MANDAN, N.D. - Concordia-St. Paul baseball (29-21) made it back-to-back wins on Thursday with an 8-4 victory over the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs (27-24) at BNC Field.
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The Golden Bears will return to action tomorrow afternoon against the Wayne State Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. from BNC Field. For information, please visit
https://cspbears.com/sports/baseball.
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Despite facing early adversity in the opening portion of the game, Concordia was able to find their rhythm with eight runs, including a pair of three-run innings that helped them pace the Mustangs in the Thursday night elimination game.
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On the bump, freshman
Ian Segna (6-1) collected his sixth win of the season after matching a career-high five strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
Jack Nicklaus also played a pivotal role for the pitching staff after securing his first career save with a strikeout in 3.0 innings of work.
SMSU opened the game with a run in the bottom of the third that barely crossed the plate in time before the third out in the inning. They added to their lead in the fourth with a two-run home run from Keenan Wenzel, but this would be the high point of their offense for the remainder of the contest.
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NSIC Newcomer of the Year,
Bennett McCollow, was electric at the plate with two hits and a pair of runs, leading the CSP offense that collected 11 hits. The Bloomington, Minnesota native's 10th home run of the season in the fifth inning sparked the offense after bringing them within a run of the Mustangs.
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In the sixth inning, following an RBI double down the right field line from
Bryce Nelson that tied the game,
Mason Nadolney notched his 16th homer of the season after connecting on a 3-2 pitch that coasted over the fence in right field for a two-run homer.
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The Golden Bears added a trio of insurance runs in the seventh inning that was highlighted by an RBI double from
Noah Juliar to take a convincing five-run lead at the seventh inning stretch.
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Southwest Minnesota State fought until the end with their final run in the ninth inning, but strong pitching from Nicklaus proved to be too much as CSP held on to take the 8-4 victory.
Following the game, the league office met up with junior
Bennett McCollow to discuss the result.
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