TUCSON, Ariz. - A strong performance from the pitching staff assisted Concordia-St. Paul baseball (8-1) in sweeping Adams State (Colo.) (5-11) on the opening day of the TIG Sports Tucson Invitational at the Kino Sports Complex.
 
The Golden Bears will return to action tomorrow afternoon for game three of the Tucson Invite against Walsh (Ohio). The first pitch of the nine inning game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Kino Sports Complex on Field #6.
 
With today's wins, the Golden Bears improved their short-lived history against the Grizzlies to 3-0. Game one's contest was the smallest margin of victory in the series, and CSP now averages eight runs a game against ASU.
 
In game one, Korey Dahlberg (2-0) collected his second win in three starts this season. The Farmington, Minnesota native played a complete 7.0 inning game from the bump with five strikeouts and only allowed one earned run. Gavin Rusch (2-0) collected the win in game two after he went 6.1 innings with a career-high six strikeouts and went 4.2 without allowing a hit by the opposition. Eric Lundell also saw action in the final inning of game two, where he collected a strikeout.
 
Noah Juliar had a solid performance from the plate for the Golden Bears. The junior collected four hits in seven appearances, with one of his hits being a double and another a triple. Bennett McCollow also added an extra base hit with a double while adding two singles, drove in two runners and scored a pair of runs of his own.
 
GAME 1: CSP 3, ASU 1
Game one saw a low-scoring pitching battle early, as the two teams combined for two runs more than halfway through the seven-inning affair. However, momentum from a strong pitching outing from Dahlberg and a pair of runs in the fifth led to CSP claiming game one, 3-1.
 
In the opening inning, McCollow got the game's first hit with a double that carried to the right field fence. Nick Thimsen drove him in on the very next at-bat for the game's first run with an RBI double through the right side.
 
Adams State responded in the top of the third inning with an RBI single after connecting with three straight hitters to even things up at 1-1.
 
In the fifth, Concordia was able to get the bats moving after Brayden Roybal drove in Bryce Nelson with a single through the right side before Roybal added a run of his own after Koby McBroome hit a laser up the middle, which propelled CSP to the 3-1 victory.
 
GAME 1: ASU 2, CSP 8
In game two, the Golden Bear offense had a great game with eight runs on nine hits, and Rusch also shined after holding a no-hitter for 4.2 innings, leading the way for the 8-2 victory.
 
After neither team scored in the opening inning of play, CSP broke the gridlock with back-to-back two-run innings. McCollow's 2-RBI single up the middle in the second inning opened the scoring. In the third, an RBI triple from Jaden Werner and a groundout RBI from McBroome made the score 4-0 after three innings of action.
 
In the fifth, the Grizzlies collected an inside-the-park home run to right field that broke the no-hitter and shutout opportunity. However, Will Husemann's first hit of the season up the middle allowed for McBroome to score, making the score 5-1.
 
With a 1-1 count and two runners on base in the seventh and final inning, Thimsen hit his fifteenth career and first home run of the season to deep center field to solidify the 8-2 win.