ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (15-17, 13-11 NSIC) will close out a 12-game, 11-day road stretch of Northern Sun baseball with a doubleheader at Southwest Minnesota State (17-21, 10-12 NSIC) on Wednesday afternoon with a 1:30 first pitch at Alumni Field.

In fact, Concordia will have played 16 road contests out of 18 games since March 31 with the only two home games against nationally-ranked and NSIC leading St. Cloud State on April 8. The Golden Bears have weathered the most difficult aspect of their scheduled with an 8-6 road record thus far.

 

CU	STAT	SMSU
15-17	W-L	17-21
13-11	Conf	10-12
1-4	Last 5	2-3
5-5	Last 10	4-6
4L	Strk	1W
.298	Avg	.300
.366	Obp	.396
.382	Slg	.460
45	2B	83
6	3B	2
9	HR	38
28-37	SB-A	28-36
4.8	R/G	6.6
5.12	ERA	7.42
1.60	WHIP	2.01
7.2	K/9	7.1
3.4	BB/9	4.6
2.2	K-BB	1.6
.305	OAV	.339
14	opp HR	38
.956	Fld%	.935
32	DP	27
33-45	opp SB-A	25-35

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
Concordia is led by third year starting shortstop Eric Fasnacht with a .373/.408/.627 slash while leading the team with 23 runs, nine doubles, two triples, five home runs and 27 RBI in 30 games. He also is 4-5 stealing bases and has turned 21 double plays with the help of Alex LaPorte at the keystone who has been part of 24 double plays and has a .966 fielding percentage. Although the lineup has shifted a little over the past few games, Fasnacht has primiarly hit fifth this season. The cleanup hitter, freshman Connor Olson is second on the team in hitting (.360) and slugging (.486) and leads the team with a .413 on base percentage. He is second on the team in doubles (8), homers (2) and RBI (23) while swiping three of four on the bases. Between Fasnacht and Olson, Concordia's top power threats in the middle of the order, the duo has just 17 strikeouts in 221 total at bats. Kyle Dalton paces the lineup from the leadoff spot, hitting .353/.409/.429 and is tied for the team lead in runs (23) and triples (2) while leading the team with 42 hits and seven stolen bases. He recently became the third player to surpass 200 career hits and is a .377/.430/.428 career hitter (209-554) in 154 games as a four year starter at second base and center field. He's scored 111 runs with 22 stolen bases and has only struck out 55 times as a Golden Bear.

SCOUTING SMSU
The Mustangs have played eight home games in 2015 with a 4-4 record, sweeping four doubleheader dates. In fact, the only team to sweep the Mustangs in a doubleheader this year is St. Cloud State on the second day of a four game series, with the teams splitting the first day. Overall, SMSU has split 12 out of 13 doubleheaders since March 20 which includes a non-conference four game series with Northwestern (Iowa).

The Mustang offense is led by Austin Stubbs, hitting .350/.430/.693 with 13 doubles, 11 home runs and 36 RBI. Jarred Carlson is hitting .355/.429/.623 with 13 doubles, eight home runs and a team leading 41 RBI. Last year's league leader in home runs, Patrick Rients is hitting .318/.416/.486 with 10 doubles, five homers and 33 RBI with team-highs of 40 runs and 43 strikeouts. Brian Redemske leads the team with a .360 average, adding 10 doubles, five homers, 27 RBI and a .432 OBP and .544 slugging percentage. The Mustang offense strikes out over once per inning, with 326 strikeouts in 300.1 innings at the plate.

With projected starters listed below, the Mustang bullpen is led by Jake Leighton with a 2-1 record and three saves in a team-high 12 appearances. He holds a 3.79 ERA in 19.0 innings with an 18-7 K-BB ratio and a .300 opponent average, allowing 10 extra base hits including two home runs. Colton Smit adds a 2-0 record in eight relief appearances with 14.2 innings, striking out 13 and walking six with a .328 opponent average with 10 extra base hits surrended including two home runs.

PIVOTAL DOUBLEHEADER
The Wednesday doubleheader is key in the NSIC Standings and the race for NSIC Tournament bids. With the top eight teams in the league qualifying for the NSIC Tournament, Concordia is currently in a three team tie with Northern State and Wayne State while SMSU is two games back in 10th place. Further complicating matters is Concordia, NSU and WSC are in a statistical tie with Sioux Falls (12-10) for sixth but the Cougars have a slight percentage lead. The pack is close from fourth place Augustana (13-9) and fifth place Winona State (15-11) to 10th place SMSU (10-12). All of the teams have either 10 or 12 games remaining with all 10 of Concordia's remaining games against teams in that pack.

SERIES HISTORY: Concordia 21, SMSU 17
The Golden Bears hold a 21-17 advantage head-to-head against the Mustangs with series history dating back to 1993, with SMSU winning the only contest played between the programs prior Concordia joining the NSIC and Division II ranks in 2000. In that first meeting, SMSU defeated Concordia in the NAIA District Playoffs.

Most recently, SMSU picked up a pair of wins in single nine inning contests played in Tucson, Ariz. on March 12 (5-3) and 13 (9-6) of this season which snapped Concordia's three game winning streak against the Mustangs.

In Marshall, the programs have only played four games against each other with half of those coming last season when Concordia swept SMSU in conference play (7-0, 7-2). The only other two contests played in Marshall between the teams was in Concordia's first NSIC season in 2000, a sweep for SMSU (then known as Southwest State) by scores of 9-3 and 17-3. Concordia is also 7-7 against the Mustangs at Barnes Field, but holds a 12-8 edge at neutral sites despite SMSU's two wins in Tucson earlier this year.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES VS SMSU
Kyle Dalton is a .477/.500/.538 career hitter (31-65) in 16 games against SMSU. He has scored 17 runs, knocked in seven with four doubles. This year, he's hit .400 (4-10) in two games against SMSU and went 15-29 (.517) as a freshman in seven games in 2012 ... Ryan Poppitz holds a .406/.441/.531 (13-32) line against SMSU in eight games with four runs, four doubles and nine RBI. Last year, Poppitz hit .438/.500/.625 with three doubles and seven RBI in four games. He went 4-9 (.444) with a double and two RBI against SMSU in Tucson this year. Eric Fasnacht is a career .344/.400/.594 hitter against SMSU (11-32) in nine games with two doubles, three triples, five runs and three RBI. Last year, Fasnacht hit .533/.533/1.000 in four games (8-15) with four runs, a double and three triples with two RBI ... Connor Olson played in one of the two games against SMSU in Tucson, going 3-4 with a double and an RBI while starting behind the plate ... Trevon Bargfrede has one career HR against SMSU (4/25/13) with four RBI in seven games (six starts) ... David Henke is .333/.429/.500 (2-6) in two games against SMSU including this year's 2-3 with a double, walk and a run in Tucson ... Andrew Shotwell is a .286 hitter against SMSU (2-7) in two games this year, wiht a run, an RBI, a walk and a sacrifice fly ... Joe Muench is a .261 hitter against SMSU (6-23) in six games including last season's .375 (6-16) hitting in four games with two RBI

INDIVIDUAL PITCHER NOTES VS SMSU
Tyler Brekke is 0-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in two appearances (one start) vs SMSU over 9.1 innings with a 5-0 strikeout-walk ratio, he worked 8.1 innings in a no decision in 2013, allowing two runs on seven hits wiht four strikeouts and no walks in his first start against Mustangs ... Adam Fredericks is 1-0 in three career appearances against SMSU, facing them once each in 2012, 2013 and 2015. He holds a 0.00 ERA and 1.87 WHIP in 2.2 innings with a 4-1 K-BB ratio. He picked up a relief win in 2013 in 0.2 innings ... Hunter Lindstrom made his first appearance against SMSU this year, working 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and two hits allowed in relief ... Zach Rengel is 1-0 in two appearances (one start) against SMSU with a 0.00 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 7.1 innings, allowing just three hits with a .115 opponent average against SMSU. He has seven strikeouts and five walks against the Mustangs ...  Kevin Woebke is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts over 10.0 innings with 11 strikeouts, allowing nine hits and six walks with a .237 average against ... Kody Knaus worked 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in a no decision earlier this year ... Yuji Suzuki has faced the Mustangs once, a no decision in 2014 allowing four runs on five hits in 6.1 innings with six strikeouts and two walks, holding SMSU to .227 hitting

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS (based on last Wednesday)
Game 1:
CU: Tyler Brekke (RHP, Sr., 2 app, 2 GS, 0-1, 2.45 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 11.0 IP, 3-3 K-BB)
last start: 4/15, ND, at Northern State (CG, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K)
Brekke career vs SMSU: 2 app, 1 GS, 0-0, 1.93 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 9.1 IP, 5-0 K-BB, .206 opp avg
SMSU: Cameron Knudsen (RHP, Jr., 10 app, 1 GS, 2-0, 6.67 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, 29.2 IP, 23-11 K-BB)
last start: 4/15, ND, vs Sioux Falls (5.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K)
Knudsen vs Concordia: 1 GS, 1-0, 1.93 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 5.2 IP, 2-1 K-BB

Game 2:
CU: Cody Schacht (RHP, Jr., 5 app, 5 GS, 2-2, 7.82 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 25.1 IP, 15-2 K-BB)
last start: 4/15, ND, at Northern State (6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K)
Schacht has not faced SMSU as a Golden Bear
SMSU: Brandan Alfson (RHP, Sr., 7 app, 4 GS, 2-2, 2.70 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 30.0 IP, 24-11 K-BB)
last start: 4/15, L, vs Sioux Falls (CG, 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K)
Alfson vs Concordia: 3 app, 2 GS, 1-1, 2.61 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.1 IP, 9-2 K-BB