FAYETTE, Iowa – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (12-18, 8-16 NSIC) bounced back from a 9-3 game one loss to win game two 11-9 and claim a doubleheader split at Upper Iowa (12-16, 10-12 NSIC) on Wednesday afternoon.
 
GAME ONE: Upper Iowa 9, Concordia-St. Paul 3
The Peacocks scored two in the first and five in the second as they pulled away early in the first game of the day. The Golden Bears rallied for three runs in the middle innings, but it wasn't enough as Upper Iowa added to their lead late to secure the victory.
 
UIU starter Duncan Snider (3-1) held the Golden Bears to three runs on three hits and a pair of walks over 5.0 innings to claim the win before Steve Marhefke provided 2.0 perfect innings out of the bullpen to finish it off.
 
Ryan Christopher and Nick Thimsen each contributed RBI doubles in the game as Christopher went 1-2 with a double and two RBIs while Thimsen went 1-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Jaden Werner was the lone CSP hitter to reach base safely as he drew both of the team's walks while Ryan Bastyr added a single.
 
Luke DeGrammont (1-5) took the loss for Concordia as he worked 2.0 innings, allowing four earned runs while walking one and striking out one. Logan Shaffer added 4.0 innings in relief, limiting UIU to one earned run on four hits while also walking one and striking out one.
 
While the Golden Bears put a runner in scoring position in the top of the first, it was the Peacocks that opened the scoring in the bottom of the frame. Upper Iowa came out firing as a leadoff walk followed by a bunt single set up a Samuel Grushkin two-run double to give UIU a 2-0 lead.
 
The Peacocks broke the game open an inning later as they put a five spot on the board to extend their lead to 7-0. Four RBI hits in a five batter stretch, capped off by a Hogan Penny double that brought home two, gave Upper Iowa a comfortable cushion heading to the third.
 
Concordia looked to chip away at that lead with two runs in the third and another in the fifth to pull within four. Thimsen got CSP on the board with a one-out RBI double, driving in Justin McGuigan, before Christopher drove in Thimsen with a sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Christopher picked up his second RBI of the game as he doubled home Jaden Werner to cut the deficit to 7-3.
 
 
Upper Iowa managed to tack on an insurance run in their half of the fifth and another in the sixth to make things tougher for CSP. Noah Gyldenvand delivered a sacrifice fly to drive in the eighth run of the game for the Peacocks before Grushkin manufactured a run on his own with a single and a pair of steals before coming home on an errant throw to bring it to the final score of 9-3.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 11, Upper Iowa 9
The Golden Bears opened the scoring with five runs in the third before seeing the Peacocks pull within one with the next four runs. CSP regained their edge with four in the eighth and another in the ninth before holding off a late push from UIU to secure the split with an 11-9 win.
 
The middle of the CSP order did their jobs as run producers as Patrick Bordewick, Jarod Wandersee, Ryan Bastyr and JT Hoffmann collectively drove in eight runs on nine hits as they finished a combined 9-17 (.529) in the contest. Wandersee remained red hot with his third three-hit game in the last six, going 3-5 with a double, a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored in the win. Hoffmann also drove in three runs as he went 2-4 with a double and a walk to go along with a run scored. Bordewick and Bastyr also went 2-4 in the game as both scored twice and drove in one.
 
Jaden Werner and Nick Thimsen gave the Golden Bears six hitter with multi-hit games as both collected a pair of hits while Ryan Christopher went 1-3 with three walks and two runs scored. Matt Pietsch added a hit and a pair of walks as well.
 
On the mound, Joey Atkinson was solid in his 3.0 innings of work in the start as he allowed just two hits and an unearned run while striking out four in a no-decision. TJ Johnson added a crucial 2.2 innings of scoreless relief as he helped the Golden Bears cling to a 6-5 lead until their big eighth inning. He allowed just one hit and one walk in the outing.
 
After a pair of scoreless innings to start the game, the Golden Bears jumped all over the Peacocks with a five-run third. CSP loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk before Patrick Bordewick drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly. Wandersee followed with a double that scored two as Christopher scored from second and Pietsch came all the way around to score from first on a UIU error. Hoffmann added another run with an RBI single before Ryan Bastyr scored on a wild pitch to bring the score to 5-0.
 
Jake Hilmer got one back for Upper Iowa with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the third, but CSP pushed the lead back to five an inning and a half later in the fifth on a Werner RBI double.
 
The Peacocks made things interesting as they pulled within a run with four runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Five of the first six UIU hitters reached safely in the inning as they put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Lundell was able to stem the tide with a groundout and a strikeout to keep CSP in front at 6-5.
 
Concordia clung to their one run lead until the eighth when they gained some breathing room with another big inning. With two on and one out, Wandersee once again came through with an RBI hit before Bastyr added one of his own to make it 8-5. Following a pitching change, Hoffmann made it three straight run-scoring hits as he doubled home two more runs to push the lead to 10-5.
 
Wandersee tacked on one more run in the ninth with his third run-scoring hit of the game, bringing home Bordewick with a single up the middle.
 
Upper Iowa made another push in the bottom of the ninth as they scored four runs on four hits and brought the winning run to the plate, but the Golden Bears managed to hang on to finish the day with a win.
 
The Golden Bears have the weekend off with their scheduled bye before returning to action next Wednesday at home against Wayne State.