MANDAN, N.D. - Concordia-St. Paul baseball (28-21) advanced in the 2024 NSIC Tournament with a 6-5 victory over the defending conference champion from St. Cloud State (32-19) on Thursday afternoon from BNC Field.
The Golden Bears will return to action later this evening against the loser of the Southwest Minnesota and Minnesota State game. The first pitch will take place at 7:00 p.m. from BNC Field.
Bryce Nelson led the way offensively with a 3-4 outing at the plate with a triple. The senior added a pair of RBIs and a run for the Golden Bears.
Noah Juliar also had a solid performance in the batter's box with three hits, an RBI and a run, while
Justin McGuigan was a perfect 2-2 with two RBIs.
The second-round elimination game was a back-in-forth affair between two teams that fought till the final pitch to keep their season alive. A four-run fourth inning and strong defense helped Concordia to the 6-5 victory over the defending NSIC tournament champs from last season.
Gavin Rusch shined in his 11th start of the season on the mound for the Navy and Gold. The Green Bay, Wisconsin native was perfect through 4.1 innings on the bump and finished the afternoon with a strikeout in 5.2 innings of work.
The early innings consisted of a pitching dual between the Golden Bears and the Huskies, as neither ball club could score in the opening three frames of action. Concordia broke the gridlock with four runs on four hits in the fourth inning, highlighted by a two-RBI triple from Nelson and an RBI double from Brohmer in back-to-back at-bats.
It was not until the fifth inning that the Huskies were able to find any offensive momentum with their first hits of the game. However, following a double down the left field line, Nelson halted St. Cloud from crossing the plate with a solid throw to the plate and McGuigan stopped the runner in his tracks.
Through the sixth and seventh innings, the two teams traded six combined runs. McGuigan added a sacrifice fly and
Noah Juliar extended to lead with an RBI single score CSP's final two runs. In contrast, the Huskies added a two-run homer from Noah Dehne and an RBI single to make the 6-4 headed into the final two innings of action.
St. Cloud tallied the game's final run in the eighth, but an impressive double play from
Brayden Roybal and a solid 3.0 inning performance from
Matt Sherman propelled the Golden Bears to the one-run victory over SCSU.
Following the game, senior
Bryce Nelson discussed the path to victory in his post game interview.
