ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul head baseball coach Mark "Lunch" McKenzie has announced that the Golden Bears (8-3) has moved their weekend series with Southwest Minnesota State (0-4) to Joplin, Missouri on Friday and Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for noon on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.
 
SCHEDULE INFORMATION
With snow covering much of the midwest, the Golden Bears and Mustangs made the decision to head south to get the games in. All three games in the weekend series are scheduled to be played at Joe Becker Stadium, home of the Joplin Outlaws of the MINK League. For those unable to attend, live stats will be available for the entire series. Check back later on in the week to see the full preview for the weekend.

LAST TIME OUT
Last week, Concordia went 5-3 on the week to finish the Tucson Invitational Games with an 8-3 record and a 4-2 record in region games.
 
CSP's top four starters combined for a 1.96 ERA on the week as they limited opponents to seven earned runs over 32.0 innings while striking out 29 on the week. The Golden Bears saw the middle of their order produce at a high level as their 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 34-85 (.400) with five doubles, a triple and 19 RBIs over the eight games.
 
Louie Varland earned NSIC Pitcher of the Week honors as he worked 8.0 shutout innings with a career-best 11 strikeouts in a 4-0 win over SMSU while Josh Gaworski put up a 1.38 ERA over 13.0 innings over two starts, allowing just eight hits. At the plate, Ryan Christopher added to his team lead in RBIs as he finished the week 10-26 (.385) with two doubles, a triple and nine batted in to bring his total to 14 RBIs in 10 games played. Christopher also added a win on the mound as he threw 5.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out eight in a 3-1 victory over SMSU.
 
SMSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs have met 55 previous times heading into the weekend with the Golden Bears going 33-22 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 12-3 record in the last 15 meetings. The two teams have played over half their meetings at a neutral site as CSP has gone 22-11 in the 33 games not played on either campus.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MUSTANGS
The two teams have already met twice this season as the Golden Bears picked up a 3-1 win last Thursday and a 4-0 win last Friday against SMSU in the Tucson Invitational Games.
 
Concordia's pitching was the story in both contests as Ryan Christopher picked up the win on Thursday with five innings of one-run ball before Blake Stelzer and Shane Benson combined for four shutout innings in relief. Louie Varland followed with a career-high 11 strikeouts on Friday in his 8.0 scoreless innings before Luke DeGrammont closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the team's third shutout of the year.
 
In Thursday's win at the plate, Roch Whittaker collected three of the team's seven hits, going 3-5 in the game with an RBI and a run scored. The three-hit day moved him to .440 on the year.
 
Christopher added to his pitching effort by reached base safely three times, picking up a single, a pair of walks and a run scored. Ryan Bastyr added an RBI as well with a pinch-hit go-ahead RBI single in the fifth.
 
On Friday, CSP was opportunistic offensively as they took advantage of some SMSU miscues in the field to turn five hits into four runs. Leading the way was shortstop Patrick Bordewick. Bordewick delivered the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the third before adding another hit in the seventh to finish the game 2-4 with a pair of RBIs. Jarod Wandersee added his first career RBI with a big two-out single in the sixth while Ryan Christopher and Steven Nessler contributed singles as well.