ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (16-10, 10-4 NSIC) will close out a 12-game road trip this week with a Wednesday doubleheader at Minnesota State (19-4, 14-0 NSIC) before heading north for a weekend series with St. Cloud State (19-7, 10-4 NSIC).
The Golden Bears will put their seven-game winning streak to the test against some of the top competition in the NSIC. Entering the weekend, the Mavericks hold a two-game lead atop the league standings while the Huskies sit four games back in a tie for third with CSP.
First pitch on Wednesday is set for 1:30 p.m. while Saturday is set for 1 p.m. and Sunday is set for noon.
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia put together a solid week with a sweep of Bemidji State on Thursday before taking four from Minnesota Crookston for the weekend.
In the six-game stretch, CSP slashed .310/.388/.414 compared to .189/.263/.243 for their opponents on the week. On the mound, Concordia's pitching staff combined for a 2.49 ERA with 58 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 47.0 innings as they allowed more than four runs in just one of the six games. The pitching results were solid across the board as none of Concordia's nine pitchers that pitched throughout the week allowed more than two earned runs.
Isaac Hormann put up an impressive .391/.462/.565 slash line by going 9-23 with a homer, three walks and seven RBIs for the week as he was one of five CSP starters to hit .321 or better in the six games.
MSU SERIES HISTORY
Despite winning just 6 of 33 all-time meetings with the Mavericks, Concordia enters Wednesday's doubleheader having won the last two contests with MSU. CSP's two wins to close out last season snapped a 10 game winning streak for the Mavericks as Minnesota State had won 22 of the previous 24 meetings dating back to 2008. In 14 games in Mankato, CSP has gone 3-11.
LAST MEETING WITH THE MAVERICKS
In the opening round of last season's NSIC Tournament, the Golden Bears knocked off Minnesota State 8-4 before eventually advancing to the NSIC Championship game.
In the win, Concordia snapped a six game NSIC Tournament losing streak and an eight game playoff losing streak including the two 2008 NCAA Central Region Tournament loss. Among those eight playoff losses in a row, two were at the hands of MSU.
Kody Knaus picked up the win, improving to 6-1 as he allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 7.0 innings.
Connor Olson went 2-5 from the top of the lineup while
Tanner Holmquist scored a pair of runs from the cleanup spot.
SCSU SERIES HISTORY
Heading into the weekend, CSP holds a record of 12-26-1 against the Huskies in 39 previous meetings. The Golden Bears found success early in the series history as they went 8-7-1 from 2002-2010, but SCSU has claimed wins in 19 of the last 23 meetings since then. Concordia holds a record of 6-10 in 16 games played in St. Cloud, including one win in four tries last season.
LAST MEETING WITH THE HUSKIES
Back on Feb. 27 at US Bank Stadium, the Golden Bears opened the season with a split against St. Cloud State, winning game one 3-1 and dropping game two 7-2.
Carter Schmidt paced team with three hits in six at-bats while
Isaac Hormann doubled twice and drove in a run.
Ben Suits also had a pair of hits as well.
The opener was a battle of one of the top starters in Sheldon Miks against an emerging hurler in
Gus Varland. Varland got the best of the battle as he worked five innings and allowed a run on three hits. He finished with four walks and four strikeouts on the day.
Josh Lenz picked up where Varland left off with just one hit allowed in his two innings of work with a strikeout as he grabbed the save.
The St. Cloud State bats came alive in game two as they jumped out to a 5-0 run in the second to take control as they held the Golden Bears to a run in the third and a run in the seventh in a 7-2 final.
