ST. PAUL, Minn. – The seventh-seeded Concordia Golden Bears baseball team (23-24, 17-18 NSIC) will open up play in the NSIC Baseball Tournament against the second-seeded Augustana Vikings (35-20, 29-11 NSIC) on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Faber Field in St. Cloud.
GAME INFORMATION
The Golden Bears and Vikings will meet in the second session of games for the day with two of the four first round contests taking place at noon and 12:30 p.m. CSP and Augie will then play at 6 p.m. at Faber Field while St. Cloud State and Minnesota play at 6:30 p.m. at Putz Field. The winner will advance to face the winner of the SCSU/UMD game on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Putz Field while the loser will face the loser of that contest on Thursday at 12:30 p.m., also at Putz Field. A full schedule and bracket is available on the NSIC Tournament page listed above.
One day adult tickets will be available on-site for $10 while seniors and students can purchase tickets for $5. All-Tournament Passes are also available for $25. Children under five years of age get in free.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia is making its 10th appearance in the NSIC Tournament, carrying two tournament championships into the event (2003, 2008). Concordia enters this year's tournament with a record of 11-15 in conference tourney action and are making their fifth appearance in a row. Concordia is coming off their deepest run in tourney play last season since winning the 2008 NSIC Tournament and earning its first NCAA Central Region Tournament appearance. The Golden Bears knocked off Minnesota State in the first round while also handing top-seeded Minnesota Duluth a pair of losses before falling to St. Cloud State in the championship.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears secured their place in the NSIC Tournament with a pair of wins on Friday before dropping the final two games of the regular season to finish with a split at Winona State.
After claiming a 1-0 shutout win in the opener, CSP scored four runs with two outs in the ninth inning of game two to pull out a dramatic 7-5 win to take both games on Friday.
Gus Varland opened the weekend with a four-hit shutout as he walked none and struck out 12 to claim the 1-0 win. At the plate,
Tanner Holmquist finished with a .538/.571/.846 slash line as he paced the team with seven hits, including three extra base hits and five RBIs.
SERIES HISTORY VS AUGIE
The Golden Bears will look to improve their all-time mark against the Vikings this weekend as they have claimed just four wins in the previous 26 meetings between the two schools. Augie has put together a dominant stretch by winning 21 of 22 in the series since 2009, including nine in a row since 2012, before CSP picked up two wins to salvage a split in the four-game series to kick off conference play last year. The lone postseason meeting came back in 2015 with the Vikings claiming a 5-3 win in the 2015 NSIC Tournament.
LAST MEETING WITH THE VIKINGS
Augustana won all four games in a weekend series at Barnes Field on April 22nd and 23rd.
CSP slashed .283/.353/.391 with three home runs over the weekend against Augie. Five members of the Concordia starting lineup hit at least .294 with four hits or more for the week as the group combined for three doubles and three homers.
Concordia nearly managed to steal game two of the series as they erased a 7-1 deficit in the eighth inning to tie it up, but the Vikings answered with four in the ninth to hold off the Golden Bears 11-7.
