SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (11-9, 5-3 NSIC) finished off the weekend series with Minnesota Crookston (11-14, 3-3 NSIC) with an 8-4 win on Monday afternoon at Bishop Mueller Field on the campus of Briar Cliff University.
 
The Golden Bears improved to 48-14 all-time against the Golden Eagles as they took the lead with three runs in the fifth before tacking on five in the seventh to secure a game three victory.
 
After a quiet day at the plate, the CSP bats came to life in the series finale as they slugged 12 hits, including four doubles, en route to hanging eight runs on the board.
 
Senior Matt Pietsch collected two of those doubles as he finished the contest 2-4 with a walk to go along with three runs driven in and a run scored. Jack Young added a three-hit effort as he went 3-4 with a walk and a pair of runs scored.
 
Concordia also received multi-hit efforts from JT Hoffmann and Jaden Werner as Hoffmann went 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Werner went 2-4 with a double. Bryce Nelson chipped in a double and a walk while Justin McGuigan contributed a clutch two-run single and a walk.
 
On the mound, Korey Dahlberg (3-0) remained unbeaten as he won his third consecutive start. The freshman struck out a career-best eight while limiting UMC to two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings. Matt Sherman followed with 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out two. Michael Voss finished off the contest with a 1-2-3 ninth, including a game-ending strikeout.
 
Minnesota Crookston starter Conner Richardson took a tough loss as he scattered eight hits, allowing three runs (one earned) to go along with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings in the start.
 
The two starters matched zeroes for the first three frames until Ben Goelz opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the fourth.
 
That lead was erased in the fifth, however, as Brayden Roybal evened the score with a sacrifice fly before Pietsch put the Golden Bears in front with a double over the head of the first baseman. Hoffmann doubled the lead one batter later with a solid single through the right side of the infield.
 
Goelz tallied his second run-scoring hit in the top of the sixth to trim the deficit to 3-2, but Concordia responded with a big five-run seventh to put it out of reach. It was Pietsch that got rally started with another double, this time a two-run shot to the right field corner, before McGuigan tacked on the final two runs with a two-out single just past the outstretched glove of the shortstop.
 
The Golden Eagles closed the gap to four with a pair of sacrifice flies in the eighth, but that was all the closer they would get as Concordia closed out an 8-4 win.
 
CSP is scheduled to return home to host Minnesota Duluth for an NSIC doubleheader at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.