ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul baseball team will head west for a three-game series at Sioux Falls with a doubleheader scheduled for Friday at 1:30 p.m. followed by the series finale on Sunday at noon at Sioux Falls Stadium.
 
The Golden Bears (20-27, 16-21 NSIC) enter the final weekend of the regular season in mathematical position to play their way into a tie for a top-eight finish in the NSIC Standings. It will require a 3-0 weekend for the Golden Bears against the NSIC's third-place Cougars squad (27-25, 23-14 NSIC), with USF entering play on a five-game winning streak.
 
Aside from going 3-0, the Golden Bears would need some combination of the following to put themselves in what could be a complicated tie-breaker scenario:

• A sweep between sixth-place tied UMary and Minnesota Duluth in a series played in Bismarck, North Dakota. One of those teams losing all three games, plus CSP winning all three games puts CSP in a tie, however, both programs defeated CSP head-to-head, so CSP would need additional teams in a tie-breaker.
• Minnesota Crookston (19-18), the third piece of the three-team sixth-place tie, hosts Northern State. UMC would need to lose all three games to end up tied with CSP. Since CSP and UMC split a four-game series, the next tiebreaker is record against common opponents in descending order. CSP went 0-2 against MSU while UMC went 0-3; with CSP going 1-2 against Augustana and UMC going 2-2. With unbalanced games played against the top-two teams, it is unclear how the NSIC would break the tie.
• With those three teams tied for the sixth, seventh, and eighth positions in the NSIC Standings, CSP likely needs two of them to lose three games this weekend with CSP winning three.
• SMSU and Winona State (18-19) need to finish 1-2 or worse this weekend. The Mustangs head to NSIC leader #4 Minnesota State (33-4) for three games, while Winona State heads to fourth-place Wayne State (22-15). Should CSP and Winona State end up tied, the Warriors would have the advantage with a split against Minnesota State, while CSP would have the advantage over SMSU with a 3-1 series win in Minnetonka.

 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 21, USF 15
Concordia holds a 21-15 series lead against the Cougars, scheduled to play their 37^th, 38^th and 39^th games against each other this weekend, with the series starting in 2013 when the Cougars joined the Northern Sun.
 
While the Cougars have won six of the last eight meetings, CSP has secured wins in two of the last three contests including last year's 9-5 win in the regular season finale at Barnes Field. CSP snapped a five-game skid against USF with a 2023 game one win in Roseville on the campus of the University of Northwestern, but Concordia holds the longest winning streak in the head-to-head series, winning eight-straight games from 2014 to 2016.
 
Most of the games in the series between the two teams have been played late in the conference season, either on the last weekend of April or first weekend of May with the only exception being an April 15-16 series in 2022.
 
Concordia is 7-7 in away games against USF, last traveling to USF in 2022 in nearby Brandon, South Dakota, falling in all three games. CSP's last trip to Sioux Falls proper was in 2019, winning the series finale 4-3 but dropping two of three in the series with all three games decided by two runs or less.
 
Head coach Neil Lerner holds a 3-6 record against USF and is 0-3 in away games but hasn't played USF at Sioux Falls Stadium yet.
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
Coming off of an NSIC Tournament final four finish, the Golden Bears rank in the top-half of the NSIC in double plays turned (31), earned run average (6.56), strikeout-walk ratio (1.76), strikeouts/9 innings (8.3), fewest hits allowed/9 innings (10.45), WHIP (1.69), fewest walks/9 innings (4.72), hits (433), walks (209) and sacrifice bunts (20). Their ability to get efficient outs via the strikeout, limit walks and turn double plays, combined with the ability to produce hits, 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 leads the NSIC with 34 walks while third-batter Noah Juliar is fifth in the conference with 66 hits and 10th 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 the bench: Jack Setterlund off the bench with five sacrifice bunts to rank third in the NSIC, followed by Brohmer's four, while Eric Berg leads the team and is 10th in the NSIC with four sacrifice flies.
 
CSP's power has been supplied by Bennett McCollow, ranked 12^th in the NSIC with nine home runs.
 
On the mound, Ian Segna is fifth in the NSIC with a 3.78 ERA and second in the NSIC with six wins (6-2). Gavin Rusch is seventh in the conference with a 2.83 strikeout-walk ratio and 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.  
 
In conference-only statistics, Segna ranks fourth in the NSIC with a 3.30 ERA, Rusch ranks 13^th with a 4.87 ERA and Korey Dahlberg is 21^st with a 5.88 ERA – all making eight NSIC starts. Segna is second in wins with a 6-1 record during league play in his eight starts while Rusch ranks eighth in the league with 43 strikeouts. Dahlberg is a top-10 arm in opponent batting average, limiting NSIC hitters to a .256 average.
 
ABOUT THE COUGARS
One of the most improved teams in the Northern Sun in 2025, Sioux Falls recovered from a 15-22 league record and 10^th-place finish a year ago (22-25 overall) by getting hot in league play in 2025. Sioux Falls, picked 10^th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll in January, is sitting in third place in the NSIC entering the final weekend at 23-14 in league play (27-25 overall) – an 8-game improvement with three to play.
 
Sioux Falls has won five-straight, too, picking up a big midweek sweep of SMSU on Tuesday after a weekend sweep at Winona State last weekend.
 
Offensively, the Cougars are second in the league in hits and lead the league with 100 doubles while their 44 home runs are fifth-most in the NSIC leading to the fourth-most runs (342). Defensively, they've turned the second-most double plays in the league (33) and rank ninth in the conference with a 7.29 team ERA.
 
Mitch Iliff leads the team and is eighth in the league with a .375 average, also ranked eighth in the NSIC with 14 doubles, fifth with 66 hits, 12^th with nine home runs and 11^th with a .619 slugging percentage. Jaxon Haase leads the squad with 12 home runs, ranking seventh in the NSIC.
 
Jake Ammann leads the pitching staff with 67 strikeouts, third-most in the NSIC, while ranking 36^th in the country with 11.0 strikeouts per nine. Jace Coleman leads the bullpen with four saves.
 
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:
 
USF:

1. Jake Ammann (11 app, 11 GS, 5-4, 8.51 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 55.0 IP, 67-24 SO-BB, .300 oav)
2. Logan Anderson (11 app, 11 GS, 5-5, 5.67 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 54.0 IP, 40-18 SO-BB, .305 oav)
3. Jake Pruchniak (8 app, 8 GS, 3-3, 6.61 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 32.2 IP, 26-12 SO-BB, .328 oav)

 
CSP:

1. Korey Dahlberg (10 app, 10 GS, 2-5, 7.23 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 47.1 IP, 37-25 SO-BB, .280 oav)
2. Gavin Rusch (10 app, 9 GS, 3-4, 5.54 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 50.1 IP, 51-18 SO-BB, .317 oav)
3. Ian Segna (11 app, 9 GS, 6-2, 3.78 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 52.1 IP, 43-19 SO-BB, .273 oav)

 
JOLES ON A HEATER
Golden Bear sophomore catcher Trett Joles enters the final weekend of regular season play swinging one of the hottest bats in the league. Since seeing his average drop to a season-low .263 following an 0-3 performance at Wayne State on April 12, Joles has seen his average increase to .324 – a 61-point jump in 13 games.
 
He's racked up seven multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games in that 13-game stretch, including four doubles, four home runs, 11 runs and 19 RBIs. In the extended 13-game stretch, Joles is hitting .449 (22-49).
 
The streak is even nastier in a six-game stretch, with Joles producing five multi-hit games, four multi-RBI games, three doubles, three homers, nine runs and 11 RBIs, hitting 15-24 (.625).
 
HARMS RBI MACHINE
From April 9 to April 18, sophomore first baseman Charlie Harms produced multiple RBIs in six of nine games, knocking in 16 runs in nine games. During that stretch, he hit .364 (12-33), raising his average from .215 to .265 and cementing his spot in the lineup.
 
BERG'S MINI-TEAR
Freshman Eric Berg has been on a surge heading into the final weekend, putting together three-straight multi-hit games against two opponents. In CSP's last three, Berg has eight RBIs, a double and a homer while hitting .539 (7-13), including a 5-RBI effort against UMD (3-6, 2B, HR, 5 RBIs).

BROHMER'S ABOARD
Senior Kal Brohmer, who has seamlessly bounced between left field, center field, first base, second base and designated hitter this season, enters the final weekend of the year with a 22 reached-base streak.
 
The last time someone sent Brohmer back to the dugout without a hit, walk or HBP in a full game was March 28 in game three of a four-game series against Minnesota Crookston. In that game, Brohmer successfully put down a pair of sacrifices, going 0-2 in four plate appearances. The only other game Brohmer did not reach base was game two of a four-game series against UMary, going 0-3.
 
He's reached base safely in 44 of 46 games on the season, carries a .412 on base percentage, is leading the league with 34 walks and set the CSP career walks record with 105 – topping 30 for three-straight seasons.
 
SEGNA EMERGES
Sophomore right-hander Ian Segna has emerged as one of the top starting pitchers in the Northern Sun with a 6-1 record and 3.30 ERA in eight conference starts with two complete games and a shutout. He's struck out 38 in 46.1 innings and held opponents to a .277 average.
 
Overall, he's been nearly as strong on the full season with a 6-2 record in nine starts (11 appearances) for a 3.78 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 52.1 innings and a .273 opponent average.
 
While he registered a shutout (7 IP) against SMSU in allowing just four hits and two walks to the Mustangs, his most impressive win may have been game three against Augustana, halting a Vikings squad from sweeping CSP at Barnes Field as he allowed two earned runs in 6.0 innings, allowing six hits and two walks.
 
He's pitched at least 5.0 innings in eight of his nine starts 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).