SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Concordia University, St. Paul scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to upend the University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team 8-4 Monday, March 28 at Bishop Mueller Field in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Golden Eagles win the series over the Golden Bears, two-out-of-three, but fall to 11-14 (3-3 NSIC) with Monday's loss. Concordia-St. Paul improved to 11-9 (5-3 NSIC) with Monday's win. UMN Crookston has owned the recent series history against the Golden Bears, going 8-2 since March 24, 2019. Minnesota Crookston has won the last three series against Concordia-St. Paul.

Conner Richardson (R-Jr., RHP, Grand Forks, N.D.) started Monday's game for the Golden Eagles, tossing five innings, allowing just one earned run, on eight hits. Richardson struck out five and walked just two. He picked up the loss Monday. Jakob Wiirre (Jr., RHP, Mims, Fla.) pitched a shutout inning of relief for the Golden Eagles.

Korey Dahlberg earned the win Monday for the Golden Eagles. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing two runs, on five hits. Matt Sherman pitched 1.2 innings of shutout baseball in relief, while Michael Voss also offered a shutout inning.

UMN Crookston was propelled by Ben Goelz (R-So., OF, Maple Lake, Minn.), who was an unblemished 4-of-4, with two RBIs, and a run scored. Zeke Hass (Jr., OF, Eaton, Colo.) finished 1-of-4, with a run scored. Ben Thoma (R-Sr., C/3B, Clearbrook, Minn.) was 1-of-4, with a run scored, as was Brad Morris (R-Sr., OF, Auckland, New Zealand).

Concordia-St. Paul was guided by Matt Pietsch, who went 2-of-4, with three RBIs, and a run scored. J.T. Hoffmann was 2-of-5, with an RBI, and a run scored. Jack Young finished 3-of-4, with two runs scored. Jaden Werner went 2-of-4. Justin McGuigan was 1-of-3, with two RBIs, and a run scored.

UMN Crookston committed four errors Monday, while the Golden Eagles didn't have an error defensively.

The Golden Eagles broke a 0-0 stalemate in the top of the fourth when Goelz singled in Hass to give UMN Crookston a 1-0 advantage.

Concordia-St. Paul posed a threat in the bottom of the fourth as the Golden Bears put runners on the corners with Werner and Pietsch, however Richardson got out of trouble to keep the score at 1-0.

The Golden Bears evened the slate 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Brayden Roybal hit a sacrifice fly to plate McGuigan. Concordia-St. Paul took the lead 2-1 with a Pietsch double down the right field line, driving in Young. The Golden Bears extended their advantage to 3-1 when J.T. Hoffmann singled, scoring Nick Thimsen. The Golden Eagles got out of the stanza when Goelz threw out Pietsch at home.

Minnesota Crookston made up a run in the top of the sixth when Goelz came through again, this time with a single, plating Thoma to trim the deficit to 3-2.

Concordia-St. Paul widened the gap to 5-2 when Pietsch doubled down the right field line, scoring Roybal and Young. Pietsch scored on a fielding error, extending the Golden Bear advantage to 6-2. Concordia-St. Paul pushed their advantage to 8-2 with a McGuigan single, driving in Hoffmann, and Bryce Nelson.

Minnesota Crookston cut the lead to 8-3 in the top of the eighth with a Mitch Goodwin (R-So., SS, Prior Lake, Minn.) sacrifice fly, scoring Morris. The Golden Eagles pulled one run closer, 8-4, when Teddy Giefer (So., 1B, Courtland, Minn.) fouled out to left field, plating Goelz.

Concordia-St. Paul was able to preserve the win 8-4 down the stretch.

The Golden Eagles will continue their road trip in Iowa, taking on Upper Iowa University at Robertson Woods Field Wednesday, March 30 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. in Fayette, Iowa.