BRANDON, SD – Led by the pitching of Logan Parker-Sjoberg, Andrew Maslowski and Alex Krout plus the hitting of Brady Klehr and Connor King, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (20-18, 12-11 NSIC) swept a doubleheader, 1-0 and 7-2, from Concordia St. Paul (15-17, 9-11 NSIC) on Saturday at First National Bank Field.

With the sweep of the doubleheader and the series, the Cougars have won three straight and moved from ninth to sixth in the NSIC standings with a 12-11 record. USF, which is 20-18 overall, extended their winning streak against Concordia St. Paul to five games.

Today, USF allowed just two runs in 16 innings as pitching was stellar all day for the Cougars. Connor King was 4-of-7 with three RBI and a run scored to lead the offense. He also had his first home run of the season as well as a stolen base. Brady Klehr also homered for USF in game two.

Across the three game series, USF's pitching staff had a 1.44 earned run average as they allowed just four earned runs while recording 25 strikeouts in 25 innings. USF had nine walks and held CSP to a .157 batting average.

Game 1 – Sioux Falls 1 Concordia St. Paul 0 (7 innings)
In game one, the story was Logan Parker Sjoberg, who won his first career game by holding CSP scoreless through five with the bullpen, led by Alex Krout, holding CSP off the scoreboard. USF won the game on a two-out RBI single from Connor King in the fifth inning.

Parker-Sjoberg allowed just three hits and no runs with four strikeouts and one walk in throwing 75 pitches to 19 batters. It was his career-best performance. In the sixth inning, Zachary Shastay had a strikeout before Alex Krout came on to finish the final 1 2/3 innings and struck out three in earning his seventh save. USF had four hits, including two by King and one from Noah Buss and Tyler Cate.

CSP starter Korey Dahlberg (4-2) was the hard-luck loser in the game as he allowed the four hits with one run and walked three while striking out two.

FACTOID - Interesting note to the game was that USF's last 1-0 win also came against Concordia St. Paul on May 1, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. In that game Dan Johnson threw a complete-game four-hitter in nine innings with five strikeouts as USF walked off the Golden Bears in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Game 2 – Sioux Falls 7 Concordia St Paul 2 (9 innings)
Similar to the opener, USF had a stellar pitching performance from Andrew Maslowski and added the power hitting of King and Klehr to the mix in a 7-2 victory.

Maslowski (4-3) earned his fourth win by going 6 1/3 innings and allowing just four hits and one run with five strikeouts and walking three. He was backed up by a solid bullpen as Derek Lundgren allowed just two hits with one strikeout in 2/3 of an inning while Alex Bertram allowed a hit and earned run with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings. Krout earned his NSIC-leading eighth save. In facing one hitter, Krout had a strikeout to leave the bases full in the bottom of the nine inning.

King led USF's offense with three hits, a run scored and three RBI as he homered and doubled. For King, the long ball was the first of the season and second of his career. Brady Klehr added two hits, including his fourth home run of the season. USF also had two hits from Trey Hubers, who had a run scored and a stolen base.

After CSP took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, King tied the game at 1-1 with a home run over the right field fence. Then USF had two more in the fifth inning, three in the sixth inning, including Klehr's two-run home run, and one tally in the seventh frame.

CSP was led on offense by Kal Brohmer with two hits as did Jack Young. Jonah Lewis (1-4) took the loss after allowing three runs and five hits in five innings with three strikeouts. Three relief pitchers finished for the Golden Bears.

Stats Breakdown – 3-game series – USF hit .282 as a team with a .424 slugging and .386 OBP while stealing 7-of-8 bases. USF scored 15 runs on 24 hits and had three doubles and three home runs. USF's pitching staff held CSP to a 1.44 earned run average and had 25 strikeouts. USF was led by Connor King with six hits in 12 at bats for a .500 average, .833 slugging mark and .538 OBP. The Gold Glove center fielder also flawlessly handled eight chances in the field. Kyle Gulbrandson also had three hits in six at bats and a .556 OBP.

Season – USF is now hitting .289 for sixth in the NSIC. USF has 233 runs, 336 hits, 42 doubles, 23 home runs and 69 stolen bases as they have a 20-18 overall mark and 12-11 conference record. USF is 11-10 at home. Noah Christenson leads USF with a .372 average and has a team-high 51 hits, 35 runs and 3 RBI with a .423 OBP. Brady Klehr is hitting .345 with 39 hits, eight doubles and four home runs along with 25 RBI and a .522 slugging mark. Ben Serie is hitting .310 with a team-high seven home runs along with a team-high 69 total bases and has 26 RBI as well as a team-best .548 slugging mark.

On the mound, USF lowered its earned run average from 6.17 to 5.84 after the solid mound work against CSP. USF has two shutouts, nine saves, three complete games with 267 strikeouts in 288 innings. As a team USF has recorded 19 double plays.