ST. PAUL, Minn. – Winona State used a balanced offense and got another strong pitching performance out of senior Chase Blazier in a 12-3 win over Concordia-St. Paul in the opening game of the doubleheader in St. Paul on Saturday. Winona State (18-23, 16-12 NSIC) rallied in game two, but still fell short in the nightcap 8-7 to split the doubleheader.
 
In the first game, the Golden Bears jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Warriors answered back with a four-run second inning.
 
Taylor Field started out the WSU scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Jesus Cazares from third to tie the game up at 1-1. Two batters later, Michael Hommes made it a 2-1 game on a single up the middle, scoring Mitchell Heid from second. Andrew Geislinger, the Winona State leadoff hitter stretched the lead to 4-1 on a single through the right side, scoring Nathan Krause and Hommes.
 
The Warriors picked up four more runs in a solid fifth inning. WSU started off the inning with four consecutive singles, finished off by Cazares on a RBI single to left to score Geislinger, making it a 5-1 ballgame.

Two batters later, Field knocked in two more runs on a two-RBI single to right field and Krause followed it up with an RBI single to center to stretch the Winona State lead to 8-1.
 
Concordia picked up a couple of runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 8-3, but the Warriors responded with back-to-back two-run sixth and seventh innings.
 
In the sixth, the Warriors scored a run on a fielding error by the Golden Bears pitcher and added another on a Heid lineout to center to score Tyler Nehring.
 
In the seventh, Jordan Plamann knocked a two-run home run to right field to make it a 12-3 game and hold on to win by nine.
 
With the win, Blazier improved to 4-3 on the season. Blazier pitched a complete seven inning game, giving up three runs, two earned on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
 
The Warriors had a balanced effort from the plate, as each batter recorded at least one hit in the lineup. Cazares led the Winona State bats, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Field also had a strong day at the plate, going 1-for-2 with three RBIs.
 
Winona State got the second game off to a rough start, as it found itself down 6-0 after four innings of play.
 
However, the Warriors answered in a big way in the fifth inning by putting together a six run frame to tie it up at 6-6. Hommes started off the WSU scoring with an RBI single to right field and two batters later, Plamann knocked in Hommes on an RBI single through the right side to make it a 6-2 game.
 
Nehring made it 6-5 in the next at-bat on a three-run home run to left center field and Heid added one more run on an RBI double to right field, scoring Evanson to tie the game up.
 
Concordia-St. Paul got two runs back in the seventh inning to retake the lead at 8-6.
 
The Warriors managed to get one run back in the eighth on a Field RBI groundout, scoring Heid from third to cut the lead to 8-7, but that was the closest Winona State would come as Concordia-St. Paul held on to the win.
 
WSU relief pitcher Scott Freiburger took the loss for the Warriors, dropping to 2-2 on the season after pitching three innings in relief. Freiburger gave up two earned runs on three hits with two walks while striking out four batters.
 
Plamann led the Warriors offense, going 4-for-5 from the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Nehring also went 1-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and a run scored.
 
Winona State will close out the weekend with a doubleheader on Sunday against Concordia-St. Paul with the first pitch at noon at Barnes Field.