Concordia-St. Paul used strong pitching, recording 24 strikeouts in two games, to sweep Wayne State 5-3 and 8-3 in an NSIC doubleheader Wednesday at the Chapman Complex.
The opener saw Concordia-St. Paul starter Gus Varland fan 10 Wildcats over six innings as he limited the Wildcats to seven hits in the contest.
The Golden Bears scored two runs in the second and two more in the top of the fifth to grab a 4-0 lead.
Wayne State answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth as Jake Lorenzini tripled to right center and scored on a Jackson Petersen single to right for the first run. Petersen later scored on a Tanner Simons RBI single.
The Golden Bears put together three hits in the top of the sixth to score again, taking a 5-2 lead, but Wayne State responded with a run in the bottom of the frame as Travis Miller singled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Lorenzini to trim the Golden Bear lead to 5-3.
The Wildcats had the tying run on base in the bottom of the seventh, but reliever Riley Sweeney got out of the jam on a pop up to end the game.
Wayne State had seven hits in the game, led by Miller going 2-for-4 with one run scored. Lorenzini tripled while Simons, Alex Logelin, Lorenzine, Garrett Gravline and Petersen each singled.
Isaac Rubendall (2-2) suffered the pitching loss, allowing five runs over 5 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and one walk. Brady Johnson worked 2/3 of an inning in relief while Dalton Smith retired all three batters in the seventh inning during his one inning of work.
The second game witnessed more strong pitching from the Golden Bears as Concordia-St. Paul posted 13 strikeouts from three different pitchers to finish off the sweep.
Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, Wayne State recorded two runs to even the score at 2-2. Andrew Hanson’s RBI single through the right side scored Simons, with Bryce Bisenius later scoring on a wild pitch.
The Golden Bears took the lead for good with one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh for a 6-2 advantage.
Wayne State scored its final run in the seventh on a Travis Miller RBI double to the gap in the left center bringing home Bisenius, but the Golden Bears added two runs in the eighth to pick up the win.
Bisenius led Wayne State’s seven-hit attack, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Miller had an RBI double while Hanson contributed an RBI single in the contest.
Reliever Adam Poldberg (0-1) was one of six Wildcat pitchers in the contest and suffered the loss. Starter Spencer Johnson worked four innings and gave up two runs on four hits with one strikeout and two walks.
The Wildcats (15-21, 13-13 NSIC) will be home this weekend, hosting Sioux Falls in NSIC doubleheaders Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m.
