MINNEAPOLIS – Ryan Bell tossed eight strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts to help Southwest Minnesota State earn a 4-2 victory over Concordia-St. Paul in NSIC baseball on Saturday morning at US Bank Stadium.
 
Bell, who earned his third straight victory and improves to 3-2, finished the game tossing 105 pitches with 65 for strikes.
 
SMSU, which lost a pair of close games to CSP on Friday, improved to 13-7 overall, 3-6 NSIC. CSP falls to 10-11 overall, 5-4 NSIC.
 
Levi Lampert and Jared Cortez each finished the game with a pair of hits to pace the Mustang eight-hit offense, while Henry Hammrich hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the fifth inning.
 
SMSU finished the game with eight hits and left 11 runners on base, while CSP closed with five hits.
 
Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, hustled into second with a leadoff double and scored one batter later as Tanner Rezny dropped in an RBI single. Following an infield single by Evan Behn and a ground out put runners at second and third, Hammrich stroked an 0-2 pitch down the left field line to score two runs and put SMSU up 3-1. Hammrich would later score on a fielder's choice bunt by Caden King to push the lead to 4-1.
 
Bell held the Golden Bears to one just run for 7 2/3 innings until a two-out solo home run in the eighth by Eli Nelson cut the Mustang advantage to 4-2.
 
Austin Dent came into the pitch the ninth and tossed a scoreless frame to earn his first career save.
 
SMSU will continue play next Saturday and Sunday with a four-game series at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. The first three games of the series will be conference games while the fourth game will be played as a non-league game.