Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team dropped a pair of non-conference games today to Concordia-St. Paul at the Tucson Invitational at the Kino Sports Complex. CSP won the opener 7-1 and completed the sweep with a 9-4 victory in game two.
 
In the opener, CSP starting pitcher Gus Varland was the story, as the right-hander tossed a complete game four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in moving to 2-0 on the season. He defeated nationally ranked St. Cloud State earlier this season.
 
SMSU was scoreless until the seventh inning before Jon Leighton ended the shutout bid with a solo home run.
 
Mustang starter Erik Thorvilson (0-1) was solid for four innings as SMSU trailed just 1-0 heading into the fifth inning. The Golden Bears then pushed across three runs in the fifth behind an RBI single and a two-run home run.
 
CSP then plated three more runs in the sixth on a three-run homer off SMSU relief pitcher Brandon Woznak to make the score 7-0.
 
Brian Redemske, Cole VanderBeek and Derek Branson had the other base hits for SMSU.
 
In game two, CSP jumped on SMSU freshman starting pitcher Jeremy Stouffer for three unearned runs collecting two hits and taking advantage of two SMSU errors.
 
SMSU picked up a run back in the second inning as Tanner Picht hit his first home run of the season. After CSP added a run in the third to make it 4-1, SMSU answered in the home half of the third as Leighton hit his team-leading third home run of the season to cut the deficit to 4-2.
 
CSP extended the lead to 8-2 after pushing across two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, but SMSU would not go away, using the long-ball again in the sixth inning. Leighton started the inning with a walk and was followed two batters later by Picht, who connected on a two-run home run to make the score 8-4.
 
That was as close as the Mustangs would come, as the Golden Bears—who finished with 16 hits—added a single run in the seventh inning for the game's final run.
 
Stouffer (0-1) lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing six runs (three earned) on nine hits with three walks and one strikeout.
 
SMSU closed the game with seven hits, with Leighton, Picht and Jayden Fleck all finishing with two hits each.
 
Southwest Minnesota State returns to action on Monday taking on St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. CST for a single nine-inning game.