ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (9-7, 3-1 NSIC) has moved this weekend's series with Minot State (6-3, 3-1 NSIC) to Sunday and Monday. Sunday's doubleheader will start at noon at Veterans Field in Minnetonka while Monday's doubleheader will start at noon at Bob Barnes Field.
 
With an uncertain weather forecast for the weekend, the decision was made to push the series back a day. The Golden Bears will be making the trip west to Minnetonka High School on Sunday for their third consecutive home date while Monday represents the team's opener on their home field. As of Wednesday, the temperatures are predicted to be in the mid-40's with a chance of rain on both Sunday and Monday. Webcast is scheduled for both days, dependent on weather.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Concordia opened the NSIC season with a series win over Southwest Minnesota State. The two teams split on Saturday before CSP picked up the doubleheader sweep on Sunday.
 
In the opener, Gus Varland threw the first no-hitter in the history of the DII-era at CSP, walking a pair and striking out 14 in 7.0 innings, falling just two strikeouts short of the program record. In game four, Connor Olson hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning as he finished the weekend with six hits, including a double and the grand slam.
 
CSP outscored SMSU 24-7 and out-hit the Mustangs 44-18 as the Golden Bears finished with a .341 team batting average in the four-game series. The CSP pitching staff held the Mustangs to a .158 average (18-114) with a 1.64 ERA while striking out 39 in 33.0 innings of work in the four games and had four pitchers throw six or more innings and allow two or less runs. CSP had six starters hit .333 or better as all six finished with at least five hits on the weekend, led by Isaac Hormann and Tanner Holmquist's seven apiece.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter the weekend series with just five previous meetings with the Beavers. In those meetings, CSP has gone 4-1 overall and 2-0 in NSIC play. Concordia had won the first four meetings until Minot State grabbed their first win in the series earlier this season.
 
LAST MEETING
Back on March 9th at US Bank Stadium, the Beavers handed the Golden Bears a 4-0 loss in the first game of the day.
 
After a blistering finish to the trip to Arizona offensively, the Golden Bear bats were slowed down in a big way in game one by Minot State starter Jeremy Sylvester.
 
Sylvester came within a pair of outs of picking up the complete game shutout before departing with an injury as he held CSP to five hits while striking out five in his 8.1 innings of work. Justin Demary finished off the shutout with two strikeouts to end the game.
 
The Golden Bears got a solid start of their own as Keanu Mendez took a tough luck loss, working 8.0+ innings in the start. Mendez struck out 10 while walking none as he gave up four runs on nine hits.
 
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Minot State enters the weekend riding high after winning six of their first nine games to begin the season. The Beavers carried a five-game winning streak into game four this past weekend before Wayne State grabbed a win to avoid the sweep.
 
The duo of Michael Borst and Jordan Schulz has been impressive offensively so far with Borst hitting .514 and Schulz hitting .455 through nine games. Borst has homered and driven in 12 while Schulz has collected five extra base hits, including a homer, on the year.
 
Tanner Alexander leads the team in innings pitched (19.1) and strikeouts (19) while registering a 5.12 ERA and .237 opponent average in three starts. Justin Demary (3.78 ERA) and Kendal Daniels (13.50 ERA) have each made a pair of starts as well.
 
NSIC RANKINGS
On the mound, the Golden Bears have been one of the best teams in the league in limiting opposing hitters as they head into the weekend with an opponent average of .255, third-best in the NSIC, as well as 124 strikeouts, also third-best in the conference.
 
It's been something of a group effort as CSP currently has three of the top-15 pitchers in opponent batting average in the NSIC. Gus Varland leads the way in fifth (.170 opponents average) while Connor Hurley ranks seventh (.177) and Josh Lenz ranks 15^th (.226). Varland also ranks near the top in several other categories as he leads the league in strikeouts (35), ranks second in innings pitched (25.0) and wins (3) and sits in ninth in ERA (1.80). Kevin Woebke also ranks third in innings pitched (24.0) and eighth in strikeouts (21) while Lenz ranks 12^th in ERA (2.12) and Keanu Mendez ranks 12^th in strikeouts (19).
 
Offensively, Carter Schmidt and Steven Nessler both rank inside the top-20 in batting average as Schmidt is 16^th at .404 and Nessler is 19^th at .387. Ben Suits, meanwhile, leads the team in on-base percentage at .486, 19^th-best in the NSIC. In addition Isaac Hormann ranks third in hits (23) and 14^th in runs (13) while Schmidt ranks sixth in hits (21) and sixth in RBI (15).