ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (19-14, 9-13 NSIC) swept the Wayne State Wildcats (21-11, 16-6 NSIC) with dominant pitching in game one and a solid offensive attack in game two from Bob Barnes Field on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears claimed game one with a 10-1 victory and secured the series with an 18-14 comeback victory in game two.
 
With the two wins, the Golden Bears avenged their series loss to the Wildcats from last season while adding the first win at home against WSC since 2016. The 18 runs that Concordia scored  in game two is the second most runs scored by either team in series history, with 23 runs scored in 2019 by CSP being the most.
 
The Golden Bears and Wildcats will conclude their three-game series tomorrow afternoon with a nine-inning single-game finale. The first pitch is slated to begin at 12 p.m. from Bob Barnes Field.
 
GAME ONE: CSP 10 WSC 1
Concordia used strong pitching from starting pitcher Korey Dahlberg and a steady offensive showing that was capped off with an explosive seven-run sixth inning to claim the opening game of the doubleheader.
 
As a team, the Golden Bears scored 10 runs on 10 hits. Jaden Werner led the Golden Bears with an impressive 3-4 showing at the plate with his sixth home run and 10th double of the season. Additionally, the Crivitz, Wisconsin native added five RBIs and two runs scored.
 
Dahlberg (4-2) made his eighth start on the bump for CSP in game one. The Farmington, Minnesota native shined with his third complete game of the season. He finished with four strikeouts, allowing only one earned run and a walk in his fourth win of the season.
 
Neither team could find their offensive rhythm in the early going, as they were scoreless after three innings of play. During that time, Dahlberg allowed only two hits and the only base runner that reached was in the top of the first inning via hit-by-pitch.
 
Following a single from Thimsen in the fourth inning, the Golden Bears struck first with a 2-run homer to center field from Werner. They added another run in the following inning after Koby McBroome used a sacrifice fly RBI to drive in Justin McGuigan from third base to go up 3-0.
 
In the sixth inning, after Wayne State scored the first and only run of the game, CSP exploded for seven runs off six hits. The scoring barrage was highlighted by a 3-RBI single from Werner and a 2-RBI single from McCollow that propelled them to the 10-1 game one victory.
 
GAME TWO: CSP 18, Wayne State 14
CSP weathered the early Wildcat storm that saw them trailing by nine runs in the opening two innings. Eventually, they got the bats hot with seven home runs in the 18-14 comeback thriller.
 
Noah Juliar and Will Husemann lit up the scoreboard with grand slams, while McCollow, Thimsen, Kal Brohmer and Mason Nadolney each hit homers of their own in the contest. Werner also had an impressive showing with a trio of hits, three runs, two runs and a pair of walks at the plate.
 
The pitching staff was much busier in game two, with four different arms seeing the mound. Gavin Rusch made his eighth start of the season in the no-contest, while Jack Nicklaus finished with a team-leading four strikeouts and Eric Lundell (4-2) collected his fourth win of the season.
 
Wayne State shot out of a cannon in the second inning with nine runs that included a pair of homers from Kaden Young and a 2-run shot from Quinn McCafferty. Young had a career day with his third bomb in the fourth and his fourth in the ninth.
 
CSP found their first runs in the second inning with an RBI single from Husemann and a ground out RBI by Nadolney that drove in Husemann from the cut into the nine run deficit.
 
In the third, following a 2-run homer from Chase Douglas in the top of the frame, the Golden Bears answered in the bottom with six runs off four hits. After loading the bases with a single from McCollow and walks from Thimsen and Werner, Juliar elevated a 3-1 pitch that carried over the fence in left center that landed on top of the Gangelhoff Center for the grand slam. However, the scoring did not conclude in the inning, as Brohmer hit his first home run of the season, and Nadolney added his 14th homer of the season to make the score 11-8.
 
Despite the Wildcats increasing the lead with a homer from Young, the Husemann tied the game with a 12-12 with his first career grand slam that sailed over the fence in left center field in the fourth inning.
 
McCollow gave CSP their first lead of the game in the fifth inning with another homer that landed on the Gangelhoff Center in the fifth, and a 2-RBI single from Werner in the seventh proved to be the game-winner.
 
Lundell closed the show on the mound and the Concordia offense added insurance with a 3-run home run from Thimsen in the eighth, propelling them to the 18-14 victory.