Today, the University of Minnesota Duluth baseball team would play its final two games in this weekend's four game series with the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul. The Bulldogs rode out an extra innings win 4-1 in game one of the day as they picked up their first NSIC victory of the young season. The Bulldogs dropped game two on the day by a score of 5-4, this game was a seven inning non-conference game and didn't count towards the Bulldogs NSIC standing. The Bulldogs split the day and their record now sits at 3-3 (1-2) NSIC.
 
Game one started without much incident for both the Bulldogs and the Golden Bears as both teams went scoreless and hitless through the first two innings of play. In the third inning UMD would manufacture a run thanks to an RBI double from center fielder Henry George which scored Sam Tanner and gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the series 1-0. Russ Tanner was un-hittable on the mound through the first four innings of this one, including striking out four through his three innings of work. Tanner would give up two hits in the fifth and eventually be pulled but not before recording strike out five and six of the day. Tanner would pitch four and two third innings surrendering only two hits and as mentioned previously striking out six. Paul Petit would come in for Tanner in the fifth and get the Bulldogs out of the inning. The Bulldogs would get a chance to tack on insurance runs in the eighth inning but failed to do so after they left the bases loaded. The Golden Bears would capitalize on their missed opportunity in the bottom half of the eighth as an RBI double would tie things at one. In the ninth the Bulldogs and Golden Bears would put runners on but fail to bring them home as we were headed to extra innings. In the tenth inning an Alex Wattermann RBI double would bring home Trevor Gustafson giving the Bulldogs a one run lead. Anders Brown let everyone know that UMD was not finished in the inning as he produced a seeing eye two RBI single which scored Wattermann and Brodie Paulson stretching the UMD lead to 4-1. Liam Blaschko who came on in relief of Petit in the top of the ninth would set CSP down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the tenth to secure the game one victory for the Bulldogs. Blaschko would be credited with the win his first of the season (1-0).
 
Game one notables:
 
George: 1-3, RBI, BB
Paulson: 1-3, R, BB
Wattermann: 1-5, R, RBI
Brown 2-4, 2RBI, BB
R. Tanner: 4.2IP, 2H, 6K
Petit: 3.1IP, 2H, 1ER, 1K
Blaschko: 2.0IP, 1BB, W, (1-0)
 
 Game two would take on a different tone from that of game one as UMD would jump out to an early lead in the first inning courtesy of a Brodie Paulson 2RBI single down the right field line which scored Henry George and Tyler Peterson. Wyatt O'Bey would get the nod on the mound for UMD he would hold the Golden Bears scoreless through the first three innings of work as he struck out 4 CSP batters through the first three frames. In the top of the fourth the Bulldogs would add to their lead as Dayo Lawal and Tim Pokornowski would both notch RBI singles to bring the Bulldog lead to 4-0. The Golden Bears however would answer in the bottom of the inning, walks would bring men on base for the Golden Bears and they would capitalize with the bases loaded sending a drive over the right field fence tying things at 4-4. That would mark the end of the afternoon for O'Bey as Zach Matthews came in, in relief and was able to stop the bleeding as things were tied after four complete. Concordia would add another run in the bottom of the fifth inning via a sacrifice fly giving them a 5-4 lead. UMD would get a runner to second in the top of the sixth inning but that would be as close as they would get to knotting things up. Matthews for UMD was credited with the loss the first of the season for him (0-1).
 
Game two notables:
 
George: 1-3, R
Paulson: 1-2, 2RBI, BB
Lawal: 1-3, RBI
Pokornowski: 1-3, RBI
O'Bey: 3.2IP, 4H 4ER, 5BB, 5K's
Matthews: 0.1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, L, (0-1)
H. Brown: 2.0IP, 2BB

UMD will travel to MSU Mankato this coming Wednesday for a midweek NSIC double-header. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 and 3:30 PM against the Mavericks.