ROCHESTER, Minn.- Concordia St. Paul (28-27,13-16 NSIC) dropped a heartbreaker to the #1 seed Augustana Vikings (37-13, 23-5 NSIC), 8-7, in the second game of the NSIC Tournament at RYFSA Complex.
 
CSP will face the winner of the Minnesota State and Bemidji State game at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning at RYFSA Complex.
 
The Golden Bears controlled the lead throughout the entire game and led by as many as four runs until the final inning where the Vikings used a 2-Run homer to right center field to avoid the upset.
 
Concordia swung the bats well, outhitting the Vikings 10-7 with multi-hit games from Alexus Houston (2-4) and Jacey Defries (3-4). Grace Beseman and Danni Sharum also played roles offensively with a pair of runners driven.
 
Erica McCullough made her 18th start of the season in the circle for the Golden Bears. The sophomore collected a strikeout while allowing four earned runs and two walks in 5.0 innings pitched. Bryanna Olson (17-16) returned to the circle in relief in game two for 1.1 innings, collecting a pair of strikeouts in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears picked up the momentum from the last game, as they struck first with a pair of sacrifice fly RBIs from Beseman and Sydney Pelzer in the opening half innings to take an early 2-0 lead over the Vikings.
 
After spotting Augie a run in the second inning before stranding the tying run with a heads up double play by Beseman from a lineout to end the inning, CSP added to the lead with two more runs in the third.
 
Houston kicked off the third with a double down the left field line, followed by an RBI double down the left line from Beseman. Defries added an RBI single on the next at-bat to drive home Beseman, who had advanced to third on a wild pitch, putting Concordia up 4-1.
 
With a one run lead in the fifth, the Golden Bears added three runs off that was highlighted by a Defries RBI double to center field and a 2-RBI single through the left side by Sharum to give CSP the largest lead of the game of 7-3.
 
However, Augustana answered with five runs including a walk-off 2-Run home run from Abby Lien to come away with the 8-7 win and avoid being the first #1 seed in NSIC history to lose in the opening round of the conference tournament.