ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Wednesday, Concordia-St. Paul baseball (15-3, 8-1 NSIC) faces its toughest test of the 2016 season at #1 St. Cloud State (25-1, 10-1 NSIC) with a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Joe Faber Field.

The games will feature a live video webcast along with live stats with a high temperature forecast of 64 degrees, sunshine and wind under 10 miles per hour coming from the southeast.

HISTORIC START
The Golden Bears are off to an 8-1 start to NSIC play for the first time under 17th-year head coach Mark "Lunch" McKenzie ... the 15-3 overall start matches McKenzie's tenure-best start through 18 games, tying the 2009 season that started 16-3 through 19 games. Concordia is in third place in the Northern Sun, trailing Augustana (10-0) and top-ranked St. Cloud State (10-1) and ahead of Minnesota Duluth (8-4) and Minnesota Crookston (6-3). The top eight teams make the NSIC Tournament with the current cut-off mark being eighth place Upper Iowa at .500 (6-6).

TOP-6 NCBWA CENTRAL REGION SHOWDOWN
Concordia has been ranked in the NCBWA Central Region Top-10 Poll for six consecutive weeks, bumping back up to the sixth spot in this week's rankings for the second time this year. St. Cloud State has been ranked first in the poll each week of the 2016 season, receiving 100 percent of the first place votes in each poll.

A look at Concordia's weekly rankings in the NCBWA Central Region Poll:
Date, W-L, Rk, Pts
Pre, 0-0, NR
2/16, 0-0, NR
2/23, 0-0, NR
3/1, 0-0, NR
3/8, 5-0, 7th, 22
3/15, 7-2, 7th, 24
3/22, 7-2, t-7th, 21
3/29, 11-2, 6th, 23
4/5, 12-3, 7th, 26
4/12, 15-3, 6th, 31

The poll is comprised of baseball sports information directors in the Central Region which is made up of the Northern Sun (NSIC), Mid-American (MIAA) and Great American (GAC) conferences ... the poll is a collection of committee member votes with no formal criteria, and the poll does not influence the official NCAA Central Region Rankings which are released later in the season with a data-driven criteria that selects and seeds the NCAA Central Region Tournament competitors following the conference tournament automatic qualifiers from the three leagues.
 

RK	School -First-Place Votes-	W-L	Pts.	Previous
1	St. Cloud St. (Minn.) -8-	25-1	80	1
2	Central Missouri	22-9	68	5
3	Emporia State (Kan.)	26-9	66	2
4	Missouri Southern	24-11	51	3
5	Missouri Western	24-11	45	6
6	Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.)	15-3	31	7
7	Arkansas-Monticello	22-11	22	4
8	Augustana (S.D.)	19-7	20	RV
9	Minnesota-Duluth	15-9	14	8
10	Minnesota State	17-10	10	9

Also receiving votes: SW Oklahoma State (23-12) 9 points; Southern Arkansas (24-13) 8 points; SE Oklahoma State (21-18) 5 points, Central Oklahoma (20-15) 1 point.

WEATHER IMPACTING 2016 SEASON
The headline is not exactly breaking news for baseball teams playing in the Upper Midwest, but the Golden Bears have now had eight games cancelled due to weather which consists of over 30 percent of the current 26 scheduled games. The team had a three game non-conference road trip to Upper Iowa wiped out, the second game of a home NSIC doubleheader against Wayne State and most recently a four game weekend NSIC road series at Minnesota Crookston. So far, the team has missed out on three non-conference and five conference games.

 

CSP	STAT	SCSU
15-3	W-L	25-1
8-1	Conf	10-1
4-1	Last 5	4-1
9-1	Last 10	9-1
3W	Strk	2W
.308	Avg	.397
.381	Obp	.467
.505	Slg	.662
33	2B	84
3	3B	12
23	HR	48
10-15	SB-A	32-43
6.6	R/G	11.5
4.43	ERA	3.24
1.56	WHIP	1.15
8.4	K/9	10.4
3.7	BB/9	2.9
2.2	K-BB	3.7
.290	OAV	.221
10	opp HR	14
.972	Fld%	.973
12	DP	44
15-26	opp SB-A	11-16

GOLDEN BEAR HITTERS IN NCAA/NSIC RANKINGS (source: NCAA.com, games thru 4/10)
Sophomore Connor Olson leads the NSIC and is 11th in Division II in doubles rate (0.50/game), third in the NSIC & 12th DII in slugging (.818), sixth in the NSIC & 30th DII in homer rate (0.33), 11th in the NSIC & 47th DII in RBI/game (1.22), 18th NSIC & 72nd DII in average (.409) and 18th NSIC & 148th DII in OBP (.474) ... sophomore Tanner Holmquist is fourth in the NSIC & 14th DII in home run rate (0.38), 17th NSIC & 100th DII in slugging (.661) and 19th NSIC & 167th DII in RBI (1.00) ... freshman Ben Suits is eighth NSIC & 49th DII in home run rate (0.29) and 10th NSIC & 49th DII in slugging (.719) ... senior Eric Fasnacht is ninth NSIC and 76th DII in doubles per game (0.39) ... senior Alex LaPorte is second NSIC and 46th DII in sacrifice bunts per game (0.22) and he is the 14th toughest NSIC player to strikeout (10.8 AB/SO), ranking 179th in DII

GOLDEN BEAR PITCHERS IN NCAA/NSIC RANKINGS (soucre: NCAA.com, games thru 4/10)
Junior Kevin Woebke ranks fourth NSIC & 143rd NCAA in earned run average (2.88) and fourth NSIC & 109th NCAA in fewest hits (7.56 per 9) ... senior Yuji Suzuki is second NSIC and 51st NCAA in saves (4) ... senior Zach Rengel is sixth NSIC & 101st NCAA in strikeouts (9.47 per 9) ... freshman Gus Varland is 10th NSIC and 194th NCAA in strikeout-walk ratio (3.14).

SERIES HISTORY VS ST. CLOUD STATE
Concordia is 10-22-1 all-time against SCSU dating back to 2002, and has fared better on the road at SCSU with a 5-7 road record but a current six game road losing streak, last beating SCSU in St. Cloud April 11, 2010 ... SCSU has captured wins in seven of the last eight in the series including last year's sweep 7-3 and 15-1 at Barnes Field when the Huskies were ranked #7 in the country ... SCSU has been nationally ranked in the top-20 for the last 16 meetings between the two teams with Concordia winning two of those contests.

ABOUT THE HUSKIES
The Huskies opened the year 23-0 overall and 8-0 in the Northern Sun before falling 3-1 in game two of a four game series to Upper Iowa last weekend at Faber Field. The Huskies scored 19, 13 and 14 runs in the other three games to take the series. Of SCSU's 25 wins, only nine have been by four runs or less and the Huskies have rolled to 10-plus run margins in 10 of their victories.

Expect SCSU to start their top two pitchers, sophomore Sheldon Miks and senior Reese Gregory in the doubleheader as the duo has been lined up for mid-week conference starts throughout the early part of the year. Miks pitched one inning for a save over the weekend while Gregory did not appear on the mound. Miks is 6-0 with a 0.78 ERA in eight appearances (five stats) with 47 strikeouts to just three walks in 46.1 innings while limiting opponents to a .202 average with a 0.78 WHIP. Gregory, the reigning Division II Pitcher of the Year carries a 3-0 record in four starts with a 2.35 ERA in 23.0 innings with a 32-7 strikeout-walk ratio and a 1.22 WHIP, holding opponents to a .241 average.

Gregory is also a rare two-way player, capturing NSIC Player of the Week honors last week as he hit .579 with 11 RBI, three doubles and five home runs as SCSU went 4-1 on the week. He carries a .432/.455/.914 slash with nine doubles, 10 home runs and 34 RBI in 24 starts in the lineup. Karl Sorensen leads the club regulars in hitting at .436 with a .491/.762 on base and slugging with nine doubles, three triples and six home runs along with a team high 39 RBI. The Huskies' lineup features five regulars and a platoon starter hitting .400 or better and two others hitting at least .337.

PLAYER NOTES VS SCSU
Connor Olson had a solid debut against SCSU last year, hitting .714 (5-7) in the doubleheader including a four-hit game (4-4) ... Eric Fasnacht is a career .240 (6-25) hitter against the Huskies with a pair of runs, a double and an RBI with a .974 fielding percentage, committing just one error in eight games. Last year, Fasnacht was 3-5 with a double, a run and an RBI in the doubleheader ... Ryan Poppitz has played and started against SCSU in nine career games, hitting .200 (5-25) with a pair of doubles, a run and an RBI ... Andrew Shotwell went 1-4 with a run and a walk with a perfect fielding percentage in 14 chances in last year's doubleheader ... Adam Hildebrandt went 1-3, playing in one of the two games last season ...

PITCHER NOTES VS SCSU
Zach Rengel has made one career start against SCSU in his sophomore season of 2014, working to a 3.60 ERA in 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts while taking a loss ... Yuji Suzuki has one career appearance against SCSU, working 2.0 perfect relief innings as a sophomore in 2014, striking out one ... Erick Kivi has faced the Huskies once last season, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings allowing a pair of singles to a .250 average with two strikeouts and no walks ...

COMEBACK KIDS MOUNT ANOTHER LATE INNING "W"
The Golden Bears have trailed in nine of their 15 wins during their 15-3 start to the season, below is a game-by-game quick look at the comeback wins:
Date, Opponent, Final Score, Deficit(s), Notable Performances
 - 3/4 G2 vs Malone, 8-4 win, trailed 2-0 after 4 & 4-2 after 5, Tanner Holmquist tying 2-run HR t-6th, Eric Fasnacht3-run 2B t-6th, Josh Lenz 2 IP scoreless for save
 - 3/5 G1 vs SMSU, 16-11 win, trailed 4-1 after 3 & 11-4 in B-5th, 5-run 5th & 7-run 6th for 12-straight runs, Adam Hildebrandt go-ahead 3-run 3B in B-6th, Jake Kounkel 1.2 IP, 4 SO, 0 ER for relief win
 - 3/5 G2 vs SMSU, 13-9 win, trailed 3-1 after 3 & 4-2 after 4, 4-run 5th & 7-run 6th for 13-5 lead, 2-out error in 5th scores go-ahead run, Ben Suits 2-run 1B & Connor Olson 2-run 2B in 6th to extend lead, Gus Varland 6 IP, 6 SO for first career win
 - 3/13 G2 at Augie, 4-3 win, trailed 2-1 after 3, Ben Suits game-tying solo HR in 4th, Alex LaPorte go-ahead RBI 1B in 9th, Kevin Woebke ND, 7.0 IP, 9 SO, 2 ER, Keanu Mendez relief win & Yuji Suzuki save
  - 3/25 G1 vs BSU, 10-8 win, trailed 7-1 in B-3rd, 5 HR scores 9 runs in B-3rd for 10-7 lead, Cole Kirchoff go-ahead 2-run HR B-3rd, Josh Lenz 4.0 shutout IP for relief win
 - 3/25 G2 vs BSU, 4-3 win, trailed 2-0 after 3 & 3-2 after 6, Connor Olson GW 2-run HR with 2 outs in B-7th, Keanu Mendez 4.0 scoreless IP, allowing 1 hit with 7 SO for relief win
 - 3/26 G1 vs BSU, 11-7 win, trailed 4-0 after t-1st & 4-3 after 2, game tied 6-6 B-4th, Tanner Holmquist go-ahead 3-run HR B-4th (2nd HR of game), Jake Kounkel 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 SO for save
 - 3/26 G2 vs BSU, 4-3 win, trailed 3-0 after 4 & 3-1 after 6, Isaac Hormann tying 2-run 2B B-7th (2 outs) & Ben SuitsGW solo HR B-8th, Kevin Woebke ND 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 SO, Josh Lenz 1.0 IP relief win, Yuji Suzuki 1-2-3 9th for save
 - 4/6 G1 vs WSC, 9-4 win, trailed 4-2 in B-5th, Tanner Holmquist tying RBI single, Ben Suits go-ahead RBI single,Adam Hildebrandt and Connor Olson 2-2 in the inning, Josh Lenz 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 SO for relief win

NSIC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK IN 2016
The Golden Bears secured NSIC Player and Pitcher of the Week in consecutive weeks in the first two weekends of the season, starting with catcher/DH Connor Olson (3/7) followed by LHP Kody Knaus (3/14) ... Knaus picked up a road win at Augustana on Sunday, going the distance (7.0) allowing an unearned run on five singles and a walk with seven strikeouts to move to 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA ... he held a strong Augustana offense to a .185 average with no extra base hits and is now 6-2 with a 3.61 ERA in 62.1 innings in two seasons as a Golden Bear ... last week, Olson earned the nod by hitting .563/.682/.875 (9-16) in five games as Concordia went 5-0 on its spring trip to Tucson ... Olson mashed five doubles, scored and drove in 10 runs each and threw out a pair of baserunners in two attempted steals while hitting safely in all five games.