ROSEVILLE, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul baseball (27-20, 19-19 NSIC) brought their conference record to .500 and extended their winning streak to six games with a 9-5 victory over the Sioux Falls Cougars (22-25, 15-22 NSIC) on Friday afternoon at Reynolds Field.
 
CSP's win this afternoon improved their all-time record against USF to 22-16. They will look to extend that record by two additional games tomorrow in the doubleheader finale at Barnes Field. The projected start time is currently slated for 12 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., with the Senior Day festivities following shortly after the conclusion of game two.
 
On the mound, Gavin Rusch made his 11th start of the season for the Golden Bears. The junior righty batted to a no-decision after working 5.2 innings with a strikeout and a pick off. His battery partner, Justin McGuigan, also provided heroics after throwing out three runners who were attempting to steal second.
 
Offensively, the Golden Bears scored nine runs on seven hits, led by junior Bennett McCollow, who collected a pair of home runs that drove in five runs. The Bloomington, Minnesota native tied the game with his eighth home run of the season that bounced off and over the fence in right field in the fifth. With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, he provided the highlight of the afternoon with his first grand slam in the Navy and Gold to give the Golden Bears their first lead at 6-2.
 
Noah Juliar also provided fireworks from the plate with an RBI triple in the third inning for Concordia's first run of the afternoon. With his fifth triple of the season, he is now tied for the most in NSIC.
 
An error-ridden seventh inning was costly for the Cougars, as CSP scored a trio of runs off one hit, which was a bunt single from McGuigan. Sioux Falls finished the game with 11 hits and two errors.

Eric Lundell (6-2) was the only pitcher from the bullpen to climb the hill for the Golden Bears. The senior tallied a pair of strikeouts in the final 3.1 innings to help CSP secure game one of the series, 9-5.