Costly mistakes in the field and on the bases were the cause of the Bemidji State University baseball team falling twice to Concordia University, St. Paul Saturday in an Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader. BSU lost 17-7 in game one and 7-5 in 10 innings in game two. With the losses the Beavers have fallen in seven straight and are now 2-1 in extra inning games this season.

Senior right-hander Ryan Sander (St. James, Minn.) got hit hard in the top of the first inning of game one, allowing three runs on five hits, but BSU totaled four runs in the bottom of the second inning to own a 4-3 lead. Three of the four runs came with two outs, getting production from the bottom half of the order. Nine-hole hitter sophomore Lewis Baumann (MIF, Colorado Springs, Colo.) ripped a base hit to right to score senior Joe Chism (Great Bend, Kan.) and junior Juan Molero (OF, Maracaibo, Venezuela), who reached on doubles. After Baumann scored he was plated by an infieild hit by freshman Cole Bergquist (Inf, Chisago Lakes, Minn.).

After putting the Golden Bears down in order in the second, Sander again allowed three runs to hand CU a 6-4 advantage. Two unearned runs in the bottom of the third for the Beavers knotted the score at 6-6.

Bryan Lippincott, the league’s leader in batting average, ended Sander’s day on the first offering of the fourth inning, blasting his second homerun of the season over the left field fence to give CU a 7-6 lead. The Beavers were unable to respond in the fifth and then the game was broken open in the top of the fifth with a six-run inning by the visiting team.

The Golden Bears rubbed salt in the wound in the seventh with four more runs to make the score 17-6. Senior outfielder Nick Jelacie’s (Brainerd, Minn.) second homerun of the season in the bottom of the seventh to make the final tally 17-7.

Lippincott went 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBI. Jelacie went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Chism was 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Sander pitched three innings and one batter, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts. The BSU pitchers combined allowed 23 hits, a season-high this season.

After a scoreless first in game two, the Beavers drew first blood in the bottom of the second with a two-out rocket off the bat of Webb that left the confines of the BSU Baseball Field, scoring himself and freshman Zach Braun (C, Lakeville, Minn.), who got on base after drawing a walk being down 0-2 in the count.

But like they did in game one, the Golden Bears responded with two runs of their own in the top of the third with two outs to tie the contest 2-2. A single run in the top of the fourth made the score 3-2, but Bray was able to do some damage control by getting Lippincott to fly out to left for the third out of the inning with the bases loaded.

A Jelacie homerun that left the left fielder standing and watching the ball sail the fence tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth frame.

A scoreless ninth pushed the game to extra innings. The Golden Bears didn’t wait long to get on the scoreboard, getting four runs in the top of the 10th inning. Those four runs were aided with two errors which came on the second and third batters of the inning, just trying to advance the lead-off batter that reached on a walk. Then the hits came and CU held a 7-3 lead into the bottom half of the inning.

The Beavers started some comeback magic in the 10th, getting hits from three of the first four batters and scoring twice with just one out. Then Golden Bear pitcher Nick Anderson settled in and fanned the last two batters and finished the game for his first win of the season.

BSU had 11 hits in the game, getting at least one from eight batters. Baumann was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Senior Colton Smith (OF, Waddel, Ari.) and sophomore Logan Kalis (1B/RHP, Little Falls, Minn.) each tallied two hits. sophomore left-hander Phil Bray (Chatfield, Minn.) started for BSU, going six innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts. Sophomore Ryan Brezinski (RHP, Regina, Saskatchewan) took the loss and is now 2-1. After three complete scoreless innings, he allowed all four runs in the 10th and committed the two errors that led to the big extra innings frame for CU.
 
CU and BSU complete its four-game series Sunday, April 10 at 12 p.m.