ST. PAUL, Minn. - This weekend, Concordia-St. Paul baseball (16-4, 9-2 NSIC) takes it hot start to the road against Minnesota Duluth (17-9, 10-4 NSIC) for a four game Northern Sun series between the third and fifth place teams in the league standings. Saturday's games start at 1:30 p.m. with first pitch on Sunday at noon at Bulldog Park in UMD's first home games of 2016.

ONLINE COVERAGE
The games will be available to follow online with a video webcast and live stats fed through the teams' video portal hosted by Stretch Internet.

WEATHER FORECAST
Saturday's high is 63 degrees (low 48) with a partly cloudy sky and slight winds of nine miles per hour from the southeast and a 10 percent chance of rain. On Sunday, the temperatures are projected to reach 66 (low 37) under mostly cloudy conditions and winds once again low at 10 miles per hour (SSW) and a 20 percent chance of rain.

HISTORIC START
The Golden Bears are off to a 9-2 start to NSIC play after starting 9-1 for the first time under 17th-year head coach Mark "Lunch" McKenzie ... the 2005 team started off the NSIC season 10-2 through 12 games en route to a 15-3 NSIC start and 17-5 NSIC finish and the 2003 team started NSIC play 13-2 en route to a 14-4 league record ... the 2016 team's 16-3 overall start matched McKenzie's tenure-best start through 19 games, tying the 2009 season that went on to win a school record 35 overall games (35-18) and those are the only two seasons that also started 16-4 through 20 games.

Concordia is in third place in the Northern Sun at 9-2 (.818), trailing Augustana (11-1, .917) by 1.5 games and top-ranked St. Cloud State (11-2, .846) by 1.0 game. Concordia is ahead of Minnesota Crookston (8-3, .727) 1.0 game and Minnesota Duluth (10-4, .714) by 1.5 games. The top eight teams make the NSIC Tournament with the current cut-off mark being eighth place Winona State (7-8, .467).

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. UMD is currently eighth in the poll for the second consecutive week, breaking into the poll at the eight spot two weeks ago for the first time this season.

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.

GOLDEN BEARS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS (source: NCAA.com, games thru 4/14)
Built on a strong defensive foundation for four seasons, Concordia is currently fifth in the country and leads the conference with a .975 fielding percentage ... the offensive production is also clicking, with Concordia ranked 18th nationally (3rd NSIC) in home runs per game (1.30) and 39th in DII (7th NSIC) in slugging (.496) ... on the mound, the Golden Bear hurlers have combined to ranked 51st in Division II (4th NSIC) in strikeouts (8.2 per 9) and 60th in the country (2nd NSIC) in strikeout-walk ratio (2.24). Concordia's pitchers also ranked fourth in the NSIC in ERA (4.94), hits allowed (10.65 per 9) and WHIP (1.59) while ranking fifth in walks (3.65 per 9).

GOLDEN BEARS IN NCAA/NSIC RANKINGS (source: NCAA.com, games thru 4/14)
Connor Olson ranks: 0.50 2B per game (12th NCAA / 1st NSIC) ... .811 slugging (14th NCAA / 4th NSIC) ... 1.30 RBI per game (22nd NCAA / 6th NSIC) ... 0.35 HR per game (22nd NCAA / 7th NSIC) ... 1.15 R per game (89th NCAA / 12th NSIC) ... .392 average (136th NCAA / 25th NSIC) ... 7 HR total (134th NCAA / 8th NSIC)

Tanner Holmquist ranks: 0.39 HR per game (12th NCAA / 3rd NSIC) ... .672 slugging (85th NCAA / 13th NSIC) ... 7 HR total (134th NCAA / 8th NSIC) ... 1.00 RBI per game (166th NCAA / 18th NSIC)

Alex LaPorte ranks: 0.20 SAC per game (61st NCAA / 3rd NSIC) ... 12.0 AB/SO (128th NCAA / 10th NSIC) ... .383 average (176th NCAA / 27th NSIC) ... 4 SAC total (195th NCAA / 4th NSIC)

Ben Suits ranks: 0.26 HR per game (83rd NCAA / 12th NSIC) ... .656 slugging (103rd NCAA / 19th NSIC)

Eric Fasnacht ranks: 0.35 2B per game (153rd NCAA / 18th NSIC)

Kevin Woebke ranks: 2.84 ERA (133rd NCAA / 4th NSIC) ... 7.46 H per 9 (101st NCAA / 5th NSIC) ... 1.26 WHIP (197th NCAA / 6th NSIC)

Yuji Suzuki ranks: 4 saves (56th NCAA / 2nd NSIC)

Gus Varland ranks: 3.14 SO-BB ratio (198th NCAA / 11th NSIC)

SERIES HISTORY VS UMD
Concordia heads to Minnesota Duluth with an 18-22 record against the Bulldogs including 6-10 in Duluth ... UMD took three of four from CSP last year in Minnetonka, winning the final three of the series ... in Concordia's last trip to UMD in 2012, the teams split with CSP winning game two ... the Golden Bears are 2-4 against UMD in the careers of the current Golden Bear four year seniors, splitting a mid-week doubleheader in Mauston, Wisconsin in 2014 before dropping three of four last year in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

PLAYER NOTES VS UMD
Andrew Shotwell had a big series against UMD, playing and starting all four games with a .500/.538/.750 (6-12) weekend, scoring two runs, hitting a home run and driving in three ... Eric Fasnacht is a career .318/.318/.591 (7-22) hitter against UMD with six runs, two doubles, two triples and three RBI in six games. Last year, he hit .308/.308/.538 (4-13) with four runs, a double and a triple with an RBI in the four game series ... Connor Olson is a .385/.429/.462 (5-13) hitter against UMD, hitting a double with three RBI in last year's four game series ... Alex LaPorte is a .294/.333/.294 (5-17) hitter against UMD in six games (five starts) with a run and four RBI. Last year, he hit .250 (3-12) in four games while in 2014 he hit .400 (2-5) with four RBI starting one of the two games he played ... Ryan Poppitz hits .261/.261/.304 (6-23) against UMD with two runs and a double in six games ... David Henke has played in three games against UMD, hitting .250/.333/.250 (2-8) with two RBI. Last year in two games, Henke hit .400 (2-5) with two RBI ... Cole Peterson played in three of the four games last year, starting two while hitting .375/.444/.375 (3-8) with a walk and an RBI ... Alex Eernisse had a pair of at bats in one game against UMD last year, driving in a run ... Bram Minser went 0-1 with an RBI in one game last year

PITCHER NOTES VS UMD
Zach Rengel won last year's series opener with a complete game allowing a run on five hits and 11 strikeouts to no walks for a 1.29 ERA and .200 opponent average and 0.71 WHIP ... Yuji Suzuki has faced the bulldogs twice, working a complete game for a win in 2014, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks (2.57 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, .200 oav) in 7.0 innings. Last year, Suzuki worked 4.0 innings in relief, allowing five runs on just three hits with two strikeouts and five walks. In the two appearances, Suzuki has a 5.73 ERA, a 1-1 record and 1.18 WHIP while allowing just eight hits and a .195 opponent average ... Kevin Woebke has faced UMD twice, striking out 18 Bulldogs wiht just three walks in 11.1 innings but to a 9.53 ERA and 1.94 WHIP. He had a 7.0 inning no decision in 2014, allowing four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. In 2015, Woebke struck out the Bulldogs 11 times in 13 outs (4.1 IP), allowing eight runs on 11 hits with one walk ... Kody Knaus has made one start against UMD, taking a loss working 6.0 innings while allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk (1.33 WHIP) with four strikeouts ... Josh Lenz has made a relief appearance each of the last two years against UMD, working 0.2 perfect innings in 2014 before allowing two runs on two hits and two walks in 1.0 innning last year. In the two appearances, Lenz has a 10.80 ERA in 1.2 innings ... Tyler Schmitz worked 2.2 relief innings in one appearance last year, allowing three runs on three hits with a strong 1.12 WHIP and .250 average against ... Patrick Courtney made one relief appearance against UMD in 2015, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts and no walks in 2.0 IP for a 4.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
UMD is led by the top power hitter in the country as Alex Wojciechowski leads the nation in home run rate, slugging a school record 17 in 26 games (0.65/game) and is just one total home run shy of Emporia State's Evan Koehler with 18. He also leads the country in RBI per game with 2.08 (54 total) and in slugging at 1.036 while hitting .450 with a .504 on base percentage. The .500-plus OBP is not even leading UMD's squad, though as the Bulldogs have four players getting on base at a .500 or better clip. In fact, five Bulldogs are hitting .410 or better and seven Bulldogs have a .463 or higher on base percentage (among qualified for NCAA leaders, min. 3.0 PA/team game).

Wojciechowski has 37 home runs entering the weekend, three short of UMD's career record and is third in team history with 225 hits.

As a team, UMD's offensive numbers are staggering, ranked second in the nation in slugging (.607) and third in the country in hitting (.363), on base (.454) and home runs (1.77/game, 46 total) while scoring the seventh most runs per contest (9.4).

While UMD is in contention for the nation's top offense with Concordia's Wednesday split St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs' pitching staff does not compare to that of the top ranked Huskies. UMD's staff has a 6.69 ERA, ranking 201 of 254 teams in the country, allowing 11.47 hits per 9 innings (234th), a 1.6 strikeout-walk ratio (167th) and a 1.81 team WHIP (203rd) while issuing 4.82 walks per 9 innings (201st). The defense also ranks 234th of 254 with a .937 team mark.

UMD had a rough open to the season, dropping three of four in-region games at Pittsburg State in late February including a pair of 1-run losses before rebounding to a 6-2 spring trip to Auburndale, Florida at the RussMatt Central Florida Invite. UMD opened NSIC play by winning three of four at Minnesota State before a four game split at Winona State. Last weekend, the Bulldogs took three of four at Sioux Falls including scoring 48 runs on the first day of the series in 14 innings. On Wednesday, UMD swept SMSU in Marshall. Since the 1-3 start, UMD is 16-6 including a 10-4 NSIC record. The Bulldogs have generated 10-plus runs 10 times on the year.

COMEBACK KIDS HAVE TRAILED IN 10 OF 16 WINS
The Golden Bears have trailed in 10 of their 16 wins during their 16-4 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
 - 4/13 G1 at SCSU, 7-5 win, trailed 1-0 after 2 & tied 3-3 after 5, 5-straight singles in 3-run 3rd, Connor Olson GW grand slam T-6th, Josh Lenz W in 1st start improves to 4-0, 6.2 IP, 5 ER, 3 SO, Kevin Woebke retires only batter for save

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.

MILESTONE WATCH
Senior Eric Fasnacht reached the 150 mark, the ninth player in program history to reach the milestone, he also is the program leader in career assists with 390 exclusively coming from the shortstop position and he's two doubles shy of cracking the top-10 and is third in career triples (9), three short of Bryan Lippincott's school record of 12 ... senior Alex LaPorte is the career record holder with 23 sacrifice bunts and is third with 65 career double plays turned from the keystone ... with 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings, junior Josh Lenz is currently ninth in program history in strikeout rate, recording 67 in 74.2 innings ... sophomore Connor Olson's .811 slugging percentage would currently rank third in a single season ... senior Zach Rengel's 3.60 career ERA currently ranks sixth in career history while he ranks fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.65) having surpassed the 150 strikeout milestone with 156 in 162.1 career innings, ranking eighth in career strikeouts and sixth in career games started (30) ... senior Yuji Suzuki is third in career saves with nine and fourth in games finished with 19 while having appeared in 34 total games with eight starts and he's seven outs shy of reaching 100 career innings and with back-to-back four save seasons in 2015 and 2016, Suzuki has two of Concordia's seven seasons of four or more saves in a year and is the second player to achieve the feat (Kirk Ingram, 2006 & 2009) ... junior Kevin Woebke is sixth in strikeout rate at 8.52 per nine innings with 100 in 105.2 innings in 21 appearances (18 starts).

STARTING PITCHING MATCHUPS
please note: Each team's projected pitching matchups are based on early season usage, as the teams do not announce starting pitching matchups before a series
GAME 1: SATURDAY, 1:30 PM
CSP: Zach Rengel (Sr., LHP): 2-1, 5.68 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 4 GS, 19.0 IP, 20-7 SO-BB, .304 oav
UMD: Bo Hellquist (Sr., LHP): 4-1, 5.40 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 5 GS, 26.2 IP, 30-12 SO-BB, .271 oav

GAME 2: SATURDAY, 3:30 PM (approx)
CSP: Gus Varland (Fr., RHP): 1-2, 6.04 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 4 GS, 25.1 IP, 22-7 SO-BB, .330 oav
UMD: Austin Vaske (Sr., RHP): 2-1, 8.72 ERA, 1.94 WHIP, 5 GS, 21.2 IP, 18-11 SO-BB, .307 oav

GAME 3: SUNDAY, 12:00 PM
CSP: Kody Knaus (Sr., LHP): 4-0, 3.91 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 4 GS, 23.0 IP, 17-8 SO-BB, .271 oav
UMD: Kevin Stocke (Jr., LHP): 1-1, 4.70 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 4 GS, 23.0 IP, 13-9 SO-BB, .295 oav

GAME 4: SUNDAY, 2:00 PM (approx)
CSP: Kevin Woebke (Jr., LHP): 1-0, 2.84 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 4 GS, 25.1 IP, 22-11 SO-BB, .231 oav
UMD: Marcus Frederickson (So., LHP): 1-1, 6.10 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4 GS, 20.2 IP, 15-5 SO-BB, .306 oav