ROSEVILLE, Minn. – The Concordia St. Paul baseball team (5-0, 2-0 NSIC) opened NSIC play strong with a doubleheader sweep over the Minot State Beavers (1-5, 0-2 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at the Reynolds Fields.
The Golden Bears will return to the diamond tomorrow afternoon for the doubleheader finale with the Beavers at Reynolds Field on the Campus of Northwestern-St. Paul beginning at 12 p.m. with game two following shortly after.
Concordia's hot start to the season continued this afternoon with a doubleheader sweep to give them a 13-11 advantage against Minot in their all-time series against each other. The Golden Bears will look to claim their second consecutive series against the Beavers, needing only one win tomorrow afternoon.
Jaden Werner led the Golden Bears with a 4-hit afternoon at the plate. The senior hit his 10th career home run, scored three runs and drove in a trio of base runners. Senior
Nick Thimsen also provided a hot bat with a pair of doubles on a 3-hit day, while
Bennett McCollow,
Brayden Roybal and
Mason Nadolney also provided three hits for the Golden Bears.
Korey Dahlberg started his second game of the season on the bump for CSP in game one. The Farmington, Minnesota played lights out with seven strikeouts and allowed only one earned run in 6.2 innings pitched. Senior
Matt Sherman (1-0) only needed one pitch to collect his third career win in the Navy and Gold in a high stake's situation late in the game.
The pitching staff was much busier in game two, as three Golden Bears entered the mound throughout the game. Starting pitcher
Gavin Rusch (1-0) collected his second career win after collecting four strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work, while
Eric Lundell and
David Salz appeared from the bullpen.
GAME 1: CSP 3, MISU 2 (Seven Innings)
The afternoon's opening game was a pitcher's best friend and a hitter's nightmare as both teams battled in a low-scoring pitcher dual. However, after a frustrating game at the plate, CSP found a spark late and outlasted MISU to take the game one thriller, 3-2.
Minot State struck first with a run in the first inning following an RBI groundout. The Beavers added their second run of the game in the final inning with an RBI single to give them a 2-0 advantage heading into the final half-inning of play.
After
Noah Juliar drew a walk to open the inning, Werner added CSP's lone hit of the inning prior to
Koby McBroome loading the bases with a sacrifice bunt attempt that led to an MISU error. Roybal added an RBI hit-by-pitch to cut the lead to one run with one out, and in the final play of the game, the Beavers tried to turn a double-play to secure the victory, which ultimately backfired after it resulted in a throwing error by the shortstop that allowed McBroome and Werner to score the game-winning runs.
GAME 2: CSP 10, MISU 6
The Golden Bears carried their momentum into the second game of the doubleheader with a strong outing that saw them collect 10 runs on 16 hits in route to the 10-6 victory to secure the sweep.
In the opening inning, CSP collected three runs on four hits that were highlighted by a leadoff double from Roybal and an RBI double from Thimsen to give them an early 3-0 advantage.
After giving up a 2-run home run in the top of the fourth that cut their lead to one run, the Golden Bears answered with five runs on four hits to regain control of the momentum. During that stretch, Juliar matched the Beavers two runs in the top of the innings with a 2-RBI triple before Werner blasted a 2-run homer over the left field wall to give CSP a convincing 8-2 lead.
Concordia's final two runs of the game came from a sacrifice fly by McCollow that scored McGuigan in the fifth and an RBI single from McGuigan in the sixth, giving the Golden Bears their fourth 10-run game of the season.
Minot State fought till the end with three runs in the eighth and a run in the ninth, but it was not enough as CSP held on to take game two, 10-6.
