MANKATO, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (19-11, 12-9 NSIC) picked up a big doubleheader split today as sophomore catcher Connor Olson led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo home run for a 5-4 game two win at Minnesota State (21-13, 13-8 NSIC). In the reversed site doubleheader at MSU Baseball Complex, Concordia let a three run lead slip away in an 8-3 game one loss on Monday afternoon to the Mavericks.

The series was a four game set scheduled for Concordia's Barnes Field in St. Paul on Saturday and Sunday. Due to heavy rain on Sunday, the second doubleheader was postponed to Monday, and eventually switched to Minnesota State's campus due to continued rain in St. Paul.

The result still had Concordia as the home team, which played a key factor in the series finale as Olson walked the Golden Bears off to avoid the series sweep.

Olson went 3-4 with a double, two homers, a walk, three runs and three RBI in the finale. He's now leading the team in hitting (.345), slugging (.743), runs (32), doubles (12), homers (11), and RBI (31).

Sophomore Andrew Shotwell also had a solid doubleheader performance batting in the ninth spot to turn the lineup over to Olson. Shotwell went 3-5 with two doubles, two walks and two runs.

GAME 1: Minnesota State 8, Concordia 3
Concordia got off to a strong start for senior lefty Kody Knaus, who blanked the Mavericks for the first three innings.

In the bottom of the third, sophomore Andrew Shotwell led off and turned the lineup over with a double to right center. He scored on freshman Isaac Hormann's one-out single to right center. After senior Eric Fasnacht reached on an error to give Concordia runners on second and third, a walk to freshman Ben Suits loaded the bases. Hormann scored on a wild pitch and senior Ryan Poppitz hit into an RBI ground out to second base for a 3-0 lead.

MSU rallied in the fourth as the first four batters reached with three singles and a walk to put two runs across before Knaus forced a lineout double play to get out of trouble.

Concordia's offense wasn't able to provide further support to Knaus as MSU turned to the bullpen in the bottom of the fourth. Concordia scored three runs (one earned) in three innings against MSU starter Josh Matheson.

Daniel Feneis came on in relief and Concordia would put a runner on second base in each of the next three innings with Shotwell's second double of the game to the opposite field down the right field line in the fourth, a single by Fasnacht who moved up to second in the fifth and a two out double by freshman Carter Schmidt in the sixth. But Feneis pitched out of it each frame, going four scoreless innings in his relief stint.

MSU got the big hit in the fifth, a two-out, two-run homer by Luke Waldek, his sixth of the year to cap a four-run inning for a 6-3 lead. MSU tacked on two more in the sixth for the 8-3 win.

Knaus went the distance in the seven inning game, striking out four and walking one while taking his first loss to fall to 4-1.

Feneis allowed three hits and a walk over his four innings to improve to 1-0, striking out a pair.

Fasnacht went 2-4 while Shotwell was 2-3 with his fourth and fifth double of the season. Schmidt was 1-3 with his fourth double.

Six different Mavericks had multiple hits in the game led by third hitter Eric Peterson who was 3-4 with his seventh double, two runs and two RBI.

GAME 2: Concordia 5, Minnesota State 4
The teams traded runs in the first inning, each getting a runner into scoring position with a double and scoring on an RBI ground out. For Concordia, it was Connor Olson who set the tone right from the first inning with a leadoff double, scoring on Ben Suits' RBI grounder to short.

Olson put Concordia ahead in the third inning with a two-run, no-doubt blast to left field into the wind after Andrew Shotwell led off the inning with a walk.

Freshman right hander Gus Varland was strong in his first time facing the potent Maverick offense that had put up 36 runs in the first 21 innings against Concordia.

After MSU manufactured the first run against him in the first, Varland blanked MSU for the next three innings to carry a 3-1 lead into the middle innings, not allowing a runner past first base following the first inning double.

MSU started the fifth inning when Ryan Moffett hit his third home run of the series and leadoff batter Kyle Toth made an aggressive baserunning play to score from second base on an infield single to second base to tie the game.

Concordia went back in front in the bottom of the inning after sophomore Tanner Holmquist reached on a two-out error, coming around to score on an RBI double off the bat of freshman Carter Schmidt for the 4-3 lead. Concordia left the bases loaded to end the inning.

Concordia forced MSU starter Brody Rodning from the game in the sixth inning after scoring the fourth run (two earned) against him. Rodning, arguably MSU's ace who had just pitched five innings at Upper Iowa on Thursday of last week, surrendered six hits and three walks with three strikeouts. 

Rodning entered play with 57 strikeouts in just 44.2 innings, adding only three to his total in 5.2 innings of work today.

Pitching with the lead, Varland worked around a two-out single in the sixth inning to end his day with the lead on the road.

Varland pitched 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits (six singles) with a strong 4-1 strikeout-walk ratio on just 97 pitches (59 strikes).

The two starters did not factor into the decision, as MSU tied the game in the top of the ninth inning on a leadoff homer by Chase Lonetti, his first of the year.

Junior right handed reliever Jake Kounkel had been strong to that point, getting a pair of strikeouts in the seventh before working around a walk and hit by pitch to start the eighth. MSU moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, but Kounkel fielded a bunt and threw out the lead runner trying to score for the second out, getting a flyout to end the inning.

In the ninth, MSU put runners on the corners with two outs after the leadoff homer, with Kounkel getting his third strikeout to preserve the tie.

Kounkel would pick up the win after Olson hit the 0-2 pitch out to left. He allowed three hits and a walk in his three innings and improves to 2-0 in eight relief appearances. Kounkel has racked up 24 strikeouts in 17.0 innings with a 4-1 SO-BB ratio and 3.71 ERA.

Peter Gaustad, who saved game one in three relief innings, took the loss in the finale to fall to 0-2. He allowed just the one run in 2.1 innings and holds a 2.18 season ERA.

Holmquist had a strong day in the middle of the order, going 2-4 before being lifted for Steven Nessler to pinch run in the late innings. Nessler, a Mankato, Minnesota native has family ties to MSU as both parents (Dan & Joann) played baseball and softball for the Mavericks.

UP NEXT: Concordia hosts SMSU tomorrow, 1:30 p.m.
Concordia and SMSU will meet in the Golden Bears' final mid-week doubleheader and final scheduled home games of the year. The games were bumped up a day to accommodate excpected rain in the area on Wednesday and Thursday. In the two prior meetings on CSP's spring trip to Tucson, Arizona, Concordia outscored SMSU 29-20 in a doubleheader. Connor Olson went 5-8 with four runs, three doubles and seven RBI with a pair of walks against the Mustangs while Tanner Holmquist was 5-9 with five runs, a double, homer and three RBI.

While Concordia held a .366/.459/.535 (26-71) team batting line in the doubleheader, SMSU was also potent at .418/.481/.612 (28-67) but committed eight errors in the two games to Concordia's two.

The Golden Bears started Kevin Woebke and Gus Varland against the Mustangs. Expect Varland to be completely unavailable, while Woebke is not expected to start but in past mid-week situations has been available in relief. Jake Kounkel struck out four batters while recording five outs (1.2 IP) for a relief win despite allowing three hits and a walk.

SMSU used Alex Jorgensen (4.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) and Justin Clark (4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO) as starters in the two games. Jorgensen pitched game one of SMSU's four game weekend series in Marshall over the weekend, but Clark did not pitch.

Clark last started against Sioux Falls in game two of last week's mid-week matchup. He went the distance (7.0) in a 10-run rule shortened win for SMSU (12-2), allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits with two strikeouts and three walks. He's 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in 30.2 innings (six starts) on the year with 25 strikeouts and a .248 opponent average. SMSU's game one starter could be Cole Petersen (2-4), who worked 4.0 innings last Thursday, taking the loss in allowing eight runs (four earned) on seven hits. On the year, Petersen is 2-4 with a 7.59 ERA in a team-high 32.0 innings (four starts) with a team-high 30 strikeouts, allowing opponents to hit .318.

Concordia has been starting Josh Lenz (5-1, 4.50 ERA) in game one and Keanu Mendez (4-1, 3.86 ERA) on its mid-week schedule.