The University of Minnesota Duluth reached the elimination bracket semifinals for the second straight year in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference postseason tournament but fell against Concordia University, St. Paul for the second time in as many days, 11-8 in a game that lasted 4:04 of game time and nearly until midnight at Faber Field in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

After defeating Augustana (S.D.) University 20-10 earlier in the day, No. 20 UMD (39-14) scratched and clawed for runs against Concordia-St. Paul (30-14), having lost 10-1 against the Golden Bears on Friday. Out of the tournament, the Bulldogs will now awatit the NCAA II Selection Show on Sunday night to learn if they have earned a spot in next week's NCAA II Central Region Tournament.

Sophomore left-hander Marcus Frederickson labored but worked his way into the sixth for UMD in the team's second game of the day. Concordia scored an unearned run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly after a fielding error by the Bulldogs put runners on first and third, but Frederickson got a pair of ground balls to end the inning. UMD led off the bottom of the first with a pair of hits but could not get a run around as Concordia got an out at the plate on a groundball off the bat of senior third baseman Kyle Comer. The Golden Bears added to their lead in the third inning with a pair of RBI singles by Austin Shotwell and Eric Fasnacht.

The Bulldogs got on the board with two out in the bottom of the second when junior outfielder Brett Milazzo continued his hot day at the plate with a two-run double. UMD had scored just one run against Concordia in the teams' meeting on Saturday. Fasnacht drove in his second run of the afternoon in the top of the fourth, extending the Bears' lead back out to 4-2. Freshman designatd hitter Tyler Wojciechowski led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk, and on the very next pitch, senior outfielder Spencer Diedrich earned a free base on a hit-by-pitch. Junior pinch-hitter Matt Vogt moved the two of them up on a sacrifice bunt, and Wojciechowski eventually scored on a wild pitch. With the infield in, junior shortstop Brian Pierce found a hole with a seeing-eye single that scored Diedrich and knotted the game at 4-4 later in the inning.

Frederickson struck out the first two batters of the sixth inning before a two-out walk spelled the ending for the southpaw. He finished his evening with six stirkeouts in 5.2 innings but allowed eight hits and four walks. Sophomore right-hander Nick Dorfman was first out of the UMD bullpen, and Fasnacht greeted him with his third single of the game, putting runners on the corners. Dorfman uncorked a wild pitch, bringing home the go-ahead run against Fredrickson as the walk came around to score, but got the next batter on a groundball to second base.

Freshman reliever Keanu Mendez took over for senior righty Tyler Schmitz in the sixth after 3.0 innings of work. The Bulldogs threatened with two outs in both the sixth and seventh innings but couldn't catch a break until the eighth. Sophomore outfielder Brett Milazzo reached on an error leading off the inning, stole second, and came around to score on an RBI groundout by senior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski -- a safe call at the plate that caused some strife from the Concordia dugout.

Dorfman got the first out of the ninth on a towering pop-up to second base, but a double down the right field line spelled the end of his day. Freshman catcher Carter Schmidt singled to left against senior right-hander Wes Mleziva, getting the go-ahead run to third, and the Golden Bears put on a suicide squeeze play to bring home the go-ahead run. A Bulldog error on the play put two on, and Concordia's Rock Whittaker lifted a single to center to extend the lead to 7-5. The Golden Bears would add on in the inning as freshman lefty Ryan Cunningham relieved Mleziva, eventually scoring six runs to take an 11-5 lead to the bottom of the ninth.

Mendez (6-1) walked the bases loaded to end his day with two outs in the ninth. He worked 3.2 innings, walking six but allowing just two hits and zero earned runs. Junior lefty Kevin Woebke came on to get the final out, but the Bulldogs would not go down quietly. Milazzo drew a bases loaded walk to bring home a run, and Farley plated a pair with a single to right field before Woebke finally forced a pop-up to end the inning. Dorfman (0-2) took the tough-luck loss for UMD, allowing just two hits and a run in

UMD 20, Augustana (S.D.) 10
After an early lead came unraveled in a seven-run third inning, UMD responded by scoring at least a run in six straight innings to stave off elimination from the NSIC postseason tournament once more, defeating Augustana (S.D.) Unviersity 20-10 in St. Cloud on Saturday afternoon.

Three different players hit a three-run home run for UMD in the first four innings, as the Bulldogs put up a three-spot in the first and third, and four runs in the fourth. Senior second baseman Jimmy Heck (17), senior third baseman Kyle Comer (13), and sophomore outfielder Brett Milazzo (1) provided the early power while Comer and Milazzo each added in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Junior shortstop Brian Pierce added an RBI groundout, scoring freshman designated hitter Tyler Wojciechowski as each member of the Bulldog line-up had at least a hit through just five innings.

Junior left-handed pitcher Kevin Stocke was the beneficiary of the early run support, but only worked into the third inning as he walked three and allowed six hits in 2+ innings on the day. Augustana (37-17) had put runners on in each of the first three innings, eventually breaking through with extra-base power of their own with an RBI triple by junior outfielder Patrick O'Donnell getting them on the board before a three-run big fly by junior outfielder Tyler Field brought the Vikings within 6-4. They would re-load the bases on a single and a pair of walks before sophomore right-hander Alex Ferguson relieved Stocke. After a bases loaded hit-by-pitch, Augie struck again with a two-run single to take a 7-6 before Ferguson forced a groundball double play to escape the inning.

UMD responded by chasing the Vikings' starting pitcher Tyler Vaughn (0-1) in the top of fourth, and Milazzo hit his first four-bagger of the year on the first at-bat against the Augustana bullpen. The Bulldogs scored 10 runs over the next four innings while Ferguson (2-2) worked in and out of trouble stranding at least one baserunner in each inning.  He finished his day with two hits and three walks allowed in 5.0 innings while striking out four. Junior right-hander Colton Sinning surrendered a home run but wrapped up the final two frames for UMD.

Comer reached on an error leading off the top of the sixth, eventually coming around to score on back-to-back singles by T. Wojciechowski and senior outfielder Spencer Diedrich before the Vikings prevented any further damage with a doubleplay on the infield. Senior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski drove in his first runs of the afternoon in the seventh, slashing a hard groundball through the drawn-in infield with Milazzo on third following a double by junior outfielder Grant Farley. Advancing to second on the throw home, Wojciechowski would come around to score run number 16 for the Bulldogs on a single by Heck, his fourth RBI of the afternoon.

Wojciechowski put an exclamation point on the Bulldog victory in the eighth inning when he connected for a two-out grand slam (33) with Diedrich, Milazzo, and Farley on base ahead of him, pushing the slugger to six runs batted in on the day and 100 on the season: just four shy of the NCAA II all-time record of 104 set by Jarred McAlvain of the University of Central Oklahoma in 1997.

In defeating Augustana, UMD has now defeated 13 of the other 14 teams in the NSIC. The Bulldogs knocked off Northern State University and Augustana at the conference tournament after not meeting them in the regular season and defeated Wayne State (Neb.) College in a non-conference game prior to the league season. The lone outlier is St. Cloud State.

ON DECK
The NCAA II Baseball selection is set for 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night broadcast live on NCAA.com