ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (17-23, 11-17 NSIC) closes out the regular season at home this week as they host Upper Iowa (9-27, 7-18 NSIC) on Tuesday and Winona State (12-20, 10-11 NSIC) on Friday and Saturday.
 
SCHEDULE INFORMATION
First pitch in Tuesday's home opening doubleheader is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. as the Golden Bears host the Peacocks.
 
CSP and WSU are set to begin action in Friday's doubleheader at noon with Saturday's single nine-inning game beginning at noon as well. The two teams will honor the seniors with a brief on-field graduation ceremony in between Friday's games while CSP will honor their senior class on Senior Day with a brief on-field ceremony after Saturday's contest.
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Sunday, CSP claimed a massive doubleheader sweep at Wayne State as they came from behind to win game one 4-3 before erasing a three-run deficit in the ninth to win game two 8-7.
 
Trailing 2-0 after two innings, the Golden Bears jumped on the Wildcats with four runs in the third to take the lead in game one. That proved to be enough for CSP starter Luke DeGrammont as the left-hander held WSC to just one run over the final five frames to put Concordia back in the win column.
 
DeGrammont (4-3) allowed just six hits and three runs while walking none and striking out 10 in the seven-inning complete game victory. The senior delivered his third complete game win of the season while reaching double digits in strikeouts for the second time, finishing one shy of his career-best of 11 set back on Mar. 19.
 
In a dramatic game two, down to their final three outs with a 7-4 deficit, the Golden Bears grabbed a massive come from behind win with four runs in the ninth to secure the sweep.
 
Jack Young got the rally started with a leadoff single before Brayden Roybal and Kal Brohmer were hit with back-to-back pitches to load the bases with nobody out. Wandersee trimmed it to two with a sacrifice fly before Matt Pietsch closed the gap to one with a two out single up the middle. It was Nick Thimsen that delivered the go-ahead hit for the second game in a row as he drove a two-run double over the head of the left fielder to put CSP in front.
 
Concordia had a bit of a scare as the leadoff man reached on a single before moving up to third with one out in the home half of the eighth, but Alec Holcomb slammed the door with two consecutive strikeouts to collect his team-leading fifth save of the year.
 
UIU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Peacocks will be meeting for the 34th and 35th times in the all-time series as CSP currently holds a record of 21-12 in the 33 previous meetings. The two schools have met just twice since 2014 with neither series taking place in St. Paul. After Upper Iowa picked up six wins in the first 10 meetings, Concordia has rattled off 17 wins in the past 23 contests, including 11 of the last 13. CSP is 7-3 in 10 contests in St. Paul.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE PEACOCKS
Back on April 21, 2021, CSP bounced back from a 9-3 game one loss to win game two 11-9 and claim a doubleheader split at Upper Iowa.
 
In the game two win, the Golden Bears opened the scoring with five runs in the third before seeing the Peacocks pull within one with the next four runs. CSP regained their edge with four in the eighth and another in the ninth before holding off a late push from UIU to secure the split with an 11-9 win.
 
The middle of the CSP order did their jobs as run producers as Patrick Bordewick, Jarod Wandersee, Ryan Bastyr and JT Hoffmann collectively drove in eight runs on nine hits as they finished a combined 9-17 (.529) in the contest. Wandersee remained red hot with his third three-hit game in the last six, going 3-5 with a double, a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored in the win. Hoffmann also drove in three runs as he went 2-4 with a double and a walk to go along with a run scored. Bordewick and Bastyr also went 2-4 in the game as both scored twice and drove in one.
 
Jaden Werner and Nick Thimsen gave the Golden Bears six hitter with multi-hit games as both collected a pair of hits while Ryan Christopher went 1-3 with three walks and two runs scored. Matt Pietsch added a hit and a pair of walks as well.
 
WSU SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters the week with a 38-42 record all-time against the Warriors, including a 35-33 record in NSIC play. While Winona State dominated the early years of the series with 10 straight wins from 1999-02, the Golden Bears have found much more success in recent years. In the last 16 meetings since 2016, CSP has claimed 11 wins, including six in a row to start the stretch. Concordia holds a 13-13 record in 26 games in St. Paul.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WARRIORS
On May 5, 2021, the Golden Bears slugged their way to a doubleheader sweep of Winona State at Barnes Field. The Golden Bears pulled out a dramatic 11-10 game one walk-off win before pulling away for a 13-6 win in game two.
 
Game one was a memorable one for the Golden Bears as they came back from four different deficits, including a 9-3 deficit in the fourth and a 10-9 deficit in the ninth, to claim a wild 11-10 walk-off win.
 
The senior duo of Ryan Christopher and Patrick Bordewick came through with the crucial hits in the ninth as Christopher tied the game with his third hit of the game before Bordewick drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single off right field wall. Christopher finished the game 3-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored while Bordewick went 2-3 with a team-best four driven in.
 
Each of CSP's top five hitters in the order reached base safely at least twice as Nick Thimsen added two hits and a walk while Matt Pietsch chipped in two hits and Jarod Wandersee had a pair of walks, a hit by pitch and a double. One of Thimsen's three hits went for a double as he scored three times while Pietsch drove in two. Brayden Roybal made the most of his first collegiate start as he contributed two hits and came around to score twice.
 
Eric Lundell provided some important innings out of the bullpen as he allowed just an unearned run in two hitless innings to claim the win. The right-hander walked one and struck out another.
 
The CSP offense was even more potent in game two as they hammered out 13 runs on 15 hits, including 10 extra-base hits and four long balls, to cruise to a comfortable 13-6 win.
 
All nine starters registered hits in the game with eight of nine collecting extra-base hits in the win. Chandler Ibach led the way with his first two home runs of his career as he drove in three. Matt Pietsch had a homer, a double and three runs scored and Ryan Christopher went 3-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.
 
Nick Thimsen and Patrick Bordewick both added two-hit games as Thimsen doubled and scored once while Bordewick scored twice. Ryan Bastyr, Jack Young and Brayden Roybal all contributed doubles with a pair of RBIs in the game. Jarod Wandersee reached safely three times with a double, two walks and two runs scored.