TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (4-7, 0-2 NSIC) opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at the Tucson Invitational Games for the first time ever on Saturday afternoon, dropping both games of the doubleheader to Minot State (5-2, 2-0 NSIC) at Kino Sports Complex.
GAME ONE: MINOT STATE 17, CONCORDIA 10
After Minot State got on the board with a run in the bottom of the first, sophomore catcher
Trett Joles put the Golden Bears on top 2-1 in the top of the second with a two-run long ball to over the right field fence, scoring
Kal Brohmer. Brohmer came through with an RBI of his own an inning later, singling to left to score
Noah Juliar and make it 3-1 in favor of CSP.
The Beavers blew the game open in the bottom of the third, plating 10 runs to make it an 11-3 game. The Golden Bears showed they wouldn't go down without a fight, scoring three runs in the fourth to pull within five at 11-6.
Bennett McCollow, Juliar, and
Eric Berg had one RBI each in the inning. Unfortunately for Concordia, Minot State responded with four more runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 15-6.
Concordia would score four more in the sixth, including a two-run homer by McCollow and a single from Berg that scored a pair of runs, but that proved to be as close as they would come as the Beavers also added two in the sixth on the way to a commanding win.
McCollow finished game one 3-5 at the plate with 3 RBI and a homer while Berg was 2-4 with 3 RBI. Joles went 2-4, also hitting a home run and plating two runs.
Starting pitcher
Fritz Meyer was charged with the loss, allowing nine hits and seven earned runs in 2.2 innings of work.
GAME TWO: MINOT STATE 5, CONCORDIA 4 (10 inn.)
The Beavers were first on the board once again in game two with three runs in the second. Sophomore
Will Husemann gave the Bears their first runs of the game in the fourth, going deep for the fourth time this season and scoring McCollow in the process. Later that same inning, junior
Tomas Lee knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game at 3-3.
In the sixth inning, sophomore
Kaden Johnson gave Concordia its first lead of the game, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to bring Brohmer home and make it 4-3 in favor of the Bears. That lead proved to be short lived, with the Beavers scoring a run in the bottom half of the inning to knot things up once again.
Following three scoreless innings, the game headed to extras still tied at four each. Concordia mounted a scoring threat in the top of the 10
th when leadoff hitter
Noah Juliar singled up the middle and eventually advanced to third on a wild pitch and a ground out. The Beavers survived the scare, using another groundout to end the inning with Juliar stranded at third. Minot State went on to draw a bases-loaded walk in the bottom half of the inning to walk it off and complete the Saturday sweep.
Senior
Korey Dahlberg pitched well as Concordia's starter, giving up five hits and four runs, none of which were earned, with five strikeouts in six full innings of work. Senior
Jack Greenlun pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up two hits and a run while walking six and striking out four. Minot State closer Conner Meldrim earned the win, holding Concordia scoreless while giving up just one hit in 2.0 innings pitched.
Joles finished game two 3-4 at the dish while Brohmer and Berg also had multi-hit games, going 2-4 and 2-5, respectively.
The Golden Bears and Beavers will wrap up the four-game series with two more contests on Sunday in Tucson, Ariz.
