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.

The four-game series was originally scheduled for Marshall but was moved to northeast Nebraska because of poor field conditions.

The two teams were set to wrap up its series today, but have canceled the games due to the weather.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fleck led SMSU’s six-hit offense with a pair of hits in three at bats.

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.

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.

The score moved to 5-1 in the fifth as Kuhn singled and came around to score on an RBI single by Sellner.

Kuhn and Hendricks each had two of SMSU’s eight hits in the contest.

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.

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.

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications