MINNETONKA, Minn. - Racing against a forecast snowstorm in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, Concordia-St. Paul baseball (6-6, 4-0 NSIC) completed a four game series sweep of Minnesota Crookston (6-13, 0-4 NSIC) by defeating UMC 8-0 and 12-3 on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Field. Concordia has now won 35 straight against UMC dating back to April 18, 2003 and is 38-6 all-time against the Golden Eagles.

Concordia is scheduled to host Minnesota Duluth (2-2) next weekend in a four game NSIC series at Barnes Field on Saturday and Sunday. The Bulldogs split this weekend at Sioux Falls. Concordia sits in a three team tie for first with St. Cloud State and Minnesota State.

The doubleheader was played in mid-30 degree temperatures with an overcast sky that was ready to dump anywhere from three to six inches of snow. For most of the day, the snow held off until the second game's final few innings, with no accumulation. Within an hour of the conclusion of the series, the field was coated in a think blanket of snow as the teams played all 32 innings in the series just before the sky opened.

Starting pitching continued to be a highlight as sophomore left handed game one starter Kevin Woebke provided the Golden Bears with their first complete game as he shutout the Golden Eagles. Junior left handed starter Kody Knaus added a fifth straight quality start in game two, allowing a run over six innings.

Junior shortstop Eric Fasnacht stayed hot at the plate, coming a few inches short of a cycle in the first game, delivering a single, double and triple in his first three at bats before being potentially robbed of the home run to end Concordia's sixth inning on a fly out to center. He went 3-6 with three walks in the doubleheader and hit .550/.615/1.300 for the week (Monday-to-Sunday) with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBI in six games without striking out. His seven game hitting streak and streak of six straight games with multiple hits came to a close in game two, as he went 0-2 with three walks. He's knocked in 18 runs in 10 games on the year, slugging .821.

Senior Kyle Dalton went 3-6 and extended his hitting streak to 14, stealing a base in each game to give him five on the year. He's off to a .460 (23-50) start at the plate with three doubles and two triples.

GAME 1: Concordia 8, UM Crookston 0
Kevin Woebke was fantastic right from the start, retiring the first eight UMC batters he faced and didn't allow a runner into scoring position until the fifth inning, only allowing one runner in scoring position all game. He scattered five singles and struck out five, only issuing one walk in an efficient 94 pitches (63 strikes) to improve to 1-1 in his second start of the year.

Concordia's offense put up four runs in the second inning to give him early support as well, sending all nine batters to the plate in the inning.

The 4-run second inning started a string of four consecutive innings with a run as Concordia built Woebke a safe lead.

Concordia had five doubles and a triple in the game highlighted by Eric Fasnacht's 3-4 performance with two runs and RBI missing the cycle by a home run in his last bat, getting robbed in center field at the fence.

Ryan Poppitz (2-4, double), Trevon Bargfrede (2-3, double) and Alex LaPorte (2-3) all had multiple hits games along with Fasnacht.

Additionally, Concordia swiped three bases as Kyle Dalton, Poppitz and Bargfrede each had a steal in the game.

Nolan Wahlberg was charged with the loss, falling to 3-2 as he worked 5.0 innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 76 pitches.

Ethan Mushitz went 2-3 to lead UMC's offense.

GAME 2: Concordia 12, UM Crookston 3
Kody Knaus picked up where Woebke left off in game two, blanking the Golden Eagles through the first five frames although UMC put runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings to threaten. UMC left runners on second and third in the second inning, a runner on second in the fourth and a runner on third in the fifth.

He wasn't able to escape a leadoff double in the sixth, but held UMC to just a run in the inning and struck out three batters in the inning.

Freshman cleanup hitter Connor Olson supplied the run support in the third inning, smacking a 3-run homer to the opposite field in right for his first collegiate home run. He went 2-4 with three runs and three RBI in the game, adding his second stolen base of the year.

The score remained 3-0 after five innings as Concordia also missed on chances with runners in scoring position, leaving runners on second and third in the first inning with a runner getting cut down at the plate in the fifth.

The Golden Bears expanded 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Andrew Shotwell produced a two-run single up the middle followed by a Trevon Bargfrede RBI triple to the opposite field down the right field line in a 4-run inning for a 7-1 lead.

Bargfrede's triple was on the first pitch of the game for UMC reliever Alan Frank, who also allowed an RBI single through the right side to Bargfrede in the seventh inning on one pitch as Bargfrede went 2-2 with two RBI on just two pitches he saw from Frank.

In the seventh prior to Bargfrede's run scoring single, Shotwell had another 2-RBI hit, drilling a double down the left field line for four RBI in just two innings.

Shotwell went 305 with his fourth double, two runs and four RBI in the game while Bargfrede followed him by going 3-5 with a run, two RBI and his first triple of the season. Bargfrede went 5-8 in the doubleheader and is now hitting .400 on the year.

The big sixth and seventh innings were big, as UMC had cut Concordia's 3-0 lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth, and added two more in the top of the seventh. Concordia countered in the bottom of each inning with four in the sixth and three in the seventh for a 12-3 lead.

After the sixth, Knaus left with a 7-1 lead after striking out eight in 6.0 innings, allowing five hits. He didn't issue a walk and needed just 93 pitches (61 strikes) in his second straight strong outing.

He was relieved by sophomore left hander Josh Lenz, who worked the final three innings for his first save, striking out three as he set down the final seven hitters of the game including three of them on strikes.

Joining Olson, Shotwell and Bargfrede with multiple hit games were Kyle Dalton (2-3, triple, stolen base), Tyler Krekling (2-4) and Alex LaPorte (2-3, two runs).

Trevor Buttermore took the loss for UMC, pitching into the sixth inning as he allowed six runs in 5.1 innings on six hits. He walked four and struck out five, falling to 0-4 on the year.

Dalton Parks led UMC from the plate, going 2-5 with his fourth double while Ethan Mushitz hit his seventh double of the year, going 1-4.

SERIES NOTES

• Concordia hit .406 (52-128) and averaged 9.5 runs per game in the series
• 17 of Concordia's 52 hits were for extra bases (11 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR) for a .602 slugging percentage
• The Golden Bears only struck out 14 times over 28 innings
• The team committed just three errors in the field all weekend, all of them coming in the series finale and had a .978 team fielding percentage
• Concordia went 9-9 in stolen bases while limiting UMC to 1-4 in the run game
• The pitchers compiled a 1.69 staff earned run average over 32.0 innings
• As a team, Concordia had a sub-1.00 WHIP (0.94) with nearly a strikeout per inning (31 K, 32 IP)
• Concordia's pitchers had a 31-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio
• All four starting pitchers had at least 6.0 innings, giving the team a streak of six straight quality starters (6 IP, 3 ER or less)
• The bullpen worked 7.0 innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits
• Middle infielders Eric Fasnacht and Alex LaPorte went 7-12 at the plate, with Fasnacht slugging 1.167 with four extra base hits (2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR)  and seven RBI
• Trevon Bargfrede hit .500 (8-16) in the series, slugging .750 with five RBI, tied for second with Connor Olson and Andrew Shotwell for RBI on the weekend