Box Score

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team opened the 2019 season tonight suffering a 3-1 non-conference loss to Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium as part of the Tucson Invitational.
 
Pitching dominated the game as the two teams combined for 28 strikeouts, but both teams had chances to score as both left 10 runners on base.
 
CSP with the victory improves to 6-1 on the season.
 
SMSU started the game's scoring in the bottom of the first as Jayden Fleck smashed a home run over the left field fence to make the score 1-0.
 
CSP threatened several times in the first four innings before finally pushing across three runs in the fifth. The inning started with a double before the Golden Bears used a pair of two-out RBI singles and added a the third run on a wild pitch.
 
SMSU had chances to tie or take the lead in the middle innings, but left two runners on base in the fifth one in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
 
The Mustang offense finished with six hits, while the Golden Bears closed the game with seven hits.   
 
Justin Clark (0-1) started on the mound for the Mustangs and lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. Alex Jorgensen allowed two hits and no runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief with four strikeouts, while Teddy Broxterman tossed two scoreless with two strikeouts.  
 
Southwest Minnesota State continues plays on Friday with a 4 p.m. (CST) match-up versus No. 11 ranked St. Cloud State and a 7:30 p.m. (CST) rematch with Concordia-St. Paul.