GAME 1 BOX
GAME 2 BOX

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Northern State University baseball team was forced to move their scheduled conference doubleheader with Concordia University on Wednesday to Bob Barnes Field in St. Paul, Minn. because of poor playing conditions, and were swept in two very high scoring games and lost by scores of 19-4 and 13-10.

 With the losses the Wolves fall to 5-19 overall and 1-11 in the Northern Sun.

Nathan Zacher took the loss on the hill during the first half of the doubleheader, allowing eight earned runs on eight hits in 4-1/3 innings.  He also walked two and struck out five Golden Bear batters.  Nick Wallentiny entered as a reliever and pitched through the remainder of the fifth inning, allowing two earned runs on two hits with one strikeout and one walk.  Michael Gardner and James Martin each pitched an inning of relief in order with Gardner allowing five earned runs on six hits and Martin allowing four earned runs on five hits.

Steven King earned the win for the Golden Bears after entering the game as a reliever in the second inning after the Wolves roughed up starter Ben Lemke for four earned runs in 1-1/3 innings pitched.  King worked through 3-2/3 innings, allowing only one hit with three issued walks and three strikeouts.  Kirk Ingram closed out the game for Concordia, allowing one hit and striking out four Northern State batters in two innings of work.

Senior centerfielder Aaron Kappes continued his hot-hitting streak of late, going 2-3 with one run scored and one RBI that came off his solo home run in the bottom of the first inning.  Adam Brion went 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored to add to the Wolves' seven hits in the game.

The encore was a bit more exciting with each team pounding out at least 13 hits and scoring ten runs, and a total of seven pitchers were used in the seven-inning affair.

Taking the loss on the mound for the Wolves was Trent Bestland, allowing eight earned runs on 15 hits in 5-1/3 innings.  The redshirt freshman also walked three batters and struck out one in his third appearance of the season.  Jon Bitz and Lucas Jung each came in for a relief appearance with Bitz allowing three earned runs on one hit before giving way to Jung who allowed just one hit in 1-2/3 innings of work.

Offensively, senior Tom Keiser led the squad, going 2-2 with two walks, an RBI, and three runs scored.  James Paul went 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Andrew Lunsetter went 2-3 with three RBI and a run scored as the Wolves put together one of their best offensive games of the season.

The Wolves are hoping to be able to play a home game or four this weekend when they host #23 Wayne State in a four-game home stand at Fossum Field on Saturday and Sunday with games slated to start at 12:00 p.m. each day.

Northern State University is an NCAA Division II affiliated school participating in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

**GO WOLVES**