ST. PAUL, Minn. – This week, Concordia-St. Paul (17-23, 13-17 NSIC) will travel to #6 Minnesota State (35-4, 27-3 NSIC) for a Wednesday doubleheader at 1:30 at Bowyer Field.

This is Concordia's lone road set sandwiched between a pair of 5-game homestands as CSP is set to play 10 of 12 games at Barnes Field, starting by going 2-3 last week against Winona State (1-1) and Augustana (1-2).

The Golden Bears enter this week in 11^th in the NSIC standings, aiming to reach the top-eight for a position in the NSIC Tournament. Concordia is only two games out of the seventh spot in the standings, a three-team tie between Minnesota Duluth, Winona State and Minnesota Crookston at 15-15, with UMary in between in 10^th at 14-16.
 
The Mavericks, meanwhile, hold a five-game lead over Augustana for the top spot in the standings and are set to travel to Augustana this weekend for a three-game series in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. MSU also has a midweek doubleheader at third-place Wayne State (19-11) and a three-game set at home against fifth-place SMSU (17-13), playing eight games against three of the top five teams in the conference down the stretch.
 
While the Mavericks' strength of schedule increases down the stretch, after facing MSU this week, Concordia will have played eight of the top-10 teams in the league, with three games left against Bemidji State (4-26), two against Minnesota Duluth (15-15) and three at Sioux Falls (18-12) – with the Cougars facing a number of key NSIC Tournament contenders down the stretch, as well.
 
The games this week will be streamed on the NSIC Network with the play-by-play call from AM 130 The Fan Mankato, and feature live in-game statistics to follow along online.
 
SERIES HISTORY: MSU 45, CSP 7
The Golden Bears and Mavericks have played 52 games dating back to 2000 when CSP joined the NCAA Division II ranks, with nine of those contests coming prior to MSU joining the NSIC for the 2009 baseball season.
 
The Mavericks enter the doubleheader on a 14-game winning streak against Concordia, with CSP's last win over MSU in the 2018 NSIC Tournament played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The streak also includes head coach Neil Lerner's first 10 games against MSU.
 
Concordia has dropped its last 10 road games at MSU, last beating the Mavericks in Mankato on April 25, 2016, splitting the doubleheader.
 
Concordia and MSU have played 38 of their 52 meetings at a campus site, with CSP holding a 3-21 road record in the series.
 
Concordia has split non-conference doubleheaders with the Mavericks in 2005, 2008 (both at Metrodome) while picking up NSIC splits in Mankato in 2010, 2012 and 2016, and NSIC Tournament wins in 2016 (in St. Cloud) and 2018 (in Sioux Falls).
 
Last year, the Mavericks swept a midweek doubleheader at Barnes Field 10-4 and 17-6, and in CSP's last trip to Mankato in 2023, the Mavericks secured a three-game series sweep (3-1, 10-0, 7-2).
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
Coming off of an NSIC Tournament final four finish, the Golden Bears rank in the top-5 in the NSIC in double plays turned (3^rd, 28), sacrifice bunts (3^rd, 19) and strikeouts/9 innings (5^th, 8.4). Their ability to get efficient outs via the strikeout and double play, combined with the ability to put down sacrifice bunts has led to the team repeatedly competing in close contests with 10 1-run games (4-6) and six 2-run games (3-3), with CSP producing a 6-7 record when scoring between 3-5 runs and a 13-6 record when limiting opponents to five runs or less. Further, when CSP keeps its opponent from hitting a home run, the Golden Bears out-execute with a 15-6 record.
 
From the top of the lineup, Kal Brohmer is third in the NSIC with 29 walks while third-batter Noah Juliar is fourth in the conference with 57 hits and eighth with 12 doubles, while Koby McBroome, who bookends the lineup hitting mostly leadoff or ninth, is second in the Northern Sun with three triples.
 
On the mound, Ian Segna is fifth in the NSIC with a 4.05 ERA, seventh in the league with a 2.89 walk rate (2.89/9), and 10th in the NSIC with 2.67 strikeout/walk ratio. Fellow starting pitcher Gavin Rusch is ninth in the conference with 9.34 strikeouts/9 and ninth with a 2.71 strikeout/walk ratio.
 
Jack Greenlun leads the back of the bullpen with four saves, ranking sixth in the conference. Further, the Golden Bears have excelled with the lead, holding a 16-1 record when leading after five innings, 17-2 when leading after six, 8-1 when leading after seven and 7-0 when leading after eight frames.  
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
After finishing the 2024 season 37-20 overall and in second place in the NSIC regular season standings at 29-10 as well as NSIC Tournament runner-up along with an NCAA Central Region Tournament appearance, the Mavericks were picked second in the 2025 NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll. MSU picked up five of 14 first-place votes and 161 points in the preseason poll, trailing only defending league regular season and tournament champion Augustana (165 points, 9 1^st).  
 
But the Mavericks have been leading the conference all year long, including a non-conference slate that had MSU produce an 8-1 record. In league play, their only blemishes have been a game four loss to Minnesota Duluth in a 3-1 series win, a doubleheader split at Winona State and a doubleheader split against Sioux Falls – both splits coming during the midweek.
 
The Mavericks top the NSIC in several team statistics: ERA (3.46, 3^rd DII), scoring (10.3, 9^th DII), OBP (.457, 8^th DII), slugging percentage (.555, 16^th), home runs (60, 22^nd DII), walks (222, 27^th DII), double plays turned (31), WHIP (1.32, 11^th DII), strikeout-walk ratio (2.87, 7^th DII), fewest walks allowed per 9 innings (3.14, 9^th DII) and have produced a nation-leading seven shutouts.
 
The lineup boasts four players hitting between .375 and .393 and ranking from third (Aidan Byrne, .393), fourth (Ike Mezzenga, .389), sixth (Matthew Fleischhacker, .381) and seventh (Zach Stroh, .375). Mazzenga leads the league with a .772 slugging percentage, 15 home runs, 64 RBIs and 30 walks, while Louis Magers is second in the league with 13 homers and 55 RBIs and sixth in the league with a .646 slugging.
 
Meanwhile, Aidan Byrne is second in the league with a .520 OBP and 16 doubles, Matthew Fleischhacker is third in the league with a .503 OBP and Mezzenga is eighth in the league with a .486 OBP and eighth with 12 doubles.
 
On the mound, Nathan Culley leads the league and is 19^th in the country with a 2.09 ERA, leads the league with nine wins and 74 strikeouts, adding the league's second-ranked WHIP (1.09), strikeout rate (11.9/9) and strikeout-walk ratio (4.35).
 
POTENTIAL PITCHING MATCHUPS
Teams do not promote or communicate their probable pitching matchups in the Northern Sun, but below is a projection based on each team's season-long and recent usage:
 
MSU:

1. Mitch Gutknecht (8 app, 6 GS, 4-2, 4.72 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 34.1 IP, 27-9 SO-BB, .312 oav)
2. Mack Crowley (7 app, 4 GS, 4-0, 4.63 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 23.1 IP, 27-5 SO-BB, .305 oav)

 
CSP:

1. Fritz Meyer (9 app, 7 GS, 2-3, 5.13 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 33.1 IP, 34-14 SO-BB, .283 oav)
2. Reece Piontek (9 app, 3 GS, 1-0, 7.40 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 24.1 IP, 27-13 SO-BB, .290 oav)

 
CSP PLAYERS TO WATCH:
#40 Fritz Meyer (RHP, 6-6, 222, Sr., R/R, Mound, Minn. / Minnetonka HS / Towson)

• pitched into the sixth inning to earn a win over Winona State
• allowed one run for a 1.69 ERA against the Warriors
• scattered four singles, a pair of walks and a solo homer for his only run allowed
• struck out four and held WSU to a .263 average
• lowered his ERA to 5.13 and hasn't registered a loss in his last five appearances (four starts), lowering his ERA from 11.37 to 5.13, allowing just three earned runs in 20.2 IP for a 1.31 ERA with a 20-8 SO-BB ratio
• has a 34-14 SO-BB ratio in 33.1 innings in nine total appearances (seven starts)

 
#26 Charlie Harms (1B, 6-3, 205, So., L/L, Eagan, Minn. / Eagan HS / North Iowa Area CC)

• has been CSP's top run producer the last few weeks with 19 RBIs in the last 15 games and 15 in the last 10 contests
• he's had six multi-RBI performances in the last 10 games
• in five games last week, slashed .389/.455/.778 (7-18) for a 1.233 OPS
• scored six times, drove in seven, had a double and two home runs with three walks
• is now tied for the team lead with 26 RBIs on the season

 
COACH LERNER WINS 100^th GAME
The Golden Bears secured the 100^th win in head coach Neil Lerner's career with the game four win over SMSU, which also secured the 3-1 series win. He's been head coach since the COVID-shortened 2020 season and is the third to reach the milestone in Concordia's 4-year college era (1967-68 to present).