SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (13-9, 7-3 NSIC) allowed just one run in two games against Southwest Minnesota State (8-12, 1-7 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Bishop Mueller Field on the campus of Briar Cliff University as they took game one 10-0 and game two 3-1.
 
The Golden Bear pitching staff tallied their third shutout in a 12-game span as the group has allowed one run or less in six of those 12 contests.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 10, Southwest Minnesota State 0
The Golden Bears opened up the series with an impressive display on both sides of the ball as the offense exploded for six runs in the second and a pair each in the third and the fifth while senior left-hander Luke DeGrammont continued his strong start to the season, blanking the Mustangs for seven frames in the complete game victory.
 
DeGrammont (3-1) collected his second shutout in the past three starts as spun a two-hitter in game one. The left-hander walked three and struck out seven while dropping his season ERA to 1.87 and his opponent average to .174 with the performance.
 
At the plate, the bottom of the CSP order got it done as their 6-7-8-9 hitters combined to go 11-14 (.786) with a pair of doubles, eight RBIs and seven runs scored.
 
Nick Thimsen delivered his third career four-hit game and team-leading seventh multi-hit game of the season as he finished a homer shy of the cycle, going 4-4 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI.
 
Bryce Nelson nearly matched Thimsen's effort as he picked up three hits in three trips to go along with a double, three runs batted in and a run scored in the win. Jaden Werner finished 2-3 with a walk and a pair of RBIs and runs while Justin McGuigan went 2-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
 
After a quick six up and six down in the first, the Golden Bears busted the game open in the second as their first six hitters reached safely. Thimsen opened the scoring with an RBI double before Werner, Nelson and McGuigan collected back-to-back-to-back run scoring singles.
 
Werner picked up his second run scoring single of the game one inning later while Nelson doubled in another to push the lead to 8-0. Nelson made it three RBI hits in as many at-bats in the fifth with a single while McGuigan pushed it to double figures and a final score of 10-0 with a second run scoring single of his own.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 3, Southwest Minnesota State 1
Jonah Lewis picked up right where DeGrammont left off as he held the SMSU offense off the scoreboard for the first six innings before handing it off to the bullpen. Matt Sherman chipped in a pair of scoreless innings before Alec Holcomb worked out of a ninth inning jam to preserve the win.
 
Lewis (1-2) collected his first career win in navy and gold as scattered five hits and a walk while striking out five in his 6.0 innings of work. Matt Sherman followed with 2.0 shutout innings, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out two, before Holcomb registered his team-leading fourth save of the year.
 
Holcomb ran into some trouble with back-to-back one-out walks followed by a double down the left field line to put the tying run in scoring position, but a line out and a groundout secured the victory.
 
Concordia took advantage of their opportunities at the plate as they turned six hits and four walks into three runs. The duo of Jarod Wandersee and Brayden Roybal reached base three times apiece as both players finished a hit and a pair of walks. Wandersee scored one of the team's three runs as he came around to score after a double to lead off the seventh.
 
Bryce Nelson chipped in an extra base hit of his own as he led off the third with a triple before scoring on a Justin McGuigan sacrifice fly one batter later to open the scoring. JT Hoffmann tallied the team's third and final run as he came on to pinch run for Wandersee in the ninth and stole second before moving to third on a balk and scoring on a passed ball.
 
SMSU's Ryan Chmielewski (2-3) nearly matched Lewis through the early innings, but the left-hander was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and a strikeout over 6.1 innings.
 
The two teams will wrap up the series at Bishop Mueller Field tomorrow with a nine-inning contest set to begin at noon.