ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia St. Paul baseball team (13-5, 6-2 NSIC) has had their weekend series with Southwest Minnesota State (7-11, 2-6 NSIC) moved to Wakefield, Nebraska on Friday and Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday.
 
SCHEDULE INFORMATION
The Golden Bears will meet the Mustangs at Eaton Field in the town of Wakefield, Nebraska for their four-game series. Wakefield is located just a few miles east of Wayne State University in northeast Nebraska. First pitch for Friday's doubleheader has been bumped up 30 minutes from the originally scheduled time of 1:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. to open the series before the teams return to action on Saturday at noon.
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday, the Golden Bears made blanked Bemidji State in a doubleheader at Veterans Field as CSP cruised to a 9-0 win in game one before taking game two 4-0.
 
Concordia's pitching staff continued their incredible run with two more shutouts on the day, giving them six in their eight conference games and eight in their last 10 overall. Josh Gaworski and Louie Varland matched each other with complete game shutouts as they allowed a combined seven hits in 16.0 innings with 17 strikeouts. The outings lowered the team's overall ERA to 2.74 with an opponent average of .228 on the season. CSP's top four starters have been even better as a group as Gaworski, both Varland brothers and Zach Lauzon have combined for a 1.02 ERA in 88.1 innings of work.
 

The offense came out swinging in the first of the two games with nine runs on 14 hits before the team scratched out enough to win with four runs on five hits in game two. Carter Schmidt, Connor Trygstad, Drew Sannes and Roch Whittaker all paced the squad with three hits in the doubleheader.
 
KINGS OF THE HILL
Prior to the two shutouts on Tuesday, the Golden Bears already ranked near the top of the country in several statistical categories on the mound. Concordia entered the week in second in the country with six shutouts while also ranking seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (10.6 per 9), 10^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.98), 11^th in ERA (3.07), 14^th in WHIP (1.27) and 15^th in hits allowed per nine innings (7.91 per 9). Gus Varland ranks near the top of the nation in several statistical categories as his 0.67 ERA puts him in fifth in the nation while his 0.78 WHIP ranks seventh, his 5.33 hits allowed per nine innings ranks 27^th and his 7.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 28^th. Zach Lauzon also ranks in the top-20 in a pitching category as his 13.08 strikeouts per nine innings ranks 20^th.
 
In the NSIC stats, which are updated to include Tuesday's doubleheader, even more of Concordia's pitching staff are represented near the top. All three of the top-three in the ERA race in the NSIC come from the Golden Bears as Louie Varland leads the way (0.00), Josh Gaworski ranks second (0.47) and Gus Varland ranks third (0.67). Gaworski also leads the league in opponent batting average (.082) while Gus Varland sits in fourth (.172) and Louie Varland sits in ninth (.200). Concordia's top four all rank inside the top-15 in strikeouts in the league as well with Gus Varland ranking third (35), Zach Lauzon ranking seventh (31), Josh Gaworski ranking 11^th (26) and Louie Varland ranking 13^th (25). In addition to the starters, Riley Sweeney is also tied for the league lead with four saves on the year.
 
SMSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs have met 51 previous times heading into the weekend with the Golden Bears going 31-20 in those previous meetings. Since a stretch from 2012-2015 in which Southwest Minnesota State won eight of 13 meetings, Concordia has turned the tide heavily in their favor with a 10-1 record in the last 11 meetings. The two teams have played over half their meetings at a neutral site as CSP has gone 20-9 in the 29 games not played on either campus.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MUSTANGS
In a non-conference meeting back on March 7, Concordia did their damage early with six runs in the second and another in the fourth as they cruised to a comfortable win in their first contest in Arizona.
 
It was a balanced attack offensively for CSP as seven of the nine starters both registered a hit and scored a run in the win. Connor Trystad stayed red hot by going 2-3 with a walk and a run scored. Patrick Bordewick matched that output exactly while Carter Schmidt also grabbed a pair of hits, including a double, while scoring once and driving another in. Connor Olson was the lone CSP hitter to drive in more than one run as he brought in a pair with a double.
 
Making his first career start for the Golden Bears, Louie Varland worked his way out of trouble in nearly every inning as he held SMSU off the board for five innings to pick up the win. The sophomore right-hander scattered six hits and three walks while striking out seven in his 5.0 innings of work.
 
Riley Sweeney took it from there as he worked the final 4.0 frames to grab the save. Sweeney allowed a pair of runs on five hits to go along with five strikeouts in relief.