ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Thursday at 12:15 p.m., the Concordia baseball team (6-4) returns to the Metrodome in Minneapolis to face Northern State (4-4) in a non-conference doubleheader of 7-inning contests. Concordia is fresh off a 6-2 spring trip and both teams are riding four-game winning streaks into Thursday afternoons games. The Golden Bears bring the top-ranked hitting team in the nation and are anchored by the second-leading hitter and slugger in Division II baseball. Concordia is still in the mix on a regional level as well, holding the No. 9 ranking in the NCBWA's latest Central Region Poll.
THURSDAY LIVE: STATS | AUDIO
Concordia's spring trip was highlighted by taking three of four games from Southwest Minnesota State in non-conference games. Their season began with a closely contested doubleheader against Missouri Southern. And although they dropped both games, the opponent has proved to be red-hot to start the year as MSSU is now 15-1 and ranked 11th in the nation.
With a .359 team batting average, the Golden Bears lead the nation and are ahead of perennial DII powers Emporia State (.354), Central Missouri (.341) and Mount Olive (.340). They are also fourth in the nation in triples (0.6 per game), seventh in scoring (8.6 runs per game), 18th in slugging (.476) and 22nd in doubles (2.2 per game).
Individually, senior
Bryan Lippincott's .605 batting average (23-38) is second in the nation, behind only league competitor Nolan Johnson of Minnesota State who is off to a .667 start at the plate (18-27). Concordia has two other hitters in the national top-20, freshman
Kyle Dalton in fifth at .513 (20-39) and senior
Logan Bouts in 20th at .465 (20-43).
Lippincott also ranks second nationally in slugging percentage (1.000) and on base percentage (.673), while ranking fourth in RBI (1.7 per game), 15th in runs scored (1.4 per game), 16th in triples (0.2 per game, 2 total) and 26th in doubles (0.5 per game, 5 total).
Northern State enters play with a .301 team average and are scoring 6.0 runs per game. The offense has been paced early by Robbie Romcamora with a .385 average and a pair of triples along with nine RBI.
They have a 6.43 team earned run average and their pitching staff is ranked 16th in the country with 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Nathan Nietfeld leads the staff with a 1.80 earned run average and has a 1-1 record in two starts. Sean Winslow has a 1.00 earned run average in a pair of starts, but has allowed seven runs (one earned) in 9.0 total innings and walked seven.
