MINOT, N.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (8-11, 4-10 NSIC) bounced back to take game two to claim a split with Minot State (10-6, 8-3 NSIC) on Wednesday afternoon. CSP dropped game one 5-3 before winning game two 16-10.
 
GAME ONE: Minot State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 3
The Golden Bears opened the scoring with a run in the fourth and added two more in the fifth as they held a 3-0 lead, but the Beavers responded with three in the bottom half of the fifth and two in the sixth to claim a 5-3 comeback win.
 
Matt Pietsch and Patrick Bordewick each picked up a pair of hits in the game as Pietsch scored a run and Bordewick drove one in. Jack Young added a double and a run scored while Jaden Werner went 1-2 with a walk and a run scored.

Ryan Christopher starter and worked 2.0 hitless innings with two strikeouts before Matt Sherman delivered 1.1 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts in relief. Eric Lundell (1-1) allowed his first earned runs in a Golden Bear uniform as he took the loss despite striking out five in 2.2 innings.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 16, Minot State 10
For the second time in four games, the Golden Bear offense put up a huge performance as they hammered out 19 hits and 16 runs as six different players registered multi-hit efforts. Nine of those 19 hits went for extra bases as the team slugged four doubles, two triples and three home runs in the contest.
 
Nick Thimsen collected three of those extra base hits as he finished the game 3-6 with a homer, two doubles, three runs scored and a pair of RBIs to lead the way. Jack Young added a 3-6 effort of his own with a home run, four RBIs, two runs and a steal in a full line.
 
Jarod Wanderse and Justin McGuigan gave CSP four players with three hits as Wandersee went 3-6 with three runs batted in while McGuigan legged out a pair of triples as a part of a 3-5 performance with two RBIs, two runs and a steal. Matt Pietsch added two doubles while Eathan Soeffker launched a solo homer in the win.
 
On the mound, Joey Atkinson worked 3.0 innings in a no decision before TJ Johnson provided 3.0 one-hit innings with five strikeouts to pick up the win.
 
Thimsen wasted little time putting the Golden Bears in front as he sent the third pitch of the game over the wall for a leadoff home run. CSP added another run later in the inning in on a Wandersee RBI single.
 
The lead quickly disappeared, however, as J Williams and Riley Humrighouse each picked up run-scoring singles of their own to even the score at two apiece after one inning. They added two more in the second as Williams launched a two-run homer to give Minot State a 4-2 lead.
 
The momentum swung back in CSP's favor over the next few innings as a Patrick Bordewick sacrifice fly made it a one run game before the Golden Bears jumped out front with four in the fourth. McGuigan put Concordia back in front with a two-run triple before Young added to the lead with a two-run shot two batters later.
 
Buckle and Williams picked up RBIs in the bottom of the frame for the Beavers to trim it to 7-6, but the Golden Bears regained some breathing room in the sixth with a Soeffker solo homer and a Young RBI single to make it 9-6.
 
Concordia put the game out of reach with a big eighth inning as they hung a six spot on the board. Thimsen, Young, Bordewick, Wandersee, Bastyr and Hoffmann all drove in runs as the team collected six hits in the inning.
 
The Beavers got two back in the their half of the eight and two more in the ninth while CSP tacked on an additional run in the ninth on a Wandersee single to bring to score to the final mark of 16-10 as the Golden Bears grabbed the split.
 
The Golden Bears remain on the road this weekend as they travel to Minnesota Crookston for a four-game series on Saturday and Sunday.