ST. PAUL, Minn. - On a gloomy, windy Saturday afternoon at Barnes Field, Concordia-St. Paul (23-11, 16-9 NSIC) rode the backs of veteran left handed starting pitchers Kody Knaus and Kevin Woebke to a sweep of Sioux Falls (17-24-1, 10-14-1 NSIC) with 5-0 and 3-2 victories.

After Knaus (5-1) pitched a complete game shutout in game one, scattering five USF singles while striking out five with no walks, Woebke (2-2) followed it up by working seven strong frames himself. Woebke allowed a pair of unearned runs on six singles and three walks, giving way to right handed reliever Tyler Schmitz who worked two scoreless innings for his third save. The result was a combined effort of 16.0 innings, 12 singles, two runs (no earned runs), three walks and eight strikeouts on just 222 pitches (143 strikes).

Sophomore Connor Olson delivered the crucial hit in game two, lifting Concordia from a 2-0 deficit to a tie game with one swing, crushing a two-run homer to left center in the seventh inning. Later in the inning, freshman Carter Schmidt hit a go-ahead RBI single up the middle to score freshman Isaac Hormann in the three-run inning.

Concordia has now won five straight games overall, improves to 14-3 on the year at Barnes Field, 11-3 in 14 meetings with Sioux Falls including an eight game winning streak against the Cougars.

The two teams will play again tomorrow at noon to complete the four game series at Barnes Field, originally scheduled for Sioux Falls before a site reversal due to weather.

GAME 1: Concordia 5, Sioux Falls 0
Concordia grabbed the lead in the third inning when sophomores Andrew Shotwell and Connor Olson opened the inning with singles before senior Eric Fasnacht drove in Shotwell with a single to center for the only run that Kody Knaus would need on the day.

Fasnacht went 3-4 with a run, RBI and his fifth stolen base of the year in the first game. Shotwell and Olson each had a pair of two-hit games in the doubleheader with Shotwell going 2-3 and Olson 2-4 in game one. Olson was 4-9 and Shotwell 4-7 in the doubleheader, and the 9-1 duo in the lineup is hitting .349 (Olson) and .333 (Shotwell) on the year.

Knaus set down the Cougars in order in the first, third and fifth innings and stranded runners on second base in the second and fourth. In the seventh, he allowed two baserunners to reach in the same inning for the first time all game with back-to-back singles. But he induced a grounder to short with Fasnacht making an alert play to get the lead runner at third before an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to seal the win.

Fasnacht, Olson and Shotwell were joined by Carter Schmidt and Tanner Holmquist with multi-hit games as they went 2-4 out of the 5-6 spots in the lineup.

Concordia had 14 hits and left nine runners on base in the game including six in scoring position.

Patrick Anderson took the loss for USF, allowing five runs on 13 hits (12 singles) in 6.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts to fall to 2-4. He had allowed just one run through five innings in a solid start to his outing.

Dylan Gavin, USF's clean-up and third baseman went 2-4. Gavin is also USF's top pitcher with an 8-0 record in eight starts (10 appearances) but last pitched on Tuesday and has typically started mid-week games on the mound.

GAME 2: Concordia 3, Sioux Falls 2
Entering the game 2-0 in two starts in nine shutout innings allowing only three hits in his career against Sioux Falls, Kevin Woebke continued his brilliance against the Cougars on Saturday. Although USF opened the game with a single and moved the runner to third, Woebke worked out of the inning and got a pickoff in the second to keep the Cougars scoreless early.

USF would finally break through against Concordia's elder left handers in the third inning, when a two-out error led to a two-run single by game two clean-up hitter Ed Reichenbach. But Dylan Gavin was thrown out trying to score from first on the single off the right field fence after Reichenbach was caught in a run down trying to stretch the two-run hit into a double. The third out at home would later prove to be crucial in the one-run contest.

From there, Woebke allowed a pair of infield singles and a pair of two out walks scattered one apiece in the next four innings, allowing only one runner to reach second base on a failed pickoff throwing error.

Concordia once again had trouble with stranding runners in game two, leaving a runner in scoring position in the second (1st & 2nd), third (2nd) and fourth (1st & 2nd) innings. In the seventh with one out, Andrew Shotwell once again set the table for the top of the order with a base hit to left field. Connor Olson followed with a no-doubt shot to the roof of Gangelhoff Center in left center field to tie the game.

The inning didn't end there as freshman Isaac Hormann drew one of his four walks in the second game, with Eric Fasnacht reaching on a fielder's choice error with Hormann staying on the bases due to an error at second. A single up the middle by freshman Carter Schmidt scored Hormann as the unearned go-ahead run for a 3-2 lead in a big seventh inning.

Senior right handed relief pitcher Tyler Schmitz continued his strong second half of the season on the mound, retiring the first four batters he faced, only allowing a one out bunt single down the third base line, stranding that runner on second base by inducing a pair of ground outs to preserve Woebke's win.

Zachary Miller took the loss for USF, allowing three runs (two earned) in 6.1 innings. Concordia tagged him for six hits and six walks while he struck out four to fall to 2-6.

Olson (2-5) and Shotwell (2-4) once again provided the offense from the leadoff and ninth spot in the lineup, accounting for four of the team's seven hits while Hormann backed up Olson by walking four times despite an 0-1 day at the plate in the second game.