WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (4-5) hammered their way to a 12-2 seven-inning victory over West Virginia Wesleyan (0-9) on Thursday afternoon at Chain O' Lakes Stadium.
 
The Golden Bears slugged a season-best 17 hits and four home runs en route to hanging a dozen on the board to move to 3-2 at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
 
The duo of Jaden Werner and Jarod Wandersee played a big role in the outburst as Werner delivered the first two home runs of his career, both two run shots, while Wandersee was a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-4 with a homer, a double, three RBIs and two runs scored in the win. Werner bumped his on-base percentage up to .400 while his slugging percentage improved to .615 while Wandersee moved his slash line to .382/.462/.588 with a team-best 10 runs batted in.
 
Chandler Ibach added the team's fourth home run of the game as he finished 2-3 with two runs scored and two batted in. Ibach joined Bryce Nelson for the team lead with his third homer of the year. Matt Pietsch and Jack Young chipped in a pair of hits apiece as Pietsch doubled and score a pair of runs while Young also drew a walk.
 
Concordia utilized a combination of Reece Piontek and Wyatt Rudolf to limit the Bobcats to just two runs on four hits in the game. Making his first career start, Piontek struck out six in his 3.1 innings of work, allowing a pair of runs on two hits while walking one before departing after a 33 minute lightning delay. Rudolf (1-0) picked up where he left off as he delivered 3.2 shutout frames, giving up just two hits and walking one while striking out two to pick up the win.
 
It was West Virginia Wesleyan that struck first with an early run in the top of the first, but the Golden Bears quickly flipped the script. Wandersee evened the score depositing an RBI single down the right field line before Werner hooked his first long ball just inside the left field foul pole to put CSP in front 3-1.
 
After WVWC answered with one in the top of the third, Concordia put the game out of reach with a six-run third. Wandersee and Werner were back at it in the CSP half of the third as they followed an Ibach sac fly and a Pietsch run-scoring single with a pair of two-run blasts to left to balloon the lead to 9-2. Ibach delivered his deep fly in the fourth before single runs in the sixth and seventh on an RBI single from Mason Wolf and Kal Brohmer RBI fielder's choice, respectively, brought the run rule into effect.
 
Concordia will look to end the trip on a high note on Friday morning as they take on #30 Ashland at 9 a.m. in their final contest of the trip.