ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (11-2, 3-1 NSIC) returns to conference play this week against the University of Mary Marauders (6-7, 2-2 NSIC) at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park in Brandon, South Dakota.
 
The first pitch of the series was moved up a day and will take place on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Friday's action will consist of a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m. with game two following shortly afterward, and Saturday's finale will take place at noon.
 
WATCH ONLINE - NSIC NETWORK
Powered by the NSIC Network, all Northern Sun home and away baseball games will be broadcast online, free of charge, weather permitting. Visit www.nsicnetwork.com/cspbears to watch the Golden Bears. Away games will feature production by the host institution, while home games are broadcast using BlueFrame Technology with the play-by-play call of Dan Flanagan, voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. Flanagan is a St. Paul native who professionally trained in broadcasting at Fordham University in New York where he was the voice of the basketball and football teams, among other sports. NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Not able to watch or keep an eye on live stats? Check in on social media by following our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds. Each platform will have different levels of engagement. Twitter will offer scoring updates, Instagram will feature live look-ins and engaging content and Facebook is a great place to get links to previews, recaps and more. Simply search for CSP Bears on any of the platforms and remember to #BeGolden
 
STRONG START TO THE 2024 CAMPAIGN
The Golden Bears have been white hot to begin this season with one of their best starts in program history. Neil Lerner's squad is off to their best start in his heading coaching tenure after going 5-1 at the TIG Sports Tucson Invitational. This season marks their best overall start since the 2016 season, where they possessed the same 11-2 record heading into the four-game series with UMary.
 
Other notable starts include the 2009 season, where Concordia won their first five games en route to a 14-2 record to open the season, and the 2006 season, where the Golden Bears opened the season with an undefeated 9-0 non-conference record.
 
TIG SPORTS TUCSON INVITATIONAL 
CSP ended non-conference play with an impressive 5-1 showing at the Tucson Invitational.
 
Concordia started the invitational strong with a doubleheader sweep over Adams State (Colo.) after taking game one 3-1 and game two 8-2. Their lone blemish came by the hands of Walsh (Ohio) by a final score of 10-7 after their late comeback fell short. However, this did not keep the Bears down long as they bounced back with a three-game sweep (9-2, 18-13, 12-6) over Malone (Ohio) to end the trip on a high note.
 
Over the course of six games in Arizona, the Golden Bears outscored the opposition 57-34 and out-hit them 73-57. Additionally, they reached base safely with 20 walks and eight hit-by-pitches to help elevate their overall team on-base percentage to .426.
 
Nick Thimsen had a phenomenal showing at the plate for the Golden Bears. The Minnetonka, Minnesota native slashed .476/.571/.810 with 10 hits, including a pair of home runs and a double. In addition, the senior outfielder collected a team-leading 12 RBIs and scored nine runs of his own while reaching safely with three hit-by-pitches and three walks.
 
Bennett McCollow also provided a hot bat for CSP in the Grand Canyon State. The Bloomington, Minnesota native led the team with .542 batting and added a team-leading .607 on-base percentage after going 13-24 from the plate with five doubles. He added 11 runs, six RBIs and a pair of hit-by-pitches and walks each.
 
Noah Juliar was also an extra-base hit machine with two doubles, two triples and a home run. The Junior slashed .462/.808/.464 with 12 hits, 11 RBIs and a walk. Mason Nadolney also shined with two home runs against Malone, including a grand slam and 2-run bomb that helped secure the game-two win over the Pioneers.
 
On the mound, 12 different pitchers saw action at the Tucson Invite. As a team, the Golden Bears collected a team earned run average of 4.22 with 40 strikeouts and only 16 walked batters.
 
Korey Dahlberg (2-0) had an impressive showing in the Navy and Gold. In his lone appearance against Adams State, the junior right-handed pitcher played a complete 7.0 inning game from the bump with five strikeouts and only allowed one earned run.
 
Gavin Rusch (2-0) also won against Adams State after he went 6.1 innings and added a career-high six strikeouts. In the early stages, he was cruising in the dominant outing as he went 4.2 innings without allowing a hit by the opposition.
 
Freshman Ian Segna (3-0) played a pivotal role for the Golden Bears in their opening game victory against Malone. The Lakeville, Minnesota native recorded his longest stint on the bump for the Navy and Gold with 7.0 innings pitched. He added a career-low zero walked batters and 1.29 game earned run average. He also tallied four strikeouts.
 
From the bullpen, Jack Nicklaus (1-0) added his second career win on the bump with six strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed, while Andrew Boeser (1) added his first save of the season and the reliable senior Eric Lundell made two appearances to help seal games against Adams State and Malone.
 
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST UMARY
The Golden Bears and Marauders have met 41 times since March 31, 2007, with the Golden Bears holding a 32-9 all-time advantage. CSP claimed the first game between the two schools with a 7-1 victory in Minneapolis. Last season, Concordia swept Mary with a 6-5 victory in game one and added a 7-6 16-inning thriller in game two that was sealed in walk-off fashion by Juilar. Concordia holds the longest winning streak in the series, which stands at 20 games from 2009 to 2016. The Golden Bears have accumulated 262 total runs with an average of 6.39 a game.
 
ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
UMary posted a 23-27 (16-19 NSIC) record in the 2023 campaign and were picked to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 74 points.
 
The Marauders hold a 6-7 (2-2 NSIC) record this season after concluding non-conference action on March 3.
 
In their conference opener against Minnesota State, the Marauders performed well against the Mavericks after taking the opening game 17-7 and game three 11-6 to split with the league runner-up from last season.
 
They are coming off a 3-2 showing in their recent non-conference finale trip to Colorado. In their opening game, they won a 16-13 shootout against Colorado at Colorado Springs before splitting a doubleheader with Colorado Christian. They ended their stint in the Centennial State with a 12-7 win over Metropolitan State (Colo.) last Saturday and a 13-5 loss to Colorado School of Mines on Sunday.
 
The player to watch for Mary is #20 Carter Beck. The freshman from Saskatchewan, Canada has slashed .467/.564/.956 with 21 hits, 22 RBIs and seven walks. He has recorded 10 extra-base hits with five homers, three doubles and a pair of triples.
 
The pitcher to watch is #19 Paxton Miller (1-0). The senior right-handed pitcher has an ERA of 3.21 and a WHIP of 1.57 after 14.0 innings of action on the bump. He has a team-leading 13 strikeouts and has walked seven batters.