AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (2-3) scored three runs in the ninth to pull off a dramatic 7-5 comeback victory over Saginaw Valley State (2-5) on Saturday night.
Trailing 5-4 with runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the ninth,
Kal Brohmer and
Jaden Werner drew back-to-back walks on full counts to tie the game before
Nick Thimsen deposited a two-run double down the left field line to give CSP the decisive edge. The win moved the Golden Bears to 2-1 in the all-time series with the Cardinals.
Alec Holcomb took care of business from there as he struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 bottom half of the ninth to nail down the save.
Eric Lundell (1-0) grabbed the win in relief as he worked 2.1 innings, allowing a pair of runs, while striking out a pair.
Luke DeGrammont was solid in the start as he allowed just one run on two hits over 3.2 innings with three strikeouts while
Christian Morel added 2.0 innings of relief, giving up one earned run on one hit while striking out two.
Hunter Merillat (0-1) took the loss for SVSU as he walked five and struck out five while allowing three runs in 2.0 innings of work. Christopher Schmees struck out seven and gave up three hits in 5.1 innings in the start.
The Golden Bears took a patient approach as they drew 11 walks and were hit by three pitches to go along with their four hits in the win.
Chandler Ibach and Thimsen collected the team's two extra base hits as Ibach went 1-4 with a homer, his third of the season, a walk and two runs scored while Thimsen finished 1-5 with a double, a walk and three RBIs.
Mason Nadolney and
JT Hoffmann each reached safely three times as Nadolney went 1-1 with an RBI single, a walk and a hit by pitch while Hoffmann drew a pair of walks and was also hit by a pitch.
Brayden Roybal chipped in with a pinch hit bunt single and
Matt Pietsch drew two walks in the game.
After three scoreless frames, the two teams traded runs in the fourth and the fifth as Werner opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the fourth before Ibach went deep into the Florida night down the left field line to make it 2-1 in the fifth. Nadolney and Thimsen gave CSP a 4-2 lead in the sixth with a run-scoring infield single and an RBI groundout before SVSU got one back in their half of the inning. Todd Paperd delivered a clutch two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to give Saginaw Valley State their first lead of the night to set up the dramatic finish.
Concordia will look to continue their winning ways tomorrow afternoon as they take on Lewis at Chain O' Lakes Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. CT.
