BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Northern Sun (NSIC) released the 2022 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll on Thursday afternoon and Concordia-St. Paul was picked to finish 11th.
 
The Golden Bears earned 69 points in the poll, putting the team just four points behind Sioux Falls in 10th and 20 points behind Northern State in ninth. CSP also sits eight points ahead of Upper Iowa and 11 points ahead of Minnesota Duluth in 13^th.
 
Head Coach Neil Lerner on the team: "After a full fall season and an intense off-season development program we are excited about the 2022 season. We return a solid core of position players, led by All-Conference players Jarod Wandersee and Nick Thimsen, along with the majority of our pitching staff. We feel we have added a very talented group of freshman and transfers, several of which should make an immediate impact on our team. Our guys have worked hard the last several months and are motivated to compete and win games in a very talented NSIC conference."
 
The reigning NSIC Regular Season and Tournament Champions of Minnesota State were the top pick in the poll as the Mavericks amassed 190 points after receiving nine first place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team). Augustana was second with 188 points and the other six first place votes. St. Cloud State was picked third with 162 points, Minot State was fourth with 159 points and Minnesota Crookston was fifth with 130 points.  
 
The preseason coaches' poll is based off each coach ranking each team from 14 to 1 with the top team receiving 14 points, second 13, third 12, etc.
 
The Concordia-St. Paul baseball program heads into the 2022 season looking to make a big step forward with an experienced group of players. CSP returns all but two position players from last season's squad along with all but one starting pitcher. In their second season under head coach Neil Lerner, Concordia got off to a strong start with six wins in their first eight games, but they saw their pace slowed from there as they finished 15-23 overall with an 11-21 mark in league play.
 
The Golden Bears return a pair of All-NSIC Second Team selections in Nick Thimsen and Jarod Wandersee with both expected to fill key roles in the lineup. Thimsen finished sixth in slugging percentage (.689) and 11th in batting average (.368) in league play last season while his 10 doubles and 73 total bases both ranked eighth, and Wandersee ranked 13th in slugging percentage (.616), 15th in on-base percentage (.442) and 18th in batting average (.343) in conference action in 2021.
 
Senior Luke DeGrammont was tabbed as a pitcher to watch after making a team-high nine starts last season. The left-hander allowed three earned runs or less in six of nine starts while striking out 29 in 41.1 innings of work.
 
CSP opens the season on the road as they travel to Newman (Kan.) for a four-game series from Feb. 18-20 and they kick off conference play on Mar. 19-20 at home against Bemidji State.
 
The 2022 NSIC Baseball Tournament will take the top eight teams in the final NSIC Standings. The eight-team double elimination NSIC Tournament takes place May 11-14 co-hosted by Augustana and Sioux Falls. The tournament will be played at Karras Park (Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Aspen Park (Brandon, S.D.).