ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (23-13, 16-11 NSIC) dropped a pair of extra inning games on Sunday to Sioux Falls (19-24-1, 12-14-1 NSIC) at Barnes Field, falling 6-5 in eight innings in game one before a 1-0 loss in nine innings in game two.

The losses snapped a five game winning streak and likely end Concordia's home slate with a 14-5 record at Barnes Field on the year. The Golden Bears are scheduled to end the regular season on the road at Winona State (19-25-1, 13-15-1 NSIC) next Friday and Saturday, May 6-7. Concordia holds a firm grip on sixth place in the NSIC Standings, with Winona State in seventh trailing by nearly three games, less WSU's tie. Concordia also holds 3.5 game leads over Sioux Falls in eighth place and Wayne State (10-12) just percentage points behind the Cougars in ninth.

Prior to next Friday and Saturday's series, WSU will travel to Upper Iowa (11-19, 12th) for a Wednesday doubleheader while Concordia has a mid-week bye in the season's final week.

This weekend's series was a site reversal initially scheduled for Sioux Falls, South Dakota before steady rain relocated the series to St. Paul. As a result, Sioux Falls served as the home team in the games and would bat second which was a key factor in the outcome of today's games. The Cougars won on a walk-off fly ball single to the left center gap in game one with two outs and runners on first and second; and won with no outs in the ninth in game two on a walk-off single down the right field line with runners on first and second.

After game one went to extra innings, the second game was automatically shortened from a nine to a seven inning game. But a scoreless tie sent game two to nine innings anyway. The 17 inning doubleheader was played in a cumulative time of 4:13.

GAME 1: Sioux Falls 6, Concordia 5 (8)
Freshmen Carter Schmidt and Ben Suits each delivered game one home runs, with Schmidt's third inning leadoff homer giving Concordia a 3-1 lead, while Suits' two-out, two-run blast tied the game at 5-5 in the fifth. Schmidt now has three home runs, with Suits hitting his sixth.

Concordia used three pitchers in game one, with senior left handed starter Zach Rengel working the first three innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on just two hits. Junior left hander Josh Lenz worked the middle two (4th-5th) innings, allowing a pair of runs before junior righty Jake Kounkel pitched the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Kounkel took the loss but was solid in 2.2 innings, allowing a run on two hits with three strikeouts.

Sioux Falls' bullpen was solid, pitching 3.0 no-hit innings with Chris Thompson earning the win while Kaleb White pitched two perfect innings in the sixth and seventh. Concordia scored five runs in five innings on USF ace Dylan Gavin, who entered play 8-0 in eight starts (10 appearances) with a 3.48 ERA. His ERA went up to 4.08 in the no decision as he allowed seven hits and four walks to the Golden Bear bats before the bullpen stifled them in the late innings.

The Cougars also had a pair of home runs in the game, a leadoff home run in the first by Rob Johnson, his fourth and a go-ahead two-run homer by Matthew Minnick in the fourth to put USF ahead 5-3 before Suits tied it in the top of the fifth. Minnick's was his fifth of the season, as he went 4-6 with a pair of walks in the doubleheader.

Sophomore Connor Olson went 2-3 with a walk and his 14th double of the year, also driving in his 35th run, and senior Ryan Poppitz was 1-3 but scored twice and walked.

GAME 2: Sioux Falls 1, Concordia 0 (9)
Freshman game two right handed starting pitcher Gus Varland had his best career start, shutting out Sioux Falls for seven innings, allowing just five singles with nine strikeouts and one walk on 99 pitches (63 strikes) in the no decision. Senior Tyler Schmitz took the loss on three straight seeing-eye singles in the ninth after working a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

Varland was particularly dominant on the afternoon, working quick and blowing USF away with strong velocity, effective breaking stuff, solid location and a good mix of pitch selection. He had a pair of 1-2-3 innings, retired the side in order by erasing a runner on a caught stealing in another inning, and allowed stray singles in two other frames. He also showed ability to bear down and pitch out of trouble, stranding the bases loaded with one out in the fourth and leaving runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh by striking out the USF leadoff hitter.

Sophomore Andrew Shotwell was Concordia's offense in game two, going 2-3 with his sixth double to lift his average to .330 on the year. Sophomore Adam Hildebrandt also doubled, his second of the year in a 1-2 game.

Dan Johnson picked up the win for USF, throwing a complete game shutout allowing four hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 126 pitches.