MINNETONKA, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (6-2, 2-1 NSIC) secured their second consecutive series victory to start the season as they split with Minnesota Duluth (3-3, 1-2 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Field. CSP bounced back from a 4-1 10-inning loss in game three to claim a 5-4 comeback win in the series finale.
For the second straight weekend, the Golden Bears took three of four as they continued their strong run to begin 2021.
GAME ONE: Minnesota Duluth 4, Concordia-St. Paul 1 (10 innings)
The third game of the series followed the same script as the first two as the two teams combined for just two runs over the first nine innings before the Bulldogs broke through with three in the 10
th.
CSP starter
Michael Voss limited damage in his 4.0 innings of work as he worked around three hits and three walks, allowing just one run and striking out a pair in a no-decision.
TJ Johnson added an impressive 3.0 innings of relief as he allowed just one hit and struck out four while
Connor Hurley delivered a scoreless frame as well.
Jonah Lewis (0-1) took the loss despite not allowing a hit in 1.1 innings of work.
Russ Tanner was perfect through four innings for UMD before allowing two hits to start the fifth. The left-hander was done after 4.2 innings, striking out six. Liam Blaschko (1-0) picked up the win in relief with 2.0 hitless innings.
Two of CSP's four hits went for extra bases as
Jack Young and
Matt Pietsch both doubled while
Ryan Christopher and
Jarod Wandersee added a single apiece.
The game's first baserunners came in the top of the third as Sam Tanner and Tim Pokornowski drew back-to-back one-out walks before Henry George doubled home the first run of the game.
That 1-0 lead for the Bulldogs held all the way until the bottom of the eighth as the Golden Bears finally broke through against the Minnesota Duluth pitching staff.
Ryan Bastyr got the rally started with a leadoff walk before
Eathan Soeffker bunted over pinch runner
JT Hoffmann to second base.
Jack Young then came off the bench and quickly delivered as he hooked a double down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1. Christopher moved Young over to third base with an infield single with two down, but runners were stranded at the corners as UMD kept the score even.
Both teams stranded runners in the ninth as the game moved to extra innings, but the Bulldogs wasted little time regaining the lead in the extra frame. A one-out walk set up back-to-back doubles for Brodie Paulson and Alex Wattermann to put Minnesota Duluth in front before Anders Brown added two insurance runs with a single up the middle.
The Golden Bears hit the ball hard in their half of the 10
th, but three straight liners found the glove of the shortstop Wattermann to bring the game to a 4-1 final.
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 5, Minnesota Duluth 4
Trailing 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth,
JT Hoffmann delivered his first career hit in style as he tied the game with a grand slam to completely change the tone of the game. The Golden Bears added a run in the fifth to claim the series win.
Hoffmann picked up one of the team's five hits as
Ryan Christopher,
Patrick Bordewick,
Jarod Wandersee and
Chandler Ibach each added one as well. Christopher and Wandersee each also drew a walk and scored while
Ryan Bastyr delivered the team's fifth run of the game.
Logan Shaffer made his CSP debut on the mound as he worked 4.0 in a no-decision. He allowed four hits and three walks while striking out one.
David Go (1-0) also made his debut in navy and gold as he picked up the win in 1.1 hitless innings of work.
Matt Sherman picked up where Go left off and fired 1.2 hitless frames to pick up his first career save.
The Bulldogs jumped on the board in the top of the first as the first three hitters reached safely before Paulson drove in a pair with a single down the right field line.
They added to that led with two more in the fourth to make it 4-0. With two outs and a runner on first, Brown drew a walk to extend the inning before Dayo Lawal and Tim Pokornowski collected back-to-back run scoring hits to double their lead.
The game changed with one swing of the bat in the bottom half of the fourth as Hoffmann delivered the big blow.
Jarod Wandersee picked up a one-out single before
Nick Thimsen and
Jaden Werner drew two-out walks to load the bases for the CSP left fielder. Hoffmann promptly unloaded the bases as he sent a 1-1 pitch off the scoreboard in right field to tie the game at 4-4.
The momentum for CSP carried over into the fifth as
Ryan Christopher drew a leadoff walk and stole second before moving up to third on a
Patrick Bordewick single.
Ryan Bastyr came through with a sacrifice fly one batter later to bring in the eventual game-winning run.
The Golden Bear bullpen took care of business from there as Go and Sherman combined to blank the Bulldogs over the final two frames to secure the series victory.
The Golden Bears will host UMary on Wednesday afternoon for an NSIC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
