After falling 23-9 in game one of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader Saturday, the Bemidji State University baseball team posted a 6-5 game two victory to split a doubleheader with Concordia University, St. Paul at BSU Baseball Field. BSU won three of four games to improve to 16-15, 10-8 in league play.
Game 1
Concordia-St. Paul produced 23 runs on 24 hits to earn the game one victory. The Beavers totaled 15 hits, en route to scoring nine runs, but an early deficit overshadowed the offense output.
Sophomore third baseman Joey Hanowski (Little Falls, Minn.) went 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored in the game. Freshman right-hander Derek Masberg (Kilkenny, Minn.) only lasted 1.2 innings, as he suffered the loss after allowing nine runs (five earned) on eight hits with one strikeout and two walks.
Bemidji State scored two runs in the bottom of the first to knot the game 2-2. BSU got the two runs on a pair of doubles off the bats of Hanowski and freshman Bo Schmitz (C, St. Cloud, Minn.).
The Golden Bears then posted seven runs on four hits and a BSU error in the second to open up a 9-2 lead. Two runs in the third and eight Golden Bear runs in the fourth put the game out of reach at 19-3.
BSU tallied three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, but it was too little too late, as the squad fell 23-9.
Game 2
The Beavers were outhit 13-7 in game one, but found two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a double down the right field line by senior outfielder Cole Bjorge (Prior Lake, Minn.). Schmitz went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while sophomore Tyler Nelson (SS, Hayfield, Minn.) posted a 2-for-4 effort and added two runs and an RBI.
Junior righty Drake Huggans (Greenley, Colo.) picked up the win after hurling three innings of relief and allowed one run on three this with one strikeout.
BSU scored twice in the first to post a run in the first inning of each of the four games in the series. The small lead held until Concordia-St. Paul scored at least a run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
A single run in the fourth, two in the fifth and a run in the sixth gave the road team a 4-2 lead, but the Beavers responded in the bottom half of the sixth with a two runs on a Schmitz single to right.
CU scored in the top of the eighth to take the 5-4 lead on a suicide squeeze play. BSU then got the big base knock by Bjorge to regain the advantage that would hold, as Huggans got the three outs he needed in the ninth.
The Beavers and Golden Bears are schedule to meet again for an NSIC double dip Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.