BOX SCORE

TUCSON, Ariz. – Concordia-St. Paul scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning and held on to earn a 5-4 non-conference victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday afternoon in Tucson, Ariz.

SMSU (6-4) scored a run in the bottom of the 11th and had the tying run on third base, but a strikeout ended the game and stopped SMSU's three-game winning streak.

Brian Ness and Jon Ellis each finished with three hits and an RBI for SMSU, while Mark Hanson and Doug Mead each collected a pair of hits.

Aaron Johnson started for SMSU and allowed two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings with four strikeouts.  Bryce Rippentrop suffered the loss, coming on in relief and pitching 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.

Concordia (5-4) scored single runs in the second and fourth innings to build a 2-0 lead, but SMSU rallied to tie the game in the home half of the fourth.  Brian Ness singled with one out and moved to third on a two-out double by Kyle Young.  Jon Ellis then hit an infield RBI single to shortstop and on the throw to first base the ball bounced away allowing Young to score and tie the game.

SMSU took the lead in the fifth as Doug Mead singled and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt.  Following a ground out and fly out, Ness came through with a two-out single to score Mead and give SMSU a 3-2 lead.

CU answered back with All-American candidate Bryan Lippincott, hitting a game-tying solo home run in the seventh off of reliever Bryce Rippentrop.

SMSU nearly won the game in the 10th, as Mead led off with a single and was moved to second on a sac bunt by Adam Thygesen.  Jordon Kontz flew out for the second out and following an intentional walk to Ness, Tyler Flattum flied out to end the inning.

The Golden Bears scored two runs in the 11th on an RBI single and a double steal to build a 5-3 lead.  SMSU rallied in the bottom of the inning as Young walked and Ellis singled putting runners on first and second.  A sac bunt by Hanson moved both runners up and an RBI ground out by Steven Kremer made the score 5-4, but a strikeout ended the rally.

Southwest Minnesota State will close out its nine-game spring trip tomorrow with an 11 a.m. CST game versus St. Ambrose (Iowa).