By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / St. Paul, Minn.

-St. Cloud State Baseball fell in both games of their doubleheader against Concordia-St. Paul from Barnes Field. The Golden Bears picked up a walk-off win in the opener, battling back for a 5-4 win in extra innings. The Huskies were then blanked in game two, as CSP earned a 5-0 shutout victory. 

Game 1.

Game 1 of the double-header saw the Huskies come up short 4-5.   Concordia-St. Paul scored once in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead. A two-out RBI single from Will Husemann in the first brought home the first run, before a solo homer to left field from Hawken Hedlund in the second. 

In the top of the third, the Huskies would get on the board as redshirt junior Hayden Frank lifted a deep fly ball to left for an opposite field home run, cutting the deficit to 2-1. SCSU would strike again with the longball one inning later. Redshirt senior Eric Bello led off with a walk. With one out, redshirt sophomore Jonathan Pribula towered a two-run homer to right field to put the Huskies in front 3-2. 

The Golden Bears drew even in the bottom of the fourth with another solo home run from Hedlund to make it 3-3. It was the first career multi-homer game for the redshirt freshman. Both teams were able to put up a zero defensively in the fifth, with CSP helped out by a good defensive inning including a double play. 

In the sixth, redshirt senior Liam Moreno opened the inning with a single. Bello attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to second was wild and both runners were safe. After two quick pop ups, redshirt freshman Max Robinson rolled an infield single down the third base line to load the bases. That set up junior Dawson Schmidt, who ripped a groundball through the left side for a go-ahead single to score Moreno. Bello tried to score as well on the play but was thrown out on a good relay for the Golden Bears. 

Concordia-St. Paul tied it up again in the bottom of the frame, taking advantage of two errors, one hit, and a sacrifice fly to even the score. Neither side could score in the seventh, sending the game to extra innings. 

The eighth went scoreless, sending the game to the ninth. SCSU managed two singles but couldn’t score in the top of the inning. In the home half, a leadoff single from Charlie Harms and an outfield error put a runner on second. A sacrifice bunt moved Harms to third before Eric Berg lined an RBI single to left to give the Golden Bears the 5-4 walk-off win. 

Game 2: CSP 5, SCSU 0 

Concordia-St. Paul defeated the Huskies 5-0 in game two to sweep the day. earned the sweep in game two with a 5-0 win. Starting pitcher Lou Walker was dominant on the mound for the Golden Bears, allowing only 6 hits through seven innings.  The Huskies had baserunners left on base in every frame but couldn’t push anything across. 

The Golden Bears scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Eli Nelson and a throwing error. CSP tacked on single runs in the third, fourth, and sixth.

Charlie Harms led off the third with a loud double to right-center field and would come around to score on a Will Husemann groundout to make it 3-0. Blake Eckmann brought home the fourth run with a long solo home run down the left field line in the fourth. 

Sophomore AJ Price came on in relief in the fourth, recording four strikeouts in an inning and one third and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. 

In the sixth, a walk to Harms and an error put runners on first and third, and Eric Berg singled to round out the offense for the Golden Bears. Berg finished game two with two hits and was on base three times. 

SCSU managed two baserunners in the seventh, on a hit by pitch to senior Wyatt Tweet and a pinch-hit single from sophomore Austin Baumhover, but were held off the board by Walker, who fired his first career complete game for the shutout victory. 

UP NEXT 

The Huskies will be back at home this weekend, hosting Minot State in a three-game series from Joe Faber Field. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at 12 p.m. before the final game on Sunday.

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics.