FORT SCOTT, Kan. – Concordia-St. Paul (2-4, 1-1 NSIC) opened Northern Sun regular season play on Thursday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader with Minnesota Crookston (4-5, 3-2 NSIC) at LaRoche Baseball Complex.
 
Concordia won the first game in extra innings, exploding for an eight-run eighth inning in an 18-10 win before falling 9-7 in the second game.
 
The teams were treated to temperatures starting in the low 60s, reaching the upper 60s before falling back into the upper 40s by the end of the doubleheader with sunny, windy conditions with winds in the 25-30 mph range before falling under 20 mph by the end of the day.
 
The teams will complete their four-game series with another doubleheader at noon on Friday. Game one of the doubleheader will be a 9-inning NSIC contest followed by a non-conference 7-inning series finale.
 
GAME 1: CSP 18, UMC 10 (8 innings)
In a game that started with Concordia holding a 9-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning of a 7-inning game, it is only fitting that it ended with Concordia putting up an 8-run eighth inning for an extra-inning victory.
 
Freshman Gus Burger did the damage to build the lead, and capped-off the 8-run rally in the eighth inning to bookend another big performance in just his fifth career game.
 
Berger went 3-4 with his first two career home runs and drove in six runs. His first career homer was a third-inning blast that extended CSP's lead to 3-0. He added an RBI single to center in the fourth for a 6-2 lead. In the eighth, it was a three-run homer for the 18-10 eventual final score.
 
He had opened his career with three doubles in the season-opening four-game series at Missouri Western State.
 
Sophomore Eric Berg also had a big day at the plate, going 4-5 with a pair of doubles, three runs and three RBIs. He got the scoring started in the first inning with an RBI double to left center, scoring leadoff hitter Kaden Johnson, who had a hit, a pair of walks, a stolen base and three runs scored in his six plate appearances (1-4). Berg also produced a 2-run double in the fourth, and then scored to make it 9-2 as CSP scored a run in the first, four in the third and fourth in the fourth to build the big lead.
 
Sophomore Sam Kennedy pitched into the fourth inning in his second start, striking out seven in 3.1 innings. He allowed four runs on five hits and had a 7-2 K-BB ratio in the no decision.
 
Liam Bystol relieved Kennedy and allowed three runs but only one earned in 1.2 innings of middle relief work, picking up a strikeout and getting CSP to the late innings by finishing the fourth and fifth frames.
 
Senior right hander Christian Lindow pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing three runs (two earned) in his 2.0 innings of work, striking out one without issuing any walks, turning over the tie game to Cole Newell who recorded three strikeouts to finish off the 18-10 win, working around two walks without allowing a hit.
 
CSP's pitching staff held a combined 12-5 strikeout-walk ratio over eight innings in the win, with Lindow getting credit for the victory to move to 1-0 while making his second appearance.
 
Concordia's 2-through-5 hitters had a massive first game, combining to hit 12-20 with 10 runs, 12 RBIs and six extra-base hits. Will Husemann was 3-6 with three RBIs and a double and Charlie Harms was 2-5 with three runs and a double to support Berger and Berg's big days.
 
But it was the whole lineup who contributed in the first game of the four game series with the Golden Eagles, as all nine batters scored, seven of the nine drove in at least run, and eight of the nine reached base at least twice with the lone exception Chase McQuade who instead opted to his his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning for a 10-4 lead.
 
Concordia scored in five of the eight innings, putting up crooked numbers three times with four in the third, four in the fourth and eight in the eighth.
 
Minnesota Crookston scored in five-straight innings, but never scored more than three in an inning and were limited to just one run in the final two frames.
 
Jackson Fiflet did the damage for UMC in game one, going 4-4 with a pair of UMC's three home runs, driving in four runs. Americo Sculati had UMC's other home run, going 2-4.
 
GAME 2: UMC 9, CSP 7
After the two teams traded zeros for the first five half-innings, Minnesota Crookston broke through with four unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning.
 
Concordia countered with a 5-run top of the fourth inning as Nick Carlson drew a bases loaded walk followed by a two-run single by Max Kaplan and a two-run double by Gus Berger as the three freshmen drove in all five runs in the big inning.
 
Minnesota Crookston countered with a second-straight four-run inning, claiming an 8-5 lead past the midway point of the newly converted 7-inning game as game one went into extra innings.
 
The deficit was too much for CSP to overcome, despite a two-out RBI double by Chase McQuade in the fifth and a one-out RBI single by McQuade in the ninth. The Golden Bears stranded runners on first and second with one out in the final frame, leaving the tying runner on base.
 
McQuade went 2-4 with the double and pair of RBIs and Berger hit his fourth double of the season, driving in two more runs and leads the team with 14 RBIs in six games.
 
McQuade is hitting .313 (5-16) with a pair of doubles, pair of homers and seven RBIs in four games to start the season, and Berger's hitting a team-best .364 (8-22) with a .444 OBP and .818 slugging percentage with six extra-base hits.
 
Kaplan went 1-2 with a walk, a run and a pair of RBIs and Carlson was 1-2 with a run, an RBI and a pair of walks. Kaplan is off to a .313 (5-16) start to the season while Carlson has a .480 OBP paced by a team-best 9-1 K-BB ratio.
 
Kaden Johnson hit his second triple of the season, going 1-3 with a walk, and Eric Berg was 0-2 but got on base twice by HBP and scored both times.
 
Ollie Yuhas took the loss, working into the fourth inning in his second start of the year, striking out three in 3.1 innings while four of the seven runs against him were unearned on a tough-luck day.

Tyus Smith relieved him and struck out a pair for his two outs in 0.2 innings and Caden Carsen pitched the final two innings for CSP, allowing an unearned run with a strikeout.
 
Isaac Wensloff picked up the win for UMC to improve to 2-0, allowing six runs over 4.2 innings with four strikeouts. CSP tagged him for six hits and five walks. Ashton Detloff got the save, allowing a run over 2.1 innings out of the bullpen.
 
The Golden Eagles had three doubles in game two, with Cole Hebl leading the offense by going 2-4 with a double and five RBIs out of the fifth-spot in the lineup.