit at least .500 in Tucson. Young slashed .538/.571/.769 with 14 hits in 26 at-bats, including three doubles and a home run while scoring nine times and driving in seven. Christopher finished at .500/.528/.706 with 17 hits in 34 trips, picking up six extra-base hits, while leading the team with 13 RBIs and scoring nine times. They weren't the only two to produce, however, as all 10 batters that had at least 12 at-bats on the trip finished with a .300 batting average or better.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Bemidji State 3
Riding an impressive outing for Luke DeGrammont on the mound, the Golden Bears jumped out to a big lead before sealing a 9-3 win in the first game of the day.
 
DeGrammont (1-1) made life tough on the Beavers as he held them to just three hits over 7.0 shutout frames to pick up the win. He added a pair of strikeouts while walking three.
 
Two-out hitting was a big theme for the Golden Bears at the plate as they scored six of their nine runs with two outs in the win. In total, the CSP offense tallied 17 hits with six different players registering multi-hit games.
 
Patrick Bordewick reached four times as he finished 3-4 with a walk to go along with a hit and a run scored. Ryan Christopher added three hits of his own, his fifth three-hit game of the trip, with a double, two driven in and two runs scored. Jack Young also stayed hot as he extended his hitting streak to eight, including five multi-hit games in Arizona. He went 2-3 with a double, a walk, a run scored and an RBI.
 
Eathan Soeffker, Matt Pietsch and Jarod Wandersee all added two-hit games as well with Soeffker driving in two and Pietsch scoring twice.
 
The Golden Bears took advantage of some two-out hitting to open the scoring in the third as they saw four straight hitters reach safely with two down. With Christopher on second and two away, Matt Pietsch extended the inning with an infield single while a Beaver miscue allowed Christopher to score on the play. Ryan Bastyr followed with a line drive double all the way to the wall in right center to score Pietsch all the way from first. BSU avoided more damage as they picked up an inning-ending fielder's choice after walks to Ibach and Young loaded the bases.
 
With DeGrammont putting up zeroes, the Golden Bears gave him some breathing room with four runs in the fifth to make it 6-0. CSP put two in scoring position with back-to-back singles for Bordewick and Pietsch and a Bastyr sacrifice bunt before Ibach drove in the first run of the inning with a single of his own. Young followed with a run-scoring double that hugged the third base line before Soeffker peppered that same line with a two-out, two-run double two batters later.
 
Concordia followed a similar formula in the seventh as they put three runs on the board in the inning, all coming with two outs. With two on and two out, Ryan Christopher dropped a two-run double in front of a diving right fielder before coming around to score on a Bordewick single up the middle to extend it to 9-0 through seven.
 
The Beavers avoided the shutout as they scored three runs in the ninth, but Eric Lundell came in to end the threat and secure the win.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 5, Southwest Minnesota State 0
Blake Stelzer followed suit in game two as he delivered a dominant outing, pairing up with Shane Benson to collect the team's second shutout of the week.
 
Stelzer (2-1) shut down the Mustangs for 8.0 innings as he limited them to just four hits and a walk while striking out 10 in the win. Benson added a scoreless ninth as he registered a strikeout before grabbing a game-ending double play.
 
The offense took advantage of their opportunities as they turned eight hits into five runs in the win. Young and Pietsch each made it three straight two-hit games as Young went 2-4 with two runs scored while Pietsch went 2-4 with a run and an RBI. Ryan Bastyr added a big two-run double while Soeffker finished 1-1 with a walk and an RBI.
 
Jake Wensmann (0-3) took the loss for SMSU as he allowed two runs on three hits over 6.1 innings while striking out six.
 
Both pitchers were dominant in the early innings as the first 15 hitters of the game were retired in order before Wandersee registered the first hit of the game. Stelzer sent down the first 10 Mustangs he faced before a single and a double put runners on second and third with one out in the fourth. The right-hander worked out of the jam with a pop out and a groundout to end the inning.
 
The Golden Bears opened the scoring in their half of the fourth as they manufactured a run without a hit. Christopher led off with a walk before moving to second on a Bordewick sacrifice bunt and up to third on a balk. He came around to score a few pitches later on a Pietsch groundout to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead.
 
The Mustangs threatened to even it up in the sixth with runners on the corners and one out, but Stelzer picked up a huge double play to end the inning and keep Concordia in front.
 
CSP added an important insurance run in the seventh as they doubled their lead to 2-0. Young beat out an infield single to start the frame before moving up to second on a groundout. Soeffker followed with a tough walk to set up Justin McGuigan, who lined a single through the left side to score Young.
 
The Golden Bears further added to their advantage an inning later as Ryan Bastyr came through with an opposite field double to left center to score Bordewick and Pietsch before Soeffker laced a single to left to bring the lead to 5-0.
 
Benson came on for the ninth and slammed the door to finish off the shutout.
 
Concordia will fly back to the twin cities tomorrow before opening up NSIC play next weekend at home against Minnesota Duluth.