ST. PAUL, Minn. – This week's midweek doubleheader between Concordia-St. Paul (20-25, 16-19 NSIC) and Minnesota Duluth (21-24, 17-18 NSIC) has been delayed due to potential field conditions stemming from Monday's expected storms. The teams will now play on Wednesday, April 30 at 12:30 p.m. at Barnes Field.
 
It's a key showdown for each team looking to make the postseason as the NSIC Tournament field includes the top eight teams in the final standings. Heading into the doubleheader, UMD sits in a tie for ninth at 17-18 with Winona State, with Concordia sitting a game back at 16-19. Ahead of them is a three-team tie for sixth place between Southwest Minnesota State, UMary and Minnesota Crookston, all at 18-17.
 
SMSU will play at Sioux Falls (4^th, 21-14), with CSP scheduled to play at Sioux Falls for three games this weekend while SMSU has a three-game road series at NSIC-leader #4 Minnesota State (31-4).
 
UMary hosts Minnesota Crookston for a doubleheader and Minnesota Duluth for a three-game series, a week's slate which has the largest implications on the tournament field.
 
Following their midweek at UMary, Minnesota Crookston travels to Northern State (13^th, 9-26) for three games this weekend.
 
UMD has its road doubleheader at CSP followed by a road trip to UMary in the second-most consequential schedule to NSIC Tournament possibilities this week.
 
Winona State is on the road for its final five games, at fifth-place St. Cloud State (19-16) for two and third-place Wayne State (22-13) for three.
 
The games this week will be streamed on the NSIC Network, and feature live in-game statistics to follow along online.
 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 34, UMD 30
The Golden Bears and Bulldogs are scheduled to meet for the 65^th and 66^th times since the 2000 season when the Golden Bears made the move to NCAA Division II play and NSIC membership. UMD won seven of the first eight contests between the programs from 2000 to 2002, but in 2006 Concordia flipped the series. From 2006 to 2009 with UMD members of the now-defunct North Central Conference (NCC), CSP won 11 of 13 to take a 14-12 lead in the series.
 
UMD would take 14 of the next 18 contests from 2010 to 2016, but in recent years, CSP has been back on top. From 2019 to present, the Golden Bears have won 14 of the last 16 games including four in a row and eight of the last nine.
 
CSP had its longest winning streak against the Bulldogs, winning six-straight from 2019 to 2021 while UMD's longest winning streak in the series is seven games in 2015 and 2016.
 
Head coach Neil Lerner holds a 10-2 record against the Bulldogs but has never hosted UMD at Barnes Field.

Last year, the teams met in Duluth at the end of April, with CSP picking up a doubleheader sweep 12-7 and 11-7.
 
The last time UMD played at Barnes Field was 2011, with CSP and UMD splitting a doubleheader by 3-1 scores in each game. CSP is 7-7 against UMD all-time at Barnes Field.
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
Coming off of an NSIC Tournament final four finish, the Golden Bears rank in the top-6 in the NSIC in double plays turned (30), strikeout-walk ratio (1.82), strikeouts/9 innings (8.4), fewest walks/9 innings (4.6), walks (197), sacrifice bunts (20) and triples (8). Their ability to get efficient outs via the strikeout, limit walks and turn double plays, combined with the ability to draw walks and put down sacrifice bunts has led to the team repeatedly competing in close contests with 10 1-run games (4-6) and seven 2-run games (4-3).
 
From the top of the lineup, Kal Brohmer is second in the NSIC with 32 walks while third-batter Noah Juliar is fifth in the conference with 63 hits and ninth with 13 doubles, while Koby McBroome, who bookends the lineup hitting mostly leadoff or ninth, is second in the Northern Sun with three triples. The sacrifices have come from three different sources: Jack Setterlund off the bench with five sacrifice bunts to rank second in the NSIC, followed by Brohmer's four, while Eric Berg leads the team and is seventh in the NSIC with four sacrifice flies.
 
On the mound, Ian Segna is fifth in the NSIC with a 3.83 ERA and second in the NSIC with six wins (6-2). Gavin Rusch is sixth in the conference with a 2.83 strikeout-walk ratio and eighth with 9.12 strikeouts/9.
 
While not primarily deployed in save situations only, high-leverage relief arm Jack Greenlun is fifth in the NSIC with five saves.  
 
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs have improved from last season's 18-31 overall and 14-26 NSIC finish, producing a 21-24 overall and 17-18 conference record heading into the season's final five games.
 
UMD is coming off of a 2-1 series win at home over Minnesota Crookston to snap a three-game skid, which followed a four-game winning streak.
 
Joey Flom leads UMD and is the league's fourth-leading hitter (.381) followed by Nathan Rosenberg (.370) who is eighth in the NSIC in hitting. Troy Lynch is fourth in the league with 30 walks and seventh with a .483 OBP with Rosenberg ninth in the NSIC with a .638 slugging percentage.
 
Brayden Buttweiler (3-3, 4.01) and Henry Wilkinson (3-2, 4.40) lead the rotation and have made nine starts apiece, but they both pitched on Saturday and are likely unavailable for midweek pitching.
 
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:
 
UMD:

1. Joe Gizzi (10 app, 4 GS, 2-4, 11.25 ERA, 2.20 WHIP, 20.0 IP, 8-10 SO-BB, .382 oav)
2. Ryan Wattermann (8 app, 4 GS, 2-0, 6.51 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 27.2 IP, 21-8 SO-BB, .282 oav)

 
CSP:

1. Fritz Meyer (10 app, 8 GS, 2-4, 6.44 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 36.1 IP, 36-17 SO-BB, .299 oav)
2. Reece Piontek (10 app, 4 GS, 1-1, 7.28 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 29.2 IP, 36-14 SO-BB, .281 oav)

 
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).