HAMMOND, Ind. – After dropping the season opener 3-0, the Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (1-1) pulled off an impressive late game comeback in the second game of the day to claim a 7-5 win and a split at Purdue Northwest (3-1) on Saturday afternoon.
 
Eathan Soeffker's first career home run, a two-run blast, highlighted a huge six-run eighth in game two as CSP turned a 5-1 deficit into a 7-5 win.
 
GAME ONE: Purdue Northwest 3, Concordia-St. Paul 0
Pitching was the story in the opener as all the scoring was confined to just one half inning and all the hits were confined to just two. PNW broke the scoreless tie in the fourth with a three-run outburst while Ryan Bastyr spoiled Chad Patrick's no-hit bid with a solid single to center with two outs in the center.
 
Patrick (2-0) was dominant in the complete game shutout as he held CSP to just one hit and one walk, both coming in the seventh, while striking out 15 of the 25 batters he faced in the contest.
 
Luke DeGrammont (0-1) had his solid outing spoiled by a big fourth inning as the left-hander allowed three runs on four hits over 4.0 innings while striking out two in the loss. Joey Atkinson provided two hitless innings in relief as he walked none and struck out one.
 
Bastyr was the lone CSP hitter to reach base safely twice in the game as he also reached base via an error in a 1-3 effort, finishing as the only Golden Bear hitter not to register a strikeout. Jarod Wandersee added a walk while JT Hoffmann also reached on an error.
 
The two starting pitchers matched zeros early in the game as neither team registered a hit in the first three and a half innings. Patrick struck out the side in both the first and third innings and struck out two apiece in the second and fourth while DeGrammont coaxed double plays in the first and second innings to work around some walks.
 
A leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth marked the game's first hit before another hit two batters later put a pair on with one out. Hunter Thorn followed with the big blow in the inning in the form of a two-run double to left center to open the scoring. Anthony Fumagalli extended the lead to 3-0 as he scored Thorn with a two-out single up the middle.
 
After a couple quick innings in the fifth and sixth, the Golden Bears showed their resilience in the seventh. One out away from the Pride starter completing the no-hitter, Wandersee battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk to extend the game before Bastyr followed with a first pitch single to center to break up the bid and bring the tying run to the plate. Shea Pekarek nearly found the right center gap with a well struck ball, but the center fielder ranged over and made the play to finish off the game.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 7, Purdue Northwest 5
The second game of the day followed a similar script for much of the game as runs were once again hard to come by early on, but that changed in a big way late as CSP used a massive eighth-inning power surge to score six runs and erase a 5-1 deficit to claim their first win of the year.
 
The middle of the order did much the heavy lifting offensively as the 4-5-6 of Patrick Bordewick, Jarod Wandersee and Ryan Bastyr combined to go 7-14 with four doubles, a walk, four RBIs and four runs scored. Wandersee reached base four times as he finished 3-4 with a walk and a pair of doubles in the game.
 
Ryan Christopher added a pair of hits and an RBI while Shea Pekarek chipped in a double and two RBIs in the contest.
 
While the starting lineup provided a boost in game two, it was a player coming off the bench that provided the biggest moment. After entering the game defensively in the bottom of the seventh, Eathan Soeffker made the most of his one trip to the plate as he put the Golden Bears in front with the two-run blast.
 
On the mound, Griffin Lapp was efficient with his pitches as he needed just 90 pitches to get through 6.2 innings in the start. He allowed three runs on six hits while striking out three in the no decision.
 
Eric Lundell (1-0) retired the only batter he faced in the seventh to earn his first career win for the Golden Bears. Jonah Lewis picked up where he left off and fired a pair of scoreless frames to grab his first career save.
 
Both teams threatened in the first couple innings as CSP had runners in scoring position in both of the first two frames, but it was the Pride that struck first as they put a run on the board in their half of the second. Fumagalli drove in his second run of the day as he delivered a one-out RBI single to right to make it 1-0.
 
That lead held for an inning and a half until the Golden Bears tied it up in the fourth. Wandersee got things going with a deep shot into the gap in right center for a double before moving over to third on a Bastyr groundout. Pekarek brought him home one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center.
 
With the score still sitting at 1-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth, Purdue Northwest jumped back out front with one swing of the bat. With one out and nobody on, Ray Hansen launched a deep drive over the left field wall to give PNW a 2-1 edge.
 
The Pride added to that lead one inning later as five straight hitters reached safely with two outs to bring home three runs and extend the lead to 5-1.
 
That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as the Concordia bats came alive in the eighth. After a fly out to start the inning, the Golden Bears collected a staggering five consecutive extra-base hits to take their first lead of the season. Bordewick, Wandersee, Bastyr and Pekarek delivered back-to-back-to-back-to-back doubles before Soeffker delivered the big blow. In his first at-bat of the game, the junior blasted the team's first homer of the season to give CSP a 6-5 advantage. The rally didn't end there as Nick Thimsen followed with a walk and a steal and came around to score on a Christopher single up the middle.
 
That proved to be enough for the CSP bullpen as Lewis worked a scoreless eighth and ninth to close out the win.
 
The two teams are back in action an hour earlier tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.