BISMARCK, ND – A pair of exceptional starting pitching performances by Lucas Burgum and Aiden Johnson combined with timely offense lifted the University of Mary baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Concordia-St. Paul on Senior Day for the Marauders. UMary opened the 3-game weekend series with a 6-0 win before holding off CSP 4-3 in game two.
 
The Marauders are 29-15 overall this season and 22-9 (3^rd place) in the Northern Sun. The Golden Bears are 20-26 and 15-19 (10^th) in the NSIC.
 
With 29 victories this season, UMary equals the second-highest win total in school history (1999, 2000) and one is shy of the school-record of 30, set in 2002. The 22 NSIC wins is a new program record, exceeding the total of 20 from last year.
 
Following the twin bill the Marauders honored their 14 seniors: Kalem Haney, Cru Walker, Luke Rhee, Hank Griffin, Riley Pearce, Mikey Ramirez, Kieran Gaffney, Bryce Leafgren, Sam Hayen, Aiden Johnson, Adam Golby, Ben Zehr, Andrew Linn and Ryan Chamberlain. Haney, Walker, Leafgren and Chamberlain have all played four seasons for UMary.
 
UMary and CSP wrap up the weekend series with a single 9-inning game starting at 12 noon on Sunday, April 26.
 
GAME 1 | University of Mary 6 Concordia-St. Paul 0
Another dominant pitching performance by University of Mary starting pitcher Lucus Burgum and three Marauders home runs in the first two innings carried UMary to a 6-0 win in the opening game of a weekend series with visiting Concordia-St. Paul.
 
The victory is the 21^st Northern Sun win of the season for UMary, a new program record. The Marauders recorded 20 NSIC wins last season.
 
Throwing his first shutout for the Marauders and his third complete game of the season, Burgum struck out a career-best nine hitters and limited the Golden Bears to just two hits and one walk.
 
In four of seven innings Burgum retired CSP in order. Only once did multiple Golden Bears hitters reach base in a single inning. The Mandan righthanded finished the game impressively by retiring ten straight batters, striking out the last two hitters to put an exclamation mark on the win.
 
Leadoff hitter Hank Griffin provided the Marauders the only run they needed in the game when the senior shortstop blasted the second pitch of the game over the fence in left center. Marcus Butts followed with a walk before moving to third on an Isaac Pegors single before scoring on a Bryce Leafgren sacrifice fly. A Golden Bears error allowed Pegors to score the third run of the inning.
 
Emulating Griffen, center fielder Mikey Ramirez smashed a home run over the left field wall to lead off the second inning. Two batters later Pegors hit his team-leading 14^th home run to left for a 5-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Keiran Gaffney scored Butts in the fifth inning for the Marauders final run of the game.
 
Pegors, the reigning NSIC and NCAA Central Region Player of the Week, finished 3-for-4 to extend his hit streak to 13 games. He scored twice and drove in one run. Cullen Wilson added two hits, including a double, and Butts scored twice.
 
Jack Thompson allowed one run in 4.1 innings of relief for the Golden Bears.
 
GAME 2 | University of Mary 4 Concordia-St. Paul 3
One of 14 seniors on the University of Mary baseball team, Aiden Johnson shined in his last scheduled home start. The righthander from Westminster, CO, limited Concordia-St. Paul to just one earned run and six hits over the course of six innings to win his second straight start.
 
After three UMary errors in the first inning led to an unearned run for CSP, Johnson held the Golden Bears scoreless over four of the next five innings to place the Marauders in position to earn the sweep.
 
UMary took over the lead in the second inning, scoring three times on four hits. After back to back singles by Bryce Leafgren and Kieran Gaffney to put runners on the corners, a Mason Saint Hilarie sacrifice fly scored Leafgren to tie the game. After a ground out fielder's choice by Cullen Wilson, Luke Rhee doubled down the left field line to place two runners in scoring position. Mikey Ramirez then hit a hard smash off the first basemen's run to score two runs for a 3-1 UMary lead.
 
Taking advantage of a hit and an error in the fourth inning, Marcus Butts was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home Wison with the Marauders fourth run of the game.
 
The Golden Bears continued to hang around, scoring single runs in the fifth and the eighth. The second run forced the Marauders to bring in Ryan Chamberlain with a run in and a runner at second with two outs. Chamberlain ended the eighth with a line drive out. In the ninth inning following a leadoff single, Chamberlain struck out the next two hitters before earning his third save of the season on a line out to Ramirez in center field.
 
Johnson struck out four and walked just two in six innings. He limited CSP to six hits and one earned run to improve his season record to 4-3.
 
In his second appearance of the week, Chamberlain pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings to close out the game. He struck out two and gave up just one hit.
 
Brody Wrench was perfect in his one inning, striking out all three baters he faced.
 
Butts, Leafgren and Gaffney all had two hits. Wilson scored twice and Ramirez had two RBIs.
 
Eric Berg led the Golden Bears with a pair of hits, including a double, a run scored and an RBI. Liam Brystol pitched two scoreless innings of relief.
 
#marauders#