BRANDON, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (15-16, 9-10 NSIC) opened their three-game series with Sioux Falls (18-18, 10-11 NSIC) with a 7-2 loss on Friday afternoon at First National Bank Field.
 
With the score even at 1-1 through three and a half frames, the Cougars scored in four of their last five trips to the plate to secure the victory in the opener.
 
Sioux Falls starter Matt Graham (3-4) held the Golden Bears to two runs on four hits while tallying eight strikeouts in 8.0 innings of work before Alex Beltram fired a scoreless ninth to finish it off.
 
Luke DeGrammont (3-2) got the start for CSP as he worked 6.0 innings and allowed five runs (three earned) while striking out four. Wyatt Rudolf followed with 2.0 innings in relief, allowing two runs on two hits to go along with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Nick Thimsen picked up two of the team's four hits as he finished the game 2-4 with a run scored while also swiping his seventh and eighth bases on the season. Jaden Werner added his third steal of the year while finishing 1-4 with a run scored. Matt Pietsch chipped in a single as well.
 
Jarod Wandersee reached twice as he drew a walk and was hit by a pitch while Brayden Roybal and Kal Brohmer also added walks.
 
After Ben Serie doubled home the first run of the game, the Golden Bears tied it up in the top of the second as Thimsen and Werner successfully executed double steal at first and third.
 
USF regained the lead with two in the fourth and two more in the sixth before Thimsen came around to score on a wild pitch in the seventh to trim it back to three at 5-2.
 
Serie added an insurance run with a solo shot in their half of the seventh before Connor King brought it to the final score of 7-2 with an RBI single in the eighth.
 
The two schools will wrap up the series with a doubleheader on Saturday with first pitch in game one scheduled for noon.