BRANDON, S.D. – Concordia St. Paul baseball (11-5, 3-4 NSIC) struggled to find a rhythm offensively against the University of Mary Marauders (9-7, 5-2 NSIC) as they dropped Friday's doubleheader at First National Bank Field.

The Golden Bears and Marauders will square off against each other one last time for the series finale in South Dakota. The first pitch for tomorrow is scheduled to take place at 12:00 p.m.
 
GAME 1: CSP 2, UMARY 7
In the opening game of Friday's doubleheader, Mary picked up where they left off with a strong offensive effort to score seven runs on eight hits, while holding CSP to two runs on six hits.
 
After a pair of doubles from Marauders propelled them to an early 2-0 advantage, the pitching staff began to find rhythm as neither club could score in the next two innings, led by Gavin Rusch (2-1) who retired six of the seven batters who he faced in those frames for the Golden Bears. The Green Bay, Wisconsin native finished the game with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched before being relieved by Carter Schulte, who allowed only one hit in 2.0 innings of work.
 
In the fourth inning, Justin McGuigan (2-3) continued to show a hot bat against the Marauders after driving in Bryce Nelson - who had stolen second and advanced to third via wild pitch - with an RBI single to bring the Golden Bears within one. UMARY answered with five runs on three hits, highlighted by a home run from Carter Beck, to extend their lead to six.
 
Concordia attempted to rally in the top of the seventh after McGuigan opened the inning with a single - later scoring off a wild pitch - before Brayden Roybal added a double to left field. However, the Marauders would retire three straight via strikeout with the bases loaded to claim the 7-2 victory.
 
GAME 1: CSP 2, UMARY 13 (Seven Innings)
In game two, it was all Marauders for a majority of the game. They used 13 hits to drive in 13 runners to claim the doubleheader and series with a 13-2 win.
 
Reece Piontek (0-2) made his fourth start of the season on the bump, where he tied a season-best in strikeouts with three on the afternoon. The bullpen also saw a lot of action in the shortened game, as Andrew Boeser, Logan Shaffer and Evan Eberle each saw time on the bump for the Navy and Gold.
 
Despite scoring the first run of the game after McGuigan drove in Mason Nadolney with an RBI single to right field in the second inning, the Golden Bears struggled offensively with three hits as a team. Koby McBroome and Kal Brohmer collected the second and third hits for CSP.
 
After the Marauders answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning, a fielder's choice that allowed Nick Thimsen to reach safely also credited him with an RBI as well, as McBroome scored to even the game, 2-2.
 
However, Mary added four runs in the fifth, five runs in the fourth and a pair of runs in the fifth highlighted by a 2-run home run by Michael Polson to secure the 13-2 run-rule victory.