ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (20-13, 13-9 NSIC) closes out the regular season on the road this weekend as they travel to Sioux Falls (14-28, 14-18 NSIC) for a four-game series on Friday and Saturday.
 
PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Golden Bears have compiled a record of 13-9 to put them in fifth place in the NSIC. Following a big week in which Concordia leapfrogged several of their opponents, CSP finds themselves in prime position to clinch a spot in the conference tournament for the sixth year in a row. Currently, CSP sits percentage points ahead of Winona State in sixth while Wayne State lurks a game behind in seventh and Northern State three games behind in eighth. Also still in the mix for a spot in the tourney is Concordia's opponent on the weekend, Sioux Falls, as they remain four games back in ninth.
 
With the top eight teams earning a bid to the NSIC Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. next week, the Golden Bears hold their own destiny in clinching a spot. Concordia enters the weekend with the straightforward task of taking one game out of the final four from USF to claim the berth, but could still be in position to make it even if that were to not happen. If Northern State fails to take at least three games at home against Winona State or Wayne State fails to win a game at Augustana, the Golden Bears would still be guaranteed a spot in the tournament. Concordia would find themselves in an tiebreaker scenario if they went 0-4 on the weekend, NSU won either three or four against WSU, and Wayne State took at least a game at Augie.
 
KINGS OF THE HILL
The Golden Bear pitching staff has been dominant so far this year as they rank near the top of the country in several statistical categories on the mound. CSP ranks second in the country with ten shutouts while also ranking seventh in ERA (3.18), eighth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.87 per 9), 10th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.1), and 14th in WHIP (1.33). Concordia also has a few pitchers that rank near the top in the country as Louie Varland is third in the nation with a 1.03 ERA while Gus Varland also ranks near the top of the nation in several statistical categories. His 1.20 ERA puts him in fifth in the nation, his 0.93 WHIP ranks 13th, his 5.60 hits allowed per nine innings ranks 12th, and his 12.00 strikeouts per nine innings rank 23rd. Zach Lauzon also ranks in the top-20 in a pair of pitching categories as his 1.77 ERA ranks 16^th and his 12.39 strikeouts per nine innings rank 19th.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia swept Wayne State on the road before taking three of four in their lone home series of the season against Winona State.
 
Entering the week in a tie for seventh place, the Golden Bears managed to surpass both of their opponents (WSC and WSU) in the standings to move into fifth place with four games to play.
 
While the pitching has carried the team for much of the season, CSP's offense finished the week with a .303 average as they hit six home runs and scored 33 times over the six games on the week. Six different Concordia hitters picked up at least six hits on the week while seven different players hit at least .333.
 
Isaac Hormann hammered out 10 hits while compiling a .417/.440/.667 slash line with three doubles and a home run along with six RBIs. Connor Olson became the fourth player in the DII era at Concordia to reach 200 career hits as he collected six hits over the weekend against the Warriors. Tanner Holmquist homered in three of four games over the weekend for his first three home runs of the season. Riley Sweeney picked up two saves and a win over 5.0 innings of work on the week, striking out eight in that span.
 
USF SERIES HISTORY
Prior to this weekend, the Golden Bears have compiled a record of 14-6 in 20 meetings against the Cougars. After seeing USF take two of the first three and three of the first six in the series, CSP has rattled off 11 wins in 14 meetings since then. From May 4, 2014 to April 30, 2016 the Golden Bears won eight straight in the series before Sioux Falls took two wins on day later. Last season, Concordia shifted the momentum back in their favor by taking three of four in their final regular season home games. CSP has faced USF just four times in Sioux Falls with the Golden Bears winning three of those four contests.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE COUGARS
Last season, the Golden Bears capped off a wild weekend with a 7-6 12 inning win in game four to take three of four in the series. The Cougars took game three 5-3 in nine innings before Concordia's comeback win gave them a 3-1 series win.
 
The day two doubleheader featured 681 pitches in over six hours of game time in the doubleheader, while the teams played 39 innings compared to an expected 32 on the weekend.
 
In a four-game series that featured three extra-inning games in a row, the two teams saved the most dramatic for last as Concordia overcame deficits in the second, seventh, ninth and 11thinnings before winning it in the 12th.
 
After game one went extras, game two was scheduled to be a seven-inning affair, but it ended up being the longest of a long series. The fourth game of the series featured 410 pitches and lasted three hours and 48 minutes before Ben Suits' walk-off hit by pitch concluded play.
 
The sophomore duo of Jake Steckler and Carter Schmidt played a major role in the win as they combined for half of the team's 16 hits in the game to go along with four RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Coming into the game, Steckler had five hits to his name in his career at CSP. He nearly matched that total in one game by going 4-5 with a double as well as a career-best four runs batted in to help lead the team to victory. The four hits for Schmidt matched his career high as he also scored twice.
 
While those two played a big role, the Golden Bears needed to utilize a large chunk of their roster with 19 players stepping on the field.