Concordia University St. Paul Athletics

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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (28-12) returns to the NSIC / US Bank Tournament this Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Sioux Falls (S.D.) Stadium against Winona State (23-20) for first round play.

The contest is a rematch of last year's NSIC Tournament opening round game played in St. Cloud when Concordia was the fifth seed while WSU was fourth.

This year, the site has changed and the seeds have flipped as Concordia finished a half game ahead of the Warriors in the final standings.

Concordia set a new program record for most wins in a conference season with 20 by finishing 20-10 and topping the 2005 record of 17 (17-5). The 28 overall wins so far ranks as the fifth highest total in program history and the most since the record breaking 2009 team that finished 35-18.

The Golden Bears have won two NSIC Championships, in 2008 to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament berth and in 2003 in just the fourth year of Division II and NSIC membership.

Concordia has put together winning campaigns in three of the last four years including two straight.

SERIES HISTORY:
Concordia and WSU split a four game series in Winona, Minn. earlier this year, winning the second two games of the series … it's a rematch of last year's NSIC/US Bank Tournament First Round game that Winona State won 9-3 but Concordia took the season series last year 4-3 … in the all-time series, WSU leads 33-25 but Concordia has a 7-5 record in the last 12 games … the Golden Bears are 1-3 in four NSIC Tournament meetings with the Warriors, falling in 2005, 2007 and 2013 while defeating WSU in 2006.

INDIVIDUAL SEASON STATS NOTES
Junior Kyle Dalton leads the league in hitting (all games) at .442 with the next closest hitter being Augustana's Tony Viger at .429 … he's also third in the league in on base percentage (.485) … Dalton's 68 are currently fourth in the league and he leads the league with 1.70 hits per game … sophomore LHP Zach Rengel is fourth in the league with a 2.25 ERA while senior RHP Adam Kramer is eighth at 2.50 … sophomore shortstop Eric Fasnacht is second in the league with 30 double plays turned.

FINISHING STRONG
Concordia had a seven game winning streak come to a close on Saturday in game two at Sioux Falls but rebounded to win the final two games of the year and are 9-1 in their last 10 games entering postseason play … after taking three of four at Sioux Falls over the weekend, the Golden Bears clinched the fourth seed in the eight team NSIC/US Bank Tournament in Sioux Falls.