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Concordia-St. Paul tops WSC 10-6 in NSIC Tournament title game
40-11 Wildcats await word on at-large berth to NCAA Tournament
Matt Dunn slides in safely to home plate on Marc Manganaro's fifth inning two-run single during Sunday's NSIC Tournament championship game.

Concordia-St. Paul 10 #15 Wayne State 6

           Concordia-St. Paul topped 15th-ranked Wayne State College 10-6 Sunday afternoon in the 2008 Northern Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Championship game played at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex in Wayne.  The 27-14 Golden Bears earn the NSIC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Central Regional Tournament while the 40-11 Wildcats, ranked second in the Central Regional rankings, are expected to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight season with an at-large berth.  Official pairings will be released by the NCAA Sunday evening.

            CSP opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning, using two hits and three Wayne State errors, to grab a 2-0 lead.  The Wildcats countered with four runs in the top of the fifth for a 4-2 advantage as WSC put together three hits, coupled with two Golden Bear errors.  Marc Manganaro produced a two-run single to left field, scoring Brian Sulzman and Matt Dunn.  Joe Wendte also added an RBI single for the Wildcats in the fifth inning.  CSP knotted the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs and took the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for an 8-4 lead.  John Maciej, Derek Mason and Joe Abellera each accounted for run-scoring singles to highlight the Golden Bears’ four-run inning.

            Wayne State plated a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 8-6.  Manganaro and Alex Koch laced back-to-back doubles for the first run with Koch scoring on Nick Bidroski’s RBI single for the second run of the inning.  But CSP brought in All-NSIC pitcher Jake Schmidt in the top of the eighth inning to preserve the lead and he did just that.  The Golden Bears added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Concordia-St. Paul went on to post the 10-6 win over Wayne State.

            Concordia-St. Paul banged out 16 hits on four different WSC pitchers.  Wayne State finished with 12 hits in the game with Joe Wendte going 3 for 5 at the plate.  Alex Koch and Marc Manganaro each recorded a double and single while Nick Bidroski finished with two singles for the Wildcats.

            Joe Abellera, Brenden Furrow and Jake Schmidt each went 3 for 5 at the plate to pace Concordia-St. Paul in hitting.

            Reliever Chad Moreland (3-1) suffered the pitching loss for Wayne State, allowing five runs on seven hits in just two-thirds of an inning in place of starter Jared Hegdahl. 

            Wayne State had five players named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team.  They included pitcher Nick Schumacher, first baseman Marc Manganaro, second baseman Nick Bidroski, third baseman Alex Koch and outfielder Joe Wendte.