ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (15-22, 11-20 NSIC) cruised to a 10-4 game one win before dropping game two 10-1 in a doubleheader split with Sioux Falls (20-19, 15-19 NSIC) on Friday afternoon at Barnes Field.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 10, Sioux Falls 4
The bats remained red hot for the Golden Bears as five of their nine hits went for extra bases en route to hanging another 10 spot on the scoreboard.
 
The duo of Jarod Wandersee and Chandler Ibach combined for four of those five extra-base hits as Wandersee finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-3 with a homer, a double, a walk, two RBIs and two runs, while Ibach went 2-2 with a home run, a triple, a walk, three RBIs and three runs scored. The homer moved Wandersee into the team lead with seven while Ibach hit his third in the last two games.
 
CSP starter Luke DeGrammont (2-6) was extremely effective in the complete game victory as he limited the Cougars to five hits and three earned runs while striking out a pair. The left-hander did not allow a hit through the first four innings as he kept the USF hitters guessing throughout the contest.
 
USF's Keenahn Coyle (3-2) was tagged with the loss as he allowed seven runs (six earned) in 5.0 innings of work.
 
Wandersee set the tone in the first as he drove an opposite field home run over the right field wall for a two-out solo home run to put CSP in front.
 
Ibach extended the lead an inning later as he launched the first pitch he saw well beyond the center field fence for a two-run shot to make it 3-0.
 
After a pair of scoreless frames, Sioux Falls was able to break through for a run in the top of the fifth, but Concordia quickly responded with four in their half to pull away even more. The Golden Bears took advantage of three walks and a pair of errors in the inning as Matt Pietsch capped it off with an RBI single to make it 7-1.
 
The lead ballooned to 10-1 with another three-run inning in the sixth as an Ibach run-scoring triple followed by a Christopher RBI double and a Wandersee RBI single helped put the game out of reach.
 
The Cougars took advantage of a sun-aided two-run double off the bat of Ryan Bernardy following a Tyler Cate run-scoring single in the seventh to trim the deficit to 10-4, but Christopher finished off DeGrammont's complete game win with a tremendous diving catch in center.
 
GAME TWO: Sioux Falls 10, Concordia-St. Paul 1
After holding a 1-0 lead through three, Sioux Falls scored nine runs over the next four innings to cruise to a 10-1 win and a split for the day.
 
Jack Becker provided a bright spot for the Golden Bears as he came off the bench to go 2-2 with his first career home run. Ryan Bastyr added two hits while Ryan Christopher, Cody Maier and Brayden Roybal added a hit apiece.
 
Andrew Maslowski (5-3) picked up the complete game win as he needed just 92 pitches to complete 9.0 innings, allowing seven hits and walking none while striking out five.
 
Griffin Lapp (2-4) worked the first 3.2 innings in the loss before giving way to TJ Johnson, Ray Wellner and Ryan Fering. Wellner worked 2.1 innings of one-run ball before Fering pitched a scoreless ninth.
 
The Cougars struck first as they strung together three singles in the second, highlighted by a Ryan Meyer run-scoring hit through the right side, to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The lead remained at one until a five-run fourth put the Cougars squarely in control. Trey Hubers opened the scoring in the frame with a run-scoring single before Meyer doubled home another. Zane Butts followed with a two-run single before Tyler Cate rounded out the scoring with another RBI single to push it to 6-0.
 
USF tacked on another with a Ryan Bernardy solo homer in the fifth and two more two a Connor King two-run homer in the sixth before Becker got the Golden Bears on the board. The CSP pinch hitter led off the home half of the sixth with a high drive over the tall left field wall to cut it to 9-1.
 
Noah Buss added the Cougars' third home run of the game in the top of the seventh to bring it to the final score of 10-1.
 
The Golden Bears and Cougars wrap up the regular season tomorrow on Senior Day as the two teams meet for a single nine-inning contest set to begin at noon. CSP will honor their seven seniors as well as three seniors from the 2020 class in a brief post-game ceremony.