ST. PAUL, Minn. - A pair of wins combined with other action around the Northern Sun allowed Concordia-St. Paul (19-21, 17-15 NSIC) to clinch an NSIC/US Bank Tournament spot on Friday afternoon. The Golden Bears defeated Sioux Falls (15-33, 12-20 NSIC) in a pair of close contests 6-5 and 4-1 at Barnes Field, sending the Cougars to 12-straight losses.

Concordia bumped up from eighth to sixth in the league standings with the sweep combined with Northern State and Winona State getting swept. The Golden Bears clinched when Southwest Minnesota State dropped a pair of games to Wayne State. Concordia is still able to move up to fifth in the league standings, and can still finish as low as eighth with the regular season finale doubleheader tomorrow at noon, Senior Day at Barnes Field.

The Golden Bears will play in the conference tournament for the third straight season in a format that qualifies eight of the 15 teams, with the tournament champion earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Central Regional Tournament. The NSIC/US Bank Tournament will be held May 6-9 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Concordia picked up the sweep by recording nine total hits in the doubleheader, patiently drawing 16 walks and a hit by pitch.

Eric Fasnacht went 2-4 with three RBI and three walks in the doubleheader while Connor Olson and Andrew Shotwell each went 2-6 with two RBI. David Henke drew five walks from the eighth spot in the lineup while Kyle Dalton walked three times as they combined for four runs despite not recording a hit.

GAME 1: Concordia 6, Sioux Falls 5 (9 innings)
Concordia struck first in the series opener as Ryan Poppitz drilled a one out double down the left field line and scored on Andrew Shotwell's single through the right side in the second inning. In the third, Eric Fasnacht hit his sixth home run of the season, a two-run homer to left center for a 3-0 lead.

The Cougars responded with a pair of homers as well, a two-run homer by Ed Reichenbach (3) in the fourth and a solo by Matthew Minnick (8) in the fifth to tie the game at three.

The game remained tied as Zach Rengel and Patrick Anderson dueled on the mound. Rengel worked six full innings, allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts to just one walk while Anderson allowed three runs (two earned) in 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and four walks.

In the seventh, USF claimed its first lead of the day with a two out rally against Yuji Suzuki who retired the first two batters on a comebacker and a strikeout. The Cougars delivered four straight two out singles against Suzuki to to take a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the seventh.

After a leadoff walk to David Henke, the Cougars turned to one of their top starting pitchers Eric Brothers to attempt to close the door. A walk to Alex LaPorte set up Kyle Dalton, who grounded to second base with LaPorte beating the throw to second and Dalton beating the turn to first to load the bases with no outs. Tyler Krekling chopped an infield single to cut the score to 5-4 and the Golden Bears tied the game on a double play for the first two outs.

Concordia loaded the bases again with two outs, as Brothers intentionally walked Fasnacht before hitting Poppitz with a pitch. It was the second time Concordia loaded the bases with two outs before leaving them loaded also doing so in the second inning.

Suzuki settled into a groove as the game went into extra innings. He allowed a leadoff single and a sacrifice to put a runner in scoring position in the eighth before getting a pair of fly outs and retired the side in the ninth inning with a strikeout to retire the side.

In the bottom of the ninth, Concordia put the first two runners on as Olson hit a leadoff double to right center before Fasnacht was intentionally walked for the second time. With runners on first and second and no outs, Poppitz hit a two strike chopper to between the mound and third with the pitcher fielding and throwing wide of first base, allowing Olson to score from second to win the game.

Suzuki picked up the relief win to improve to 3-4, striking out a pair in three innings. Brothers took the loss, pitching two innings in relief and allowing a pair of runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks. Brothers falls to 1-8 on the year with the loss.

Concordia scored its six runs on just five hits, but drew 10 walks in the game along with a hit by pitch and reached on error twice.

Minnick and Reichenbach led USF by going 5-9 with two homers, three runs and four RBI.

GAME 2: Concordia 4, Sioux Falls 1
In game two, the Golden Bears took the first lead for the second straight time with a two-out rally in the third inning starting with Kyle Dalton's two out walk. Adam Hildebrandt delivered a single to center and Connor Olson hit an RBI single to the hole in short which allowed Dalton to score from second base.

Sioux Falls struck via the home run once again, getting a two out solo homer by Ed Reichenbach (4) to tie the game in the fourth. The Cougars then loaded the bases with two outs against starter Tyler Brekke before he struck out Stuart Maes swinging for the second time in as many innings to end the threat, keeping the game tied.

In the doubleheader, four of Sioux Falls' six runs crossed the plate on three home runs.

Concordia jumped back out in front with a big fifth inning with three walks to load the bases with one out against reliever Kenton Johnson who replaced Alex Wall to start the inning. The three walks ended Johnson's outing, with Connor Oestreicht walking Olson to score a run. A sacrifice fly by Eric Fasnacht and an RBI single to left center by Andrew Shotwell gave Concordia a 4-1 lead. Ryan Poppitz would get hit by a pitch to load the bases again in the inning before USF's third pitcher of the frame, Tucker Bishop came in and got the final out.

Brekke wouldn't need any additional offense, working with a 4-1 lead in the later innings. No USF hitter reached scoring position after he worked out of the bases loaded jam in the fourth unscathed with the only damage against him the solo homer.

He retired the last six batters of the game for the complete game victory, improving to 1-2 on the year in his final regular season start as a Golden Bear. He scattered five hits and four walks over seven innings, striking out four on just 95 pitches.

Johnson took the loss for USF, allowing three runs on three walks in a third of an inning to fall to 1-3. Wall pitched well to start the game, allowing a run on three hits and a walk in four innings in the no decision. He also finished the first game for the Cougars.

Olson went 1-2 with two RBI while Fasnacht and Shotwell each went 1-2 with an RBI. Dalton went 0-2 but drew a pair of walks and scored a run and Hildebrandt was 1-3 with a walk and a run as the left handed hitting duo with speed pace the lineup from the top two spots in the order for the 3-4-5 hitters who drove in all four runs.

Concordia scored its four runs on just four hits, drawing six more walks in the second game.