MANDAN, N.D. - Concordia-St. Paul baseball's (29-22) run at the 2024 NSIC Baseball Conference Tournament ended after dropping Friday's elimination game to the Wayne State Wildcats (29-22), 19-8.
 
This season was a remarkable one for Neil Lerner's baseball team as they finished fourth in the NSIC despite being picked 11th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Their 29 wins marked a significant improvement after finishing with 17 the prior two years, and they notched their first conference tournament appearance since 2018. CSP will bid farewell to 11 seniors who helped the program to 78 wins over the past four seasons.
 
Today's contest consisted of an early back-and-forth slugfest between the Golden Bears and the Wildcats before Wayne pulled away at the end with 10 runs in the final two frames to secure the 11 run victory.
 
Bennett McCollow had a monster outing at the plate with his second four-hit game of the season. The Bloomington, Minnesota native finished with a double, two RBIs and a run in five plate appearances, leading the CSP offense that collected 12 hits.
 
Koby McBroome also provided a hot bat with three hits and a run for CSP, while senior Justin McGuigan added a pair of hits and senior Mason Nadolney collected his 17th home run of the season.

The pitching staff was busy this afternoon, with six arms seeing action on the bump. Korey Dahlberg (5-5) batted for 2.0 innings with a strikeout in his second postseason start, while Jack Greenlun tallied a team-leading 2.1 inning pitched. Seniors Eric Lundell, Matt Sherman and Logan Shaffer also appeared on the mound in relief for the Navy and Gold.
 
Wayne State grabbed early momentum with a trio of runs in the opening two innings of action. CSP answered with a pair of runs in the third inning following an RBI single from McCollow and a sacrifice fly from senior Nick Thimsen to make the score 3-2.
 
Momentum swung back in favor of the Wildcats with five runs highlighted by home runs from Trey Wells (2) and Colin Lynam to extend their lead to 9-4 heading into the seventh inning. WSC finished the afternoon with 18 hits, including six extra-base hits.
 
In the seventh, Nadolney awoke the Golden Bears dugout with a two-run bomb that carried over the fence in deep left field, and McCollow added his second RBI single later in the inning to bring them back within two runs.
 
The Golden Bears fought till end with a sacrifice fly from senior Bryce Nelson's that drove home senior Jaden Werner for the final run of the season in the eighth, but Wayne State held on to take the game, 19-8, after collecting 10 runs on seven hits in the final two innings.