WINONA, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (27-13, 20-11 NSIC) closed out the regular season with a four game series sweep at Winona State (17-30-1, 14-20-1 NSIC), taking Saturday's doubleheaders 2-1 and 12-8 at Loughrey Field.

The Golden Bears ascended to the fifth spot in the final standings, surpassing Minnesota Crookston (25-19, 18-11 NSIC). Concordia will play fourth seed Minnesota State (33-14, 24-9 NSIC) at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11 in the first round of the NSIC Tournament at Dick Putz Field.

Concordia ties a program record with 20 NSIC wins, matching the 2014 team (20-10) two years ago that placed fourth in the final standings and went 28-14 overall.

The series result sends Concordia soaring into the postseason with a 9-2 record over the last 11 games of the year including a 5-game road winning streak.

The sweep also eliminated Winona State from postseason play as the Warriors dropped to 10th in the final regular season standings.

Concordia won the first game of Saturday's doubleheader in opposite fashion from yesterday's two wins, using a two-out rally to string a walk and single together to set up senior Ryan Poppitz to sock the eventual game-winning two-run double, his fourth double of the weekend and eighth of the year. Prior to the seventh inning, Concordia had just one infield single in the game.

Junior left handed pitcher Josh Lenz got the relief win in game one and led the NSIC in wins in conference play with seven (7-1) of Concordia's 20 league victories.

In game two, senior Eric Fasnacht hit a pair of home runs and drove in five while Connor Olson went 3-5 with his 15th double and 14th homer as the duo hit in the top two spots in the lineup.

Fasnacht went 9-19 with 13 RBI, nine runs, two doubles, a triple and four home runs in the four game series, lifting his average from .302 to .324 and sending his RBI total from 20 to 33 while doubling his season home run total.

GAME 1: Concordia 2, Winona State 1
After pounding out 19 extra base hits and averaging two runs an inning on the first day of the four game series, Concordia-St. Paul managed just one baserunner – an infield single to short by freshman Ben Suits to leadoff the second inning in game one on Saturday.
 
Concordia didn't have a response for Winona State sophomore Mitchell Stalsberg, who struck out the side in the first inning to set the tone, and would get nine strikeouts through 6.0 one-hit shutout innings, concluding his line after 86 pitches and retiring 15 in a row.
 
The Warriors, meanwhile drew a leadoff walk, advancing the runner on a ground out for the second out. Mitch Voter, WSU's cleanup hitter and closer drove in the first run with a single to right field.
 
It was all Stalsberg needed to leave the game with the lead looking for the win. He concluded the season as the league leader with 60 strikeouts during conference play.
 
Voter would enter in the seventh, bringing a 0.47 ERA in 16 appearances and six saves, striking out 32 in 19.0 innings while holding opponents to a .145 average and three extra base hits (all doubles) among the 10 hits against him.
 
He promptly struck out the first two batters he'd face on seven pitches, looking for his seventh save. With two outs and nobody on, Suits was down to his last strike facing a 1-2 count. After evening the count 2-2, he fouled off a pitch before taking a pair for a two out walk.
 
Concordia head coach Mark "Lunch" McKenzie made a veteran managerial move, pinch running speedy freshman Steven Nessler to give Concordia extra speed for the tying run at first. After the seven pitch walk to Suits, sophomore Tanner Holmquist hit the first pitch to center for a single, putting the tying run (Nessler) in scoring position while McKenzie once again went to the bench on the bases. He brought freshman Jake Steckler in to represent the go-ahead run at first.
 
Senior Ryan Poppitz then laced an 0-1 pitch to right center to score both pinch runners for a 2-1 lead. The double was Poppitz's eighth of the year and fourth of the weekend as all four of his hits in the series have been for two bases.
 
In the bottom of the inning, the Warriors put the first two runners on base, a single by the leadoff hitter Joe Kubera who scored the game's only run in the first inning followed by an error on a bunt to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on first.
 
Junior left handed reliever Josh Lenz got Warrior third hitter Jesus Cazares swinging before a pair of fielder's choice grounders to get the out at second base for the victory.
 
Lenz worked the sixth and seventh innings in relief, allowing a hit and getting a strikeout for the win to improve to 7-1 on the year with a 3.89 ERA.
 
Senior right hander Yuji Suzuki started the game, making his first start of the season. He was effective, allowing just a run on three hits – all singles – with three strikeouts and five walks. Suzuki did well stranding runners, forcing WSU to strand runners on second and third in the first inning, a runner on second in the third inning, and runners on first and second in the fifth inning.
 
Voter took his second loss for WSU, falling to 0-2 while his ERA spiked to a still strong 1.35 while striking out the side in an inning in which he allowed two runs on two hits and a walk. Voter also went 1-2 with a pair of walks and a stolen base from the cleanup spot and is hitting .374 on the season.

GAME 2: Concordia 12, Winona State 8
Instead of waiting until their final out, the Golden Bears jumped on the scoreboard early in the regular season finale as Connor Olson led off with his 15th double. Although he was erased on a fielder's choice, Eric Fasnacht was able to get to second base on the play to keep a runner in scoring position.

Freshman Ben Suits capitalized by driving Fasnacht in with a single for the early lead.

Junior left handed starter Kevin Woebke was solid early, getting eight straight outs after a leadoff single.

In the third, Concordia's offense provided him with support as Olson started the inning by drawing a walk, and after two outs were recorded Suits followed with a walk of his own. Three-straight RBI singles by Tanner Holmquist, Ryan Poppitz and Adam Hildebrandt gave Concordia a 4-0 lead for Woebke.

Woebke's run of eight straight outs ended with a two out walk in the third which led to an RBI double for the Warriors before Woebke worked out of the inning.

In the fourth, Olson led off and got on base for the third time with a single. Fasnacht followed with his seventh home run before Hildebrandt and David Henke delivered RBI singles later in the inning for an 8-1 lead.

The Warriors tacked one more run on Woebke, who left after four innings leading 8-2 presumably due to a combination of limiting late season workload and the healthy 6-run lead.

Woebke allowed a pair of runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Olson continued to thrive in the leadoff role, leading off the fifth inning with his 14th home run of the season, the third most home runs in a single season in program history.

Junior left handed reliever Erik Monson worked the middle innings, scattering three singles between the fifth and sixth innings before allowing three extra base hits and two runs in the seventh. He picked up the win, moving to 1-0 on the year as he allowed two runs on six hits in 3.0 innings, preserving a large 9-4 lead when he departed the game.

Fasnacht added to the run support by belting a three-run homer in the ninth inning, his second of the game, fourth of the weekend and eighth of the season. It extended Concordia's lead to 13-4 with three outs to play.

The Warriors were able to counter with a four run bottom of the ninth including a three-run homer off the bat of Michael Hommes, his second of the year.

Olson went 3-5 with a walk, three runs, a double and a homer from the top spot in the order and is hitting .353 on the season. Fasnacht followed by going 2-6 with three runs, two homers and five RBI and is up to .324.

While the 1-2 spots in the lineup produced runs, the seventh spot also had a big day. Second baseman Adam Hildebrandt went 4-4 with a walk, a run and two RBI to lift his average to .321.

Holmquist (3-5) and Suits (2-4) also had multi-hit games in the middle of the lineup, each scoring two and driving in one run.

Ryan Nyhagen went 4-5 with his 11th double and third triple, driving in two for WSU while Taylor Field went 3-5 with his 12th double.

Mitch Voter, a key player in the first game, went 2-4 with his 13th double and scored twice. He also pitched, working 3.0 scoreless innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth allowing two hits and striking out one on 34 pitches. The three shutout frames lowered his season ERA back to 1.17.

Starter Daniel Karlin-Kamin took the loss, falling to 2-7 as he allowed four runs on five hits and three walks in 2.2 innings.

SERIES NOTES

• Eric Fasnacht had a 1.816 OPS for the weekend with a .500 OBP and 1.316 slugging percentage
• Adam Hildebrandt hit .636, going 7-11 with three runs and three RBI
• Connor Olson slashed .429/.550/.929 with a double and two home runs
• Concordia hit .400/.463/.686 (56-140) in the four games, slugging 24 extra base hits including seven home runs
• The pitchers held Winona to .254/.333/.405 (32-126) hitting with 12 extra base hits and three home runs in the four games
• Nine different pitchers were used for at least 1.2 innings and seven pitchers worekd at least 3.0 innings