ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul baseball will embark on its spring trip this week, heading to the Orlando area to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational where CSP will play 10 games in seven days including an NSIC series.

The Golden Bears start things out on Wednesday against West Virginia Wesleyan before a pair of games on Thursday against Davis & Elkins and Malone. In the middle of the trip, the Golden Bears will play four games against new NSIC member Jamestown with the first three games of the series counting as conference games - a single game on Friday before a doubleheader on Saturday, with a non-conference series finale on Sunday. The trip concludes early next week with a Monday game against Point Park before a pair of games on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, starting with a rematch with Malone before ending the trip at Rollins.

The games will all feature live stats, with the final game at Rollins also featuring a video webcast.

Concordia is off to a 2-6 overall start and 1-2 in the Northern Sun. Through two four-game series, at Missouri Western State and a neutral site NSIC series against Minnesota Crookston, the Golden Bears have used four different starting pitchers: Sam Kennedy (0-0, 7.36), Ollie Yuhas (0-2, 4.91), Jack Thompson (0-1, 9.45) and Evan Newlander (0-2, 15.00). Yuhas and Kennedy lead the team with 7.1 innings followed by Thompson's 6.2. Kennedy leads the team with 10 strikeouts followed by Newlander's nine across 6.0 innings. In all, CSP has used 16 pitchers to start the season, with Caden Carsen, Cole Newell and Justin Benjamin each appearing in three games while seven others have appeared in two games thus far. 

The early season lineup has also seen plenty of opportunities for the deep Golden Bear roster, as 14 different position players have secured starts with 11 players starting at least three games. Gus Berger has been the early season impact bat, leading the team with seven extra-base hits with five doubles, two home runs and a team-high 14 RBIs while hitting .310/.417/.690, adding six walks to rank third on the team in free passes. Kaden Johnson and Chase McQuade have each slugged four extra-base hits, with Johnson hitting a double, two triples and a home while adding four stolen bases and a team-high nine runs, with McQuade delivering two doubles, two home runs, seven RBIs and a .318/.348/.682 slash. Johnson brings a .222/.400/.519 slash, buoyed by his four walks, four HBP to push his OPS over .900 (.919). 

Freshman Nick Carlson leads the team with a .517 OBP thanks to an 11-1 walk-strikeout ratio, and Max Kaplan leads the team in hitting at .364 (8-22) as the freshmen middle infielders join Berger (LF) with hot starts. 

As a team, Concordia has scratched out one more extra-base hit (29) than the opposition (28) and five of CSP's six losses have been by three runs or less. 

ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
West Virginia Wesleyan is off to a 1-6 start and will have a pair of games under their belts in Florida when CSP and WVWC square off. The Bobcats won their most recent game, breaking an 0-6 start with a 3-2 win over Georgian Court. This will be the first meeting between the schools. 

Davis & Elkins is off to a 1-8 start to the season and have dropped four-straight including two in Florida, the first at the RussMatt to Minnesota Crookston (19-1). DEC will play St. Cloud State on Wednesday before seeing CSP on Thursday. This will be the first meeting between the schools. 

Malone, who CSP will see twice, is 7-1 on the season with series wins over West Virginia State (4-0) and West Liberty (3-1), with their next action against CSP on Thursday to open their trip to the RussMatt. Concordia is 9-3 all-time against Malone, with all nine meetings coming since 2014 with eight of the nine games being played in Tucson, Arizona. CSP has won the last three games between the programs in a 2024 series sweep in Tucson. 

Jamestown is 1-11 to start the season including an 0-3 start to their tenure in the NSIC, dropping three NSIC games to Minnesota State along with the fourth non-conference game. The Jimmies are already in Florida, defeating Rockhurst 11-0 for their first win of the year before a doubleheader sweep by Seton Hill on Sunday. UJ will play Northwood on Tuesday and West Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday before seeing CSP for the NSIC series on Friday. Concordia is 1-3 all-time against Jamestown, dropping a game each in 2012 in Tucson, 2013 in Minneapolis, 2019 in Tucson and winning in 2020 in Tucson. 

Point Park is off to a 3-1 start, opening the year with three-straight wins at the Division II Round Robin at USA Baseball Complex in Cary, North Carolina before falling in a 1-run loss to Wilmington on Sunday. Point Park will play five games at the RussMatt before seeing Concordia next Monday including one against Malone and one against Minnesota Crookston. This will be the first meeting between the schools. 

In the final game of the trip, CSP will play a road game at Rollins College against a squad that is currently 13-4 overall and 6-0 in the Sunshine State Conference. Rollins will be rested with just one game between now and when the Golden Bears storm campus, facing #13 Seton Hill on Tuesday. CSP will see Rollins for a non-conference game next Tuesday, as Rollins prepares to host Embry-Riddle in a three-game conference series next weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun). Concordia is 0-1 against Rollins, falling at #16 Rollins in 2022 at Rollins.