MINNETONKA, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (9-3, 2-0 NSIC) shut out Minnesota Crookston (10-7, 0-2 NSIC) for 16 innings on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Field as they picked up a pair of 1-0 victories to sweep the doubleheader.
 
The Concordia pitching staff limited the Golden Eagles to just six hits over the two games to finish with a .115 batting average against on the day. Both starters registered double digit strikeouts as Zach Lauzon struck out 16 in 8.1 innings pitched while Gus Varland struck out 10 in his 7.0 innings. Riley Sweeney also struck out one of the three batters he faced to bring the total to 27 in the doubleheader. Spanning all the way back March 10^th in the sixth inning of game one of a doubleheader against Northern State, CSP pitchers have hurled 31.1 consecutive scoreless innings with four straight shutouts during that span.
 
The offense struggled to keep pace with the pitchers as the team managed just nine hits and a .196 team batting average, they did just enough to win as they put one run on the board in each game to win both.
 
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 1, Minnesota Crookston 0
The Golden Bears managed to push across just one run in the series opener, but that proved to be all that game one starter Gus Varland needed to give CSP a victory in the conference opener.
 
Varland (3-0) was in control throughout the contest as he faced just two hitters over the minimum with only one advancing past first base in the complete game win. The junior right-hander struck out 10 in his 7.0 inning of work while allowing just one hit and a pair of walks. Varland has now worked 19.0 innings on the season, allowing just one run while striking out 28 to give him a 3-0 record and a 0.47 ERA.
 
Carter Schmidt registered half of the team's hits in the game as he finished 2-3 while also scoring the game's lone run on a Mickey Leius sacrifice fly. Connor Olson and Drew Sannes added singles as well.
 
CSP put together the first rally of the contest with a one out walk for Isaac Hormann and a single off the bat of Schmidt to put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the first. A strike him out, throw him out double play one batter later brought the threat to a close without a run crossing the plate.
 
The Golden Bears once again put a pair of runners on in their half of the third before another double play ended the inning.
 
The breakthrough finally came in the bottom of the fourth as Schmidt got things going with a leadoff infield single before being moved up on a bunt. Another single for Sannes put runners on first on first and third to set up Leius's sacrifice fly to put CSP out front 1-0.
 
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 1, Minnesota Crookston 0
It was the same story in game two as one run in the middle innings was all that was needed for Zach Lauzon to pick up the win and claim the sweep of the day.
 
Lauzon (1-1) nearly put up a second straight complete game shutout for the team as he worked into the ninth before making way with one out in the inning. In his 8.1 innings of work, Lauzon struck out 16 of the 28 batters he faced, tying Jake Schmidt's Division II-era record of 16 strikeouts set back on Apr. 18, 2009 against UMC. He scattered four hits and two walks in the win. Riley Sweeney came on to pick up the final two outs to grab his third save of the season.
 
Connor Trygstad picked up the big hit for the Golden Bears as his RBI single provided the game's lone run. He also tacked on another hit to give him two in the game. Connor Olson also reached twice with a single and a walk while scoring the only run. Patrick Bordewick and Roch Whittaker each had a hit in the game as well.
 
It took until the top of the third to have either team push a runner into scoring position as a two-out single followed by a wild pitch put a runner on second, but a Lauzon strikeout ended the inning. The Golden Eagles compiled an even bigger threat in the fourth as they led off the inning with a walk and a single, but a caught stealing and a pair of groundouts got Lauzon out of trouble as he kept the game scoreless.
 
Concordia did their damage in the bottom of the sixth as a one-out single off the bat of Olson followed by a wild pitch to move him up set the stage for Trygstad. The designated hitter laced a single to the right center gap to bring home Olson.
 
The score held until the ninth as Lauzon looked to pick up the complete game win. A hit by pitch to start the inning and a walk with one out brought his day to an end. Sweeney came in and picked up a fly out before allowing an infield single to load the bases. Sweeney battled back to strike out the final hitter of the game to finish off the second 1-0 win in a row.
 
The two teams will wrap up the four-game series tomorrow at Veterans Field with another doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon.