SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (11-16, 7-14 NSIC) dropped two at Augustana (20-6, 16-6 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon as the Vikings took game one 13-7 and game two 5-2.
 
GAME ONE: Augustana 13, Concordia-St. Paul 7
There was no shortage of offense in the series opener as the two teams combined for 20 runs on 23 hits in the seven-inning contest as the Vikings pulled away late with six runs in the fifth to claim the win.
 
Seven of the Golden Bears' nine starters registered hits with three finishing with multi-hit games to bring the total to 11 hits for the game. Jarod Wandersee made it back-to-back games with at least three hits as he followed up his four-hit effort against the Beavers with a 3-4 performance. The CSP second baseman contributed his fifth home run of the season while scoring twice and driving in two.
 
Nick Thimsen picked up his fourth straight multi-game, going 2-4 with a run scored while Patrick Bordewick extended his hitting streak to 13 games, going 2-3 with a double and three runs scored. Matt Pietsch homered for the second game in a row as he delivered a first inning two-run shot.
 
Luke DeGrammont got the start and picked up a no-decision after giving up seven runs and striking out a pair in 3.0 innings of work. Connor Hurley (0-2) was tagged with the loss as he allowed two earned runs on four hits to go along with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings. Wyatt Rudolf retired all three batters he faced.
 
The Golden Bears struck first as they used a pair of first inning long balls to build a 4-0 advantage. Pietsch opened the scoring as he drove in Thimsen with a two-run blast over the left field wall before Wandersee delivered a two-run shot of his own two batters later as he scored Bordewick.
 
It proved to be a big inning for both teams as Augie responded with five in the bottom of the frame to take the lead. Will Olson followed a Sam Baier RBI single and a Christian Kuzemka two-run double with a two-run home run to left center to round out the scoring in the inning.
 
The Vikings added to their lead one inning later as Baier drove in another before coming around to score on a Jordan Barth RBI groundout.
 
The scoring continued in the third as Bordewick led off the frame with a double before scoring on a Ryan Christopher sacrifice fly. Cody Maier added another run-scoring single later in the frame to trim it to 7-6 after two and a half innings of play.
 
DeGrammont blanked the Vikings in the third before both teams put up scoreless innings in the fourth to bring it to the fifth with Augie still holding a one-run lead. In the top of the fifth, Christopher evened the score with his second RBI of the game, this time a run-scoring single to center to bring in Bordewick.
 
Augustana quickly regained the lead as they responded to the run for the Golden Bears with six of their own in the bottom of the fifth. It was Olson that once again put the Vikings in front with his second two-run home run of the game to make it 9-7. Augie added another on a CSP error before Carter Howell put it out of reach with a three-run blast.
 
GAME TWO: Augustana 5, Concordia-St. Paul 2
Game two proved to be a different story as the Golden Bears were held to just one hit over the first five innings before seeing their late push fall short in a 5-2 game two loss.
 
Jarod Wandersee's power surge continued as he homered for the third straight game while also registering his third straight multi-hit game to raise his average to .313. He finished 2-3 with his sixth homer of the year. Nick Thimsen added a double while Matt Pietsch and Shea Pekarek chipped in singles as well. Patrick Bordewick added a sacrifice fly to drive in the team's first run of the game as well.
 
Griffin Lapp (2-2) worked 6.1 innings, allowing five runs and striking out five in the loss. Matt Sherman and Jonah Lewis added a combined 1.2 innings of scoreless relief as each registered a strikeout.
 
Jed Schmidt (4-0) picked up the win for the Vikings as he limited CSP to one run on three hits while striking out six 6.0 innings in the start.
 
A pair of first inning RBI doubles for Jordan Barth and Will Olson gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead before Riley Johnson and Drey Dirksen hit back-to-back homers in the fourth to double the lead at 4-0.
 
The Golden Bears got a run back in the sixth as a Justin McGuigan walk followed by a Thimsen double and a Ryan Christopher hit by pitch loaded the bases with nobody out. Schmidt picked up a big strikeout before Bordewick brought home McGuigan with a sacrifice fly. After a Wandersee infield single one batter later, Schmidt wriggled out of the jam with a groundout.
 
Wandersee trimmed it to three with a solo shot to center in the ninth, but that would be all the closer they would get as Augie finished off the 5-2 victory.
 
The two teams conclude the series tomorrow with a single nine-inning contest set for noon.