Game 1 - Wayne State 13 Concordia-St. Paul 12
Game 2 - Concordia-St. Paul 7 Wayne State 2
Joe Wendte homered twice and was 5 for 6 with four runs scored and three RBI's to highlight a 20-hit attack as Wayne State won a wild 13-12 slugfest over Concordia-St. Paul Thursday afternoon in the opening game of a Northern Sun Conference baseball doubleheader in St. Paul, Minnesota. However, the second game saw the Wildcat bats limited to just seven hits as the host Golden Bears earned a split with a 7-2 win over the Wildcats.
The opener saw every Wildcat starter record at least one hit while scoring in six of the nine innings as WSC held on for a 13-12 win. WSC used run-scoring singles from Jake Ritzdorf, Joe Wendte and Justin Beranek to highlight a four-run second inning to grab the early lead. Beranek contributed a two-run double in the fourth inning to give WSC a 6-3 lead at the time. Wendte hit his first of two homers in the sixth inning to help the 'Cats take a 9-6 lead, but the Golden Bears scored three in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score for the first time at 9-9.
A Mike Bisenius solo homer in the top of the seventh put the 'Cats up 10-9, but Concordia-St. Paul plated two runs in the bottom of the inning to take their first lead at 11-10. Wendte led off the top of the eighth with a solo homer to even the score at 11-11 followed by a two-run blast by Jarett Jackson that scored John Plasha to give WSC a 13-11 lead. Concordia-St. Paul scored once in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 13-12. WSC failed to score in the top of the ninth and the host Golden Bears got the tying run to third in the bottom of the ninth but Wildcat closer Josh Nelsen was able to get J.T. Schneider to fly out to center field to end the game as WSC hung on for the 13-12 win.
WSC finished the game with four homers and a season-high 20 hits in the game. Following Wendte was 5 for 6 with two homers, four runs scored and three RBI's. Jarett Jackson was 3 for 5 with a homer, two RBI's and two runs scored. Justin Beranek, Nick Bidroski, John Plasha, Treye Hacker and Mike Bisenius each added two hits in the win with Bisenius going long for his third homer of the season.
Reliever Trevor Reeves picked up the win with Josh Nelsen collecting his first save of the season, pitching two shutout innings allowing just two hits to preserve the win.
The second game saw Concordia-St. Paul starter Chris Peterson toss a complete-game seven hitter holding the Wildcats to just two runs as the Golden Bears salvaged a split with a 7-2 win over the Wildcats.
After CSP grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, WSC took a 2-1 lead in the second when Mike Bisenius singled and scored on Josh Nielsen's two run homer to left field. But Peterson held WSC scoreless the rest of the game while notching seven strikeouts to help the Golden Bears win 7-2.
Nielsen was 2 for 3 with two RBI's including a homer to lead WSC at the plate. Brandon Polk doubled while Wendte, Beranek, Bidroski and Bisenius each added singles to round out Wayne State's seven hits.
Eric Dye (1-1) suffered the pitching loss, allowing five runs on eight hits over four innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Tadd Johansen and Sam Rathbun also saw action out of the bullpen for the Wildcats.
Wayne State will face Concordia-St. Paul in another doubleheader Friday to close out the four-game NSIC series. The games have been moved up to 11:00 a.m. due to anticipated rain in the Twin Cities area.
