MINNETONKA, Minn. (Veteran’s Field) - The Concordia St.-Paul Golden Bears scored nine unanswered runs in the first, second and third innings of Game 1, then used a two-run sixth inning in Game 2 to complete a double-header sweep of Bemidji State in Minnetonka, Minn. Concordia St.-Paul captured Game 1 by a score of 9-1, capped the twin-bill with a 3-0 shutout in Game 2. The games were moved to Minnetonka, Minn. due to poor field conditions at St. Paul.

The Golden Bears broke open a scoreless game and got on the board first in Game 1. Matt Borman opened the game off with a single to right field and Jake Waldman singled to shortstop to give the Golden Bears runners on first and third with nobody out in the inning. Borman and Walden each moved up a base when Tony Boxwell grounded out to the pitcher. Mason Reinhart lined out to right field which was deep enough to score Borman from third for the games first run. Andy Judkins singled to left field to push the second run across home plate and John Maciej gave the Golden Bears a 3-0 lead with his two out single to right field.

Concordia St. Paul kept the pressure on scoring two more runs in the home half of the second inning. Matt Borman hit a two run homer to right field to extend CSP’s lead to 5-0. CSP scored four runs in the third inning to take a commanding 9-0 lead. The Golden Bears put six hits together with one error to score the four runs. Brenden Furrow scored CSP’s first run of the inning on a throwing error by Bemidji State third baseman Shaun Corbett (Mora, Minn.). Greg Winegarden hit a single to right field that platted two more runs for the Golden Bears and Tony Boxwell capped the scoring for CSP in the inning with a RBI single to left field. At the end of the third inning the Golden Bears held a 9-0 lead over the Beavers.

The Beavers platted its lone run in the sixth inning of play. Josh Silvernagel (Bismarck, N.D.) hit a one out single followed by a single by Mark Henry (Grand Rapids, Minn.). Josh Juntunen (Elk River, Minn.) picked up the RBI on a two out single to center field scoring Silvernagel from third. This was Juntunen’s ninth RBI of the season for the Beavers.

Juntunen went 2-for-3 with the lone RBI to lead the Beavers on the offensive side of things.

Chad Schwegel (St. Joseph, Minn.) took the loss for the Beavers dropping to 0-2 on the season. Schwegel gave up nine runs (nine earned) on twelve hits with no walks and no strikeouts in three innings of work. Brent Vollbrecht (Morristown, Minn.) made a relief appearance for the Beavers giving up no runs on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk in three innings pitched.

Jake Schmidt got the win for the Golden Bears improving to 2-1 on the season. Schmidt gave up one run on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts in six innings of work. Kirk Ingram made the lone relief appearance for the Golden Bears. He worked one inning giving up no hits and no runs.

Game 2 was a pitcher duel early, with both starters working their way out of trouble to take a scoreless game into the home half of the fourth inning. BSU garnered nine hits off CSP starter Eric Utoft but was unable to push any runs across as Utoft struckout four batters in a 3-0 shutout of the Beavers.

BSU starter Josh Juntunen (Elk River, Minn.) was Utoft’s equal in the early innings, holding the Golden Bears to just three hits over the game’s first four innings. Jake Schmidt picked up a two out RBI single in the fourth inning to break open the scoring giving the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead. Concordia St.-Paul pushed its lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning when Jake Waldman led the inning off with a home run to left field. Brenden Furrow hit a two out RBI single up the middle for the second run of the inning for CSP.

Bemidji State was unable to answer and fell by a score of 3-0 to drop game 2 of the doubleheader.

Juntunen worked six innings for BSU, allowing three runs (three earned) on seven hits and four strikeouts. Juntunen fell to 0-4 with the loss.

Utoft improved to 2-1 on the year with the seven-inning gem, holding BSU to nine hits and striking out four with no walks.

Rich Bohannon (Goodyear, Minn.) led the Beavers going 3-for-4 in the contest at the plate. Josh Silvernagel and Anthony Stoloski both went 2-for-4 in the contest. Silvernagel stretched his hitting streak to seven games while Stoloski is on a six game hitting streak for the Beavers.

Bemidji State (3-17; 1-3 NSIC) is scheduled to make its home opener on Tuesday, March 27 against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Game 1 of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.

--beavers--