ST. PAUL, Minn. - This week, the Concordia-St. Paul baseball team (1-3) opens NSIC play with a four-game series against Minnesota Crookston (3-4, 2-1 NSIC) at LaRoche Baseball Complex in Fort Scott Kansas.

The four games were originally scheduled to be played over Friday, Saturday and Sunday but poor weekend weather has shifted the series to doubleheaders starting at noon on Thursday and Friday. The first day will feature a traditional NSIC series doubleheader with a seven followed by a nine inning game, while Friday will feature a nine-inning NSIC contest followed by a series finale non-conference seven-inning game.

This Thursday, conditions are expected to be a high of 65 after warming from an overnight low of 49 degrees with mostly sunny conditions and winds increasing throughout the day, WSW 20-30mph with gusts potentially over 40mph. On Friday, the temperature is only expected to reach 45 after an overnight low of 24 degrees, but with more calm, sunny conditions and a N wind 5-10mph. 

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 51, UMC 22
Concordia and UMC have played 73 prior times with the series beginning with CSP's move into the NSIC and NCAA Division II ranks for the 2000 season. UMC welcomed CSP to the NSIC by winning six of the first nine games against the newly named Golden Bears from the 2000 to 2003 seasons. With CSP winning game two of the 2003 doubleheader, the Golden Bears turned the table in the series with a 43-game winning streak from 2003 to 2018. 

The Golden Eagles then won 14 of the next 16 meetings from 2019 to 2024, with CSP winning three of the last five games from the 2024 finale in Beatrice, Nebraska through last year's four-game series split in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Concordia is 20-2 at home and 17-5 on the road against UMC, but the Golden Eagles are 15-14 against CSP in neutral site settings. The two teams have played their last four series against each other in four different cities and three different states: 2022 in Sioux City, Iowa, 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska, 2024 in Beatrice, Nebraska and 2025 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

UMC hasn't been to CSP's campus since 2014, and CSP hasn't been to UMC since 2021.

Last year, UMC won the first two games of the series 11-0 and 5-2 before CSP secured a pair of 1-run wins on day two: 4-3 and 5-4.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
Concordia opened its season February 6-8 with a four-game series at Missouri Western State in St. Joseph, Missouri, taking one game from the Griffons and dropping two others by three runs or less including a 1-run loss.

In the season opening series, the Golden Bears had 13 different position players start and 15 different pitchers took the mound. 

Sophomore catcher Eli Nelson went 3-8 (.375) on the weekend, producing a double, homer, three RBIs and four runs while drawing two walks and adding a stolen base. 

Freshman Max Kaplan hit .300 in his first weekend of college baseball (3-10) and freshman Gus Berger had three doubles among his four hits, driving in a team-high six RBIs in his debut. Berger's hot start ranks him first in the NSIC and 14th in the country in doubles per game (0.75).

Concordia's new-look pitching staff secured 4.0-inning starts from junior lefty Ollie Yuhas and sophomore newcomer right hander Sam Kennedy, who combined to allow three earned runs over 8.0 innings and sophomore left handed transfer Jack Thompson pitched into the fourth inning in his debut start. Thompson and senior reliever Christian Lindow combined for eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings in a combined outing that surrendered just two earned runs and an 8-2 SO-BB ratio. 

Additionally, four relievers closed the book on 0.00 opening weekend ERAs: Lindow (3.1 IP), sophomore transfer righty Tyus Smith (1.2 IP), sophomore right hander Jake McNeil (1.2 IP) and senior RHP Sam Cooper (1.0 IP) while sophomore southpaw Liam Bystol (2.1 IP) and freshman RHP/catcher Davon Castro (2.0 IP) each allowed only one earned run. 

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Minnesota Crookston has seven games under its belt already, including its first NSIC series, taking 2-of-3 NSIC games and splitting an overall 4-game series with Southwest Minnesota State last weekend in Brandon, South Dakota. All four games of the SMSU series were decided by three runs or less. Three of the four games featured five to nine runs scored for either side, with the outlier being a 17-15 UMC win in game two. 

The Golden Eagles took one of three on the road to open the season February 6, 7, 8 at UC-Colorado Springs, once again with all three games decided by two runs or less and two of the three games played with runs scored between four and nine for either side, with one exception being a 23-22 UMC loss in game three.

Three pitchers have two starts: Isaac Roers (0-0, 7.56), Kyle Odenbach (0-0, 10.13) and Nate Benning (0-0, 29.70) while Aaron Bennett (0-1, 5.40) has two appearances and one start. Isaac Wensloff hasn't started, but has appeared in two games and is tied with Roers with 8.1 innings. Wensloff is 1-0 with a 6.48 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 8.1 innings, holding opponents to a .250 average with a 1.08 WHIP. 

UMC has had 18 different pitchers compete in a game through their first seven games and as a team, UMC has 55 strikeouts in 59.2 innings while issuing 33 walks and a .346 opponent average for a 2.04 WHIP. UMC has allowed 19 home runs as a staff.

Offensively, Jackson Fliflet leads the team in average (.471), on-base (.545), slugging (.941), OPS (1.486) and is 8-17 with two doubles, two homers, six runs and six RBIs. Elias Leach is hitting a similarly hot .407/.515/.815 (1.330) and is 11-27 with three homers and a team-best 10 RBIs. Americo Sculati leads the team with four home runs, adding eight RBIs and a 1.138 OPS. 

Last year, UMC went 23-29 overall and 20-20 to finish tied for seventh in the NSIC. Heading into the 2026 season, UMC was picked eighth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 112 points, three behind UMary and four behind sixth-place Minnesota Duluth.