(3:45 p.m.) ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The first round games of the 2016 NSIC Baseball Tournament have been delayed due to rain, with the tournament resuming on Thursday at 11 a.m. Further updates will be available instantly on Twitter @NorthernSunConf and @CUGoldenBears and also posted to the NSIC Tournament website.

This Thursday, fifth seed Concordia-St. Paul baseball (27-13) will embark on its postseason run, starting with fourth seed Minnesota State (33-14) in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament hosted by St. Cloud State at Dick Putz and Joe Faber Fields. Concordia and MSU will play on Thursday at 11 a.m. after Wednesday's games were postponed in full.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The Golden Bears and Mavericks will square off on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Dick Putz Field. The winner will play Friday at 10 a.m. at Faber Field against the 8 Sioux Falls / 1 Minnesota Duluth winner. The two losing teams will play again at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Faber Field, visit the official tournament website for updated game times throughout the tournament.

The tournament is a double elimination format, with the champion earning the NSIC's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament at a site to be determined following the announcement of the pairings this Sunday night. All contests are 9-inning games and the 10-run rule shall not be used in tournament competition. The higher seeded team (MSU) serves as the home team in the first round, with home/away alternating throughout the rest of the tournament.

All games will feature a live video webcast with live stats available in the same location on Concordia's GameCentral portal hosted by Stretch Internet. The video and live stats are courtesy of St. Cloud State athletics.

 

CSP	STAT	MSU
27-13	W-L	33-14
20-11	Conf	24-9
4-1	Last 5	5-0
8-2	Last 10	10-0
5W	Strk	10W
.299	Avg	.323
.375	Obp	.411
.490	Slg	.482
76	2B	74
6	3B	13
49	HR	47
15-20	SB-A	44-56
6.2	R/G	7.3
5.38	ERA	4.14
1.59	WHIP	1.43
7.8	K/9	8.4
3.8	BB/9	3.2
2.0	K-BB	2.6
.292	Oav	.272
40	opp HR	42
.964	Fld%	.963
28	DP	38
27-44	opp SB-A	37-50

TICKET INFORMATION
General Admission Adult Ticket: $10.00
All Session Pass: $30.00
General Admission Student and Senior Ticket: $5.00
Children under five years of age: Free

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia is making its ninth appearance in the NSIC Tournament, carrying two tournament championships into the event (2003, 2008). Concordia holds a 8-13 record in the conference tournament, appearing for the fourth year in a row. Concordia has not captured a postseason victory since winning the 2008 NSIC Tournament and earning its first NCAA Central Region Tournament appearance.

SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are 5-27 all-time against Minnesota State and 0-2 in postseason contests, last meeting in the playoffs in 2014 in Sioux Falls, a 17-5 MSU win. Concordia also fell to Minnesota State in an elimination game in the 2008 NCAA Central Region Tournament, 6-0 in Emporia, Kansas. The two teams have met 10 times at neutral sites, with Concordia holding a 2-8 record. Concordia's 2016 series finale win in Mankato earlier this year in April snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Mavericks in the series.

CSP & MSU SURGING INTO POSTSEASON
Concordia and Minnesota State is an intriguing first round matchup as the two teams just met in late April in a split series between St. Paul and Mankato. At the time, MSU entered the series rebounding from back-to-back losses against Augsutana (G2) and Upper Iowa (G1) with a 21-3 7-inning win over Upper Iowa (G2). The second game win over UIU started a stretch for the Mavericks that had the team finish the regular season with a 15-2 record in the final 17 games including a current 10-game winning streak. The 15 wins have come against Upper Iowa (1), Concordia (3), Northern State (1), Winona State (4), Wayne State (2) and Sioux Falls (4) with Concordia and Northern State handing their two losses.

Concordia rebounded from the first three games of the MSU series by ending the season strong as well. Concordia is 9-2 over the last 11 games, beating four different teams along the way: Minnesota State (1), Southwest Minnesota State (2), Sioux Falls (2) and Winona State (4) with a pair of 1-run extra inning losses to Sioux Falls the only blemish on the strong finish.

Concordia's four game and MSU's 10-game winning streaks are the longest active streaks in the Northern Sun entering postseason play.

SERIES BREAKDOWN: CSP vs MSU in 2016
The Mavericks topped the Golden Bears by scoring 14 runs in each of the first two games of the series played at Barnes Field in St. Paul on Saturday, April 23, with Concordia scoring seven in the first game before being shutout in game two. A rainy Sunday forced the series to be delayed and relocated to Mankato on Monday, with MSU winning the third game 8-3 before Concordia won the series finale 5-4 on sophomore Connor Olson's walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning with junior Jake Kounkel earning his second win of the season in relief.

In the series, five Golden Bears registered four hits apiece: Andrew Shotwell (4-10), Tanner Holmquist (4-11), Carter Schmidt (4-12), Connor Olson (4-14) and Eric Fasnacht (4-15). All four of Schmidt and Olson's hits went for extra bases as Schmidt had a pair of homers and doubles and led the team with five RBI while Olson had a double and three homers and drove in four runs while scoring a team-high four runs. They each slugged 1.000 against MSU pitching, while two of Shotwell's hits were doubles as he slugged .600. Fasnacht also delivered a home run in the series as Concordia hit 14 in the four games.

Minnesota State countered by hitting 12 home runs and slugging .696 as a team on the weekend.

Freshman right hander Gus Varland had the top pitching performance, working 6.0 quality innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Kounkel worked 3.0 innings, allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts and a walk in relief of Varland to pick up the win in his only appearance of the series. Kounkel was the only pitcher on the staff who did not surrender an MSU home run.

Looking inside the numbers, Concordia hit .146 (6-41) as a team with runners on base led by Isaac Hormann's 2-3 effort. With runners in scoring position, Concordia was just .208 (5-24) once again led by Hormann (2-3) and Carter Schmidt (2-3). The team only had a runner on third base and less than two outs three times in the series, cashing in runs in all three situations with Ryan Poppitz, Ben Suits and Schmidt converting their opportunites. The bases were only loaded two times in the entire series, once for each team with MSU getting a hit in their only chance while Concordia was unable to produce a hit.

The Golden Bears reached .367 (11-30) in leadoff situations and hit .279 (19-68) with the bases empty with Tanner Holmquist reaching 3-4 (.750) when leading off and hitting .500 (4-8) with the bases empty in the series. Andrew Shotwell also produced in those roles, reaching base 2-4 (.500) and hitting .500 (4-8), respectively.

The Mavericks were efficient, hitting .338 (24-71) with runners on base, .452 (19-42) with runners in scoring position and scoring eight runs in 12 attempts with a runner on third and less than two outs. MSU also hit .438 (28-64) with the bases empty and reached at a .500 (15-30) clip to start innings.

MSU was led by Josh Wenzel who hit .529 (9-17) with five runs, five RBI, two doubles and a home run while slugging .824. Eric Peterson hit .500 (7-14) with five runs, a double, a homer and six RBI while slugging .786. Kyle Toth led off for MSU and hit .421 (8-19) with eight runs, two doubles, two homers and an.842 slugging percentage. Luke Waldek added a pair of home runs and led MSU with seven RBI and Ryan Moffett only had three hits (3-14) on the weekend but all three cleared the fence, driving in five runs.

Jon Ludwig led the pitching staff with a 2-hit (7 IP) shutout with eight strikeouts in game two. Peter Gaustad led the bullpen with two appearances, covering 5.1 innings with a 3.38 ERA (2 ER), striking out seven with one walk and five hits allowed. Both Concordia runs against Gaustad came via the long ball, as he served up Olson's walk-off homer in the finale. Concordia also took Mitchell Bauer deep three times among the five hits against him in 4.0 innings, scoring six runs (five earned) against him in the series opener, although he'd pick up the victory with four strikeouts and a walk.

CONCORDIA HITTERS VS MSU
Connor Olson is a .259/.310/.741 (7-27) hitter against MSU, slugging four home runs and a double in eight games with six runs and nine RBI ... Andrew Shotwell hits .333/.440/.429 (7-21) against MSU with a pair of doubles, four runs scored and four walks in eight games ... Eric Fasnacht holds a .200/.243/.286 (7-35) career line in 11 games against the Mavericks, including a pair of runs, a homer and three RBI. He hit .267/.267/.467 (4-15) with a homer in the four game series in 2016 ... Carter Schmidt hit .333/.333/1.000 (4-12) with a pair of home runs and a pair of doubles making up his four hits, driving in five and scoring twice in the 2016 four game series ... Tanner Holmquist hit .364/.417/.364 (4-11) in the 2016 four game series ...

CONCORDIA PITCHERS VS MSU
Josh Lenz has made two appearances (one start) against MSU without a decision with a 4.50 ERA, allowing five runs (two earned) in 4.0 innings on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He's only allowed one extra base hit to MSU, a double in his first appearance against the Mavericks as a freshman in 2014. Last year, Lenz started and went the first 3.0 innings, allowing two earned runs with three strikeouts. He did not face MSU this year ... Zach Rengel is 0-3 in three starts against MSU with a 7.90 ERA, but was excellent as a junior in 2015, holding MSU to a run on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 6.1 innings in a complete game loss ... Yuji Suzuki has faced MSU twice with a 0-1 record in two relief appearances, once each of the last two years. He took the loss in 2015 as a junior but worked 4.0 innings allowing just a run to MSU on seven hits with one walk. Combined, he holds a 7.20 ERA in 5.0 innings against MSU ... Jake Kounkel has a pair of relief appearances against MSU in 2014 & 2016, working to an 8.10 ERA with a 1-0 record in 3.1 innings. He picked up the win recently in his junior 2016 season, pitching 3.0 innings allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts ... Gus Varland picked up a quality start in a no decision in his debut against MSU this year, allowing three runs in 6.0 innings on eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts in a game that Concordia would win in the ninth inning.

INSIDE THE REGIONAL RANKINGS & POLLS
The NCAA has released two weekly Central Region Rankings, listing the top-10 teams in the region that consists of 15 Northern Sun (NSIC), 14 Mid-America (MIAA) and 12 Great American (GAC) conference baseball teams. Eight teams will make the NCAA Central Region Tournament, including automatic bids from the NSIC, MIAA and GAC tournament champions with five at-large selections based on the regional criteria. The final NCAA Region Rankings will be released on Wednesday afternoon while regional selections will be announced on Sunday night at NCAA.com.

The NCBWA Region Poll is comprised of baseball sports information directors in the Central Region, and does not have a formal statistical criteria and is a subjective opinion of the voters. The NCBWA does not influence the NCAA Regional Rankings and is not part of the region tournament selection criteria. The Golden Bears were ranked either sixth or seventh for six consecutive weeks in March and into April.
 

5/4 NCAA	5/9 NCBWA	TEAM (CONF)	DII-Rec	In-Reg	4/27 NCAA	5/2 NCBWA
1	t1	St. Cloud State (NSIC)	27-6	23-6	1	1
2	3	Minnesota Duluth (NSIC)	33-9	29-8	3	2
3	t1	Central Missouri (MIAA)	31-12	31-12	9	3
4	7	Southwestern Oklahoma (GAC)	29-12	29-12	7	7
5	5	Augustana (NSIC)	32-12	32-12	6	6
6	8	Minnesota State (NSIC)	26-14	22-10	8	RV
7	4	Arkansas-Monticello (GAC)	30-13	30-13	4	4
8	10	Washburn (MIAA)	31-15	31-15	5	5
9	9	Missouri Western State (MIAA)	31-16	31-16	2	9
10	6	Emporia State (MIAA)	33-14	33-14	10	8

#6 ERIC FASNACHT - NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK (5/9)
2015 All-Region Second Team | 2015 All-NSIC Second Team | 2015 NSIC All-Tournament
Senior shortstop Eric Fasnacht was named the NSIC Player of the Week, leading the Golden Bears to a 4-game road sweep of Winona State. He started the weekend by hitting for the cycle in his first four at bats by the fifth inning of the first game. He homered in each game of the first day of the series and added a two homer game in the series finale for a four homer weekend. He hit .474/.500/1.316 (9-19) for the weekend, driving in 13 and scoring nine runs while adding two doubles and a triple to his four home runs. He touched 25 total bases and compiled a 1.816 OPS in the series.

On the year, he's hitting .328/.392/.581 (48-148) with 10 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 33 RBI, 36 runs and five stolen bases in 38 games.

As a four year starting shortstop, Fasnacht's bat isn't the most impressive part of his game as he is Concordia's career leader in assists (435) and double plays (93). Offensively, he ranks third in career triples (10), sixth in hits (175), eighth in RBI (101) and tied for eighth in doubles (31) while adding 17 home runs, 108 runs and 13-16 stolen bases. He has a career .328/.392/.519 (175-534) slash line in 154 games played (153 starts).

Fasnacht was an All-NSIC Second Team Shortstop, an All-Central Region Second Team shortstop and an NSIC All-Tournament selection in 2015 as a junior.

#21 CONNOR OLSON - NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK (3/7)
2016 All-NSIC First Team
Sophomore catcher Connor Olson opened the year on a tear and hasn't stopped hitting since. He opened the year by hitting .583/.682/.875 (9-16) with five doubles, three walks, three HBP to lead Concordia to a 5-0 spring trip record to Tucson, Arizona. He also drove in and scored 10 runs in the five games to set the tone for his sophomore season. He heads into the postseason hitting .353/.419/.733 with 15 doubles, 14 homers, 40 runs and 38 RBI in 40 games splitting time between catching and DH.

He's among the best hitters in the NSIC and at a premium defensive position, ranking sixth in the league overall in slugging (.733) and home runs (14), 13th in doubles (15), 15th in total bases (110) and has only allowed 19 stolen bases on the year.

His 14 total home runs rank 37th in Division II, but his home run rate (0.35/game) ranks 22nd while he's 27th in the country in slugging percentage.

#36 KODY KNAUS - NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK (3/14)
In the second week of Concordia's season, senior southpaw Kody Knaus secured NSIC Pitcher of the Week honors as he shut down a nationally strong Augustana offense to just five singles and a .185 average with a 0.00 ERA allowing one unearned run in a complete game 2-1 victory on the road. He added seven strikeouts to one walk in 7.0 innings and had a 0.86 WHIP in the game. The shutdown performance is even more impressive in hindsight as Augie is fourth in the country in hitting (.357) and slugging (.557), 13th in OBP (.422), third in runs (465), second in doubles (126) and 17th in home runs (64).

On the year, Knaus went 5-1 in eight starts (four complete games & one shutout) with a 4.40 ERA in 43.0 innings, holding opponents to a .294 batting average while issuing just 10 walks. He ranks eighth in the NSIC with a 4.40 ERA, 14th in opponent average, is in the top-5 in fewest hits (50, 2nd), walks (10, 3rd), doubles (8, 3rd), triples (0, 1st) and home runs (2, 1st).

In his career, Knaus is 9-3 in 18 appearances (16 starts) with six complete games, a shutout and a save. He has a 4.15 career ERA in 93.1 innings with a .284 opponent average and just six home runs allowed.

#21 JOSH LENZ - NSIC WINS LEADER
With the team tying a program record with 20 NSIC victores, junior left hander Josh Lenz was the winning pitcher in seven of those contests. His 7-1 conference record made him the NSIC wins leader in league play despite Concordia playing 31 of its scheduled 36 games. He also ranked fifth in league play with a .244 opponent batting average (31-127) against, 10th in ERA (3.94) and in the top-5 in fewest hits allowed (31, 3rd), doubles (4, 4th) and in the top-20 in walks (9, 11th), triples (1, t-19) and home runs (4, 12th). In leauge play, Lenz accomplished this feat while starting just three of the 10 games he appeared in and also registered a save in 32.0 total innings with 27 strikeouts and a 27-9 SO-BB ratio.

Overall on the year, Lenz is 7-1 with two saves and a 3.89 ERA in 37.0 innings in 12 appearances (3 starts). He holds a 33-12 SO-BB ratio and has limited opponents to a .245 average.

In his three years, Lenz is 11-2 with three saves among his 30 appearances and 10 starts with a 4.15 ERA in 91.0 innings, 83 strikeouts and a .241 career opponent average.

#9 KEVIN WOEBKE - AMONG NSIC LEADERS
Junior left handed starting pitcher Kevin Woebke has been among the league leaders most of the season in a number categories. Entering postseason, Woebke ranks 13th in ERA (4.89) and opponent average (.288) and is second in the conference with seven pickoffs. He's also among the league leaders in fewest hits (51, 3rd) and doubles (11, 14th).

On the year, he's 2-2 with a save and a 4.89 ERA in nine appearances (eight starts) in a career-high 46.0 innings. He's struck out 32 and held opponents to a .288 average.

As a three year starting pitcher, Woebke is 9-8 in 25 appearances (22 starts) with two saves and a 4.99 ERA in 126.1 innings with 110 strikeouts and a .293 opponent average with three complete game shutouts to his credit.

His career 7.84 strikeouts per nine innings ranks ninth in program history and he holds the documented record with 10 career pickoffs with his seven as a junior a single season record.

#35 ZACH RENGEL - FOURTH YEAR ROTATION LEADER
Senior lefty Zach Rengel is a fourth year mainstay in the starting rotation, tabbed with starting game one of weekend series' as a senior. He's 3-3 in eight starts including a pair of complete games and one shutout on the season. He holds an 8.35 season ERA but in a year where offense has been inflated around the league, Rengel has kept opponents under the .300 mark at .299 in 36.2 innings. He also has nearly a strikeout per inning with 35.

As a Golden Bear, Rengel holds a 14-13 career record in 36 appearances (34 starts) with eight complete games. In 180.0 innings, he's struck out 171 batters and held opponents to a .262 career average against while 810 batters have stepped to the plate against him, only 15 have left the yard.

He's fifth on the career list in strikeouts per nine innings (8.55), fifth in games started (34), sixth in total strikeouts (171), 10th in innings pitched (180.0) and 10th in wins (14).

ROUNDING OUT THE ROTATION WITH FRESHMEN
True freshman Gus Varland and redshirt freshman Keanu Mendez round out the starting rotation for Concordia. Varland has pitched on weekends while Mendez has been a swing man between mid-week starts and key long relief innings. Varland enters postseason 1-3 with a 5.60 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts), striking out 39 in 45.0 innings. He's coming off his best start, working 7.0 shutout innings allowing five singles and a walk in with nine strikeouts in a no decision. He's pitched at least five innings in all seven starts and struck out at least four in six of the seven starts.

Mendez holds a 5-1 record with a 3.69 ERA in eight appearances (five starts) while in two of his three relief appearances he's pitched at least four innings. He's struck out at least five batters in four of his eight appearances and in each of his last two. He's recorded 30 strikeouts in 31.2 innings and held opponents to a .235 average with just one home run and three doubles allowed.

BULLPEN COMMITTEE
The Golden Bear relief corps has saved 11 of the team's 27 wins this year, coming from five different pitchers. Senior Yuji Suzuki leads the team with four saves in his 11 appearances although he started the season finale and worked 5.0 innings on Saturday at Winona State. He holds a 1-0 record with a 5.75 ERA, striking out 17 in 20.1 innings with a .234 opponent average. Senior Tyler Schmitz has collected three saves and finished nine of the 10 games he's appeared in strictly in relief. In 16.1 innings, Schmitz has an impressive 11-1 strikeout-walk ratio and has held opponents to a .284 average pitching to a 7.16 ERA. Junior Jake Kounkel leads the team in ERA at 3.66 in 19.2 innings, striking out an impressive 27 batters with a 27-9 strikeout-walk ratio. he's 2-1 with a save in nine relief appearances, allowing just two extra base hits (1 2B, 1 HR) in 81 opponent at bats. The other saves come from the aforementioned Lenz (2) and Woebke (1).