crookston, minn. - senior right handed starting pitchers jake schmidt (oakdale, minn.) and chris kimpton (canberra, aus.) struck out 29 batters in a pair of seven inning victories as concordia university (28-11, 9-8 nsic) swept minnesota, crookston (5-31, 3-19 nsic) with 6-3 and 10-4 wins on saturday afternoon at umc baseball field. Schmidt struck out 16 and homered in the first game and broke the cu career strikeout record while kimpton struck out 13 in the second game as a five run fifth inning broke the game open for the visiting golden bears. Cu has matched a season high with five straight wins and has now defeated umc 31 straight times. game 1 box - game 2 box

game 1: cu 6, minnesota, crookston 3
concordia scored three in the first behind an rbi double by senior brenden furrow (johnston, iowa) and a two run double by freshman logan bouts (hopkins, min.) as they sprinted to an early lead.

the golden eagles threatened in the bottom of the first with the first two batters reaching on singles. But schmidt retired the next three batters, the final two on strikeouts as he set the tone for the afternoon.

schmidt put cu ahead 4-0 in the top of the second with his ninth home run of the season but allowed the golden eagles to rally for three runs in the bottom of the inning as umc kept the game close early.

schmidt's home run was his seventh in the last nine games for concordia.

umc stranded runners in scoring position in the first (1st and 2nd, no outs), second (2nd, two outs), third (1st and 2nd, two outs) and fourth innings (1st and 3rd, two outs).

schmidt forced umc to leave eight runners on base in the game. He pitched a complete game scattering eight hits and three walks while allowing three runs, two earned. The win improves him to 6-2 on the season with a 3.96 era.

his performance got stronger as the game moved along. From the last out of the fourth to the first out of the seventh, schmidt struck out eight consecutive batters and had 10 straight outs recorded on strikeouts.

the only batters to be retired on non-strikeouts for the golden eagles were on three pop outs and a fly out.

he broke dave johnson's (1995-98) career strikeout record of 244. Schmidt now has 257 career strikeouts. He has fanned 87 this season, which passed johnson for second most in a season. Johnson struck out 78 in his freshman year in 1995. Schmidt is now taking aim at his own single season strikeout record of 100 set last year. He has six double-digit strikeout performances in 2009 in 10 starts, breaking his previous career-high of 13, which he did twice.

concordia added an insurance run in the fifth and in the seventh inning, which helped schmidt's case for a win as the golden eagles rallied for a run in the seventh before leaving another runner in scoring position as they stranded a runner on third.

for umc, jeff carr pitched five innings and took the loss, falling to 0-2. Umc leadoff hitter devin croal did the most damage going 2-4 with two rbi while four other golden eagles delivered doubles in the game.

game 2: cu 10, minnesota, crookston 4
concordia took a quick 1-0 lead on um, crookston as the first three batters reached with back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. The next two batters struck out before bouts walked with the bases loaded to score a run. Cu left the bases jammed in the inning, however and would leave 13 runners on base in the game.

umc jumped on concordia early with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning on tyler reiner's two run double off kimpton.

kimpton, who struck out one in the rough first inning, took it personally as he struck out the bottom of the umc order swinging in order in the second.

but the top of the order struck back at kimpton as croal led off with a triple and scored on the next at bat when paul krebs delivered an rbi single, giving the golden eagles a 3-1 lead.

krebs stole second and moved to third on a passed ball but was stranded there.

in the fourth, cu tied the score but once again left the bases loaded. Cu scored on senior chris herbert's (white bear lake, minn.) rbi single to center. Herbert was 4-5 in game two with a pair of runs and rbi. He stole a base in each game, giving him 10 and delivered his 14th double of the year.

later in the inning, bouts once again drew a bases loaded walk. The freshman drew walks in his first three at bats. He was 0-2 in game two but walked three times and had three rbi. He had five rbi in the two games as he had a pair in game one.

with the score tied, kimpton came out strong in the fourth, once again striking out the side in order. He had eight strikeouts through four innings, matching his career-high which he produced in his first start of the year against u-mary, also in four innings.

with a tie score in the top of the fifth, concordia broke things open scoring five runs off the third pitcher of the game for umc. Cu sent 10 batters to the plate, had six singles and a hit by pitch as they pieced together the runs by advancing on stolen bases by sophomore jon stockton (oakdale, minn.) and herbert and another on a passed ball.

the well executed offensive inning provided kimpton with the support he needed as he carried an 8-3 lead down the stretch.

his run of nine straight batters retired was snapped when poehler led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple. He scored in the inning but kimpton retired the final three batters to get out of the frame.

back-to-back one out doubles in the seventh by herbert and senior zane froehlich (sioux falls, s.d.) allowed the golden bears to add to their lead, extending it to 10-4 with three outs remaining.

umc rallied in the seventh, getting runners to first and third, but stranded them there as kimpton struck out the side as he finished with his new career high of 13 strikeouts.

kimpton allowed seven hits and four runs while walking only one in his third complete game of the season - all in conference play. He improves to 4-3 and still leads the team with a 3.12 era.

paul myers took the loss for umc allowing seven runs (six earned) over the final three innings. Andrew gunderson (0-2) started and allowed the first three runs but left with a tie game after surrendering six hits and five walks in 3.1 innings. Croal and poehler each had two hit games for umc while reiner drove in a pair.

for the golden bears, schmidt went 3-5 at the plate while froehlich was 2-5 with a pair of rbi extending his hitting streak to 10 games as he hit safely in both games today. Stockton also had a two hit performance and with a steal in each game, like herbert, the two-three hitters each have 10 steals on the year.

concordia is now two wins shy of the school record set in 2007 (30-13) and one shy of the second most wins (29, in 2005 and 2006). Their 9-8 league record moves them to within a half game back of upper iowa for sixth in the league standings. Uiu (10-8) split with southwest minnesota state (8-4) this afternoon. They conclude their series tomorrow at noon, as does concordia at minnesota, crookston.