SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul team (15-23, 9-17 NSIC) closed out the weekend series with a 12-3 loss to #10 Augustana (34-7-1, 24-4 NSIC) at Karras Park on Monday afternoon.
On a cold and windy afternoon, the Vikings jumped out to an 8-0 lead with three in the first and five in the third before the Golden Bears answered with three of their own in the bottom half of the third to claw their way back in it. That would be all the closer they would get as Augie tacked on a few insurance runs to bring it to a 12-3 final.
Augustana made it 17 wins in the past 18 meetings between the two schools as Concordia dropped to 5-35 in the all-time series and 3-12 in Sioux Falls against the Vikings.
Concordia's offensive output all came in the third as
Justin McGuigan, who also singled in the seventh, drew a leadoff walk before an error and a
Brayden Roybal single loaded the bases with one out.
Kal Brohmer drove in the team's first run before
Jarod Wandersee tallied his 100
th career hit, a two-run double to the left center gap.
Nick Thimsen added a single in the fifth and
Matt Pietsch added one in the sixth while
Jaden Werner added a walk in the loss.
Korey Dahlberg (4-3) threw the first 2.2 innings for the Golden Bears as he struck out three in the loss.
Michael Voss followed with 2.1 shutout frames, scattering a hit and a pair of walks while striking out two.
Alec Holcomb worked the next 2.0 innings before
Wyatt Rudolf came on for 1.1 innings and
Ryan Fering grabbed the final two outs.
Caleb Saari (5-1) earned the win for the Vikings as he allowed three unearned runs on five hits in his 6.0 innings of work, striking out six.
Concordia will have the mid-week off after their non-conference contest with St. Olaf was postponed. They will return to action next weekend at Wayne State for a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday.
