Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WAKEFIELD, Neb. – Southwest Minnesota State used strong pitching and timely hitting to push its winning streak to three in a row with a doubleheader sweep over Concordia-St. Paul on Friday afternoon at Eaton Field. SMSU won the opener 4-3 behind a walk-off single by
Connor Johnson and then jumped to an early lead and held on for a 5-2 victory in game two.
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The four-game series was originally scheduled for Marshall but was moved to northeast Nebraska because of poor field conditions.
Saturday's double header has been canceled due to expected poor weather.
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SMSU bumps its record to 9-11 overall, 4-6 NSIC, while CSP drops to 13-7, 6-4 NSIC. The CSP pitching staff entered the day having recorded eight shutouts in its last 10 games.
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In the opener, CSP rallied to tie the game at 3-3 in the sixth inning, but SMSU countered the bottom of the seventh to earn the win.
Shane Sellner started the rally with a single and was followed by a sac bunt by
Jayden Fleck to move pinch-runner
Jared Tschetter into scoring position. After an intentional walk, Johnson smacked an opposite field single to left field to plate the winning run. It was SMSU's first walk-off win since April 23, 2017, versus U-Mary.
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Alex Jorgensen (1-2) earned the win in relief with two shutout innings allowing two hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
Justin Clark started for SMSU and was solid, firing five-plus innings, giving up three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks.
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Trailing 1-0 in the third, SMSU rallied to take its first lead of the game.
Liam Lopez started the frame with a walk and moved to second on sac bunt by
Nathan Kuhn.
Ben Heichel tied the game with a run-scoring single and following a strikeout, Fleck singled to put runners on the corners.
Jake Hendricks then delivered a clutch two-out single to score Heichel and give SMSU a 2-1 lead.
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CSP tied the game in the fourth, but SMSU rallied in the bottom of the inning taking advantage of a two-out CSP throwing error to score Lopez, who had earlier stolen second base.
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The Golden Bears would tie the game with a one-out RBI double in the sixth, but Jorgensen kept the game tied to set up the seventh inning heroics by Johnson.
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Fleck led SMSU's six-hit offense with a pair of hits in three at bats.
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In game two, Johnson gave SMSU a 2-0 lead in the second as he belted a two-run home run to centerfield for his first career home run.
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After CSP scored a run in the third, SMSU added to the lead in the bottom of the third with another clutch two-out hit. Kuhn started the inning with a single and stole second base. He would later move to third base on a wild pitch. It looked like SMSU may come up empty in the inning following a strikeout and a pop out, but Flecked walked to keep the inning alive. Hendricks then came through again drilling a two-run double to center to plate a pair of runs and make the score 4-1.
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The score moved to 5-1 in the fifth as Kuhn singled and came around to score on an RBI single by Sellner.
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Kuhn and Hendricks each had two of SMSU's eight hits in the contest.
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John Bezdicek started on the mound for SMSU and just missed qualifying for the win, tossing 4 2/3 innings and allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks.
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Chase Meyer (2-0) was outstanding in relief to record the victory, recording a career-high six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, giving up one run on four hits. He stranded two runners on base in both the seventh and eighth innings, before working a perfect ninth inning.
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