ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Tuesday at noon, Concordia-St. Paul (10-17, 5-10 NSIC) will host Winona State (11-14, 6-6 NSIC) for the Golden Bear baseball home opener at Barnes Field on campus. The doubleheader is scheduled for a noon start.

First pitch at noon is forecast for a 47 degree temperature with a NNW wind at 14mph (blowing in from left) with mostly cloudy conditions and a 17 percent chance of precipitation, while the overall high for the day is 51 with winds ranging into the 20-25 gust range.

This doubleheader marks the start of midweek competition in NSIC play for both squads. CSP is coming off of a 3-game weekend series against #26 Minnesota State while Winona State hosted UMary for a four-game series with three conference games and a non-conference finale. 

SERIES HISTORY: WSU 48, CSP 41
The two teams have met 89 times entering this week's doubleheader. It's been a closely contested series with CSP winning three of the last five games but the two teams splitting each of the last three doubleheaders in 2023, 2024 and 2025. 

With CSP winning three of five, that snapped a four-game winning streak by WSU after CSP had posted a 5-3 record in the previous eight as the series continues to shift back-and-forth.

Concordia is 5-6 against WSU under seventh-year head CSP coach Neil Lerner, and 15-18 all-time at home against the Warriors. In Northern Sun contests, Concordia is 38-39 against WSU.

POTENTIAL PITCHING MATCHUPS
With this marking the first midweek for either team, there are no usage patterns to suggest a high degree of confidence in starting pitching projections, but based on weekend pitching patterns, the following arms could be in the mix for a start on either team:
CSP
Evan Newlander, LHP: 0-2, 8.27 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, 5 app/4 gs, 16.1 IP, 22-13 SO-BB, .258 oav
Tyus Smith, RHP: 0-1, 4.11 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 6 app/1 gs, 15.1 IP, 10-6 SO-BB, .271 oav

WSU
Nathan Vela, RHP: 1-2, 3.86 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 5 app/gs, 21.0 IP, 19-14 SO-BB, .278 oav
Wesley Johnson, RHP: 2-1, 6.88 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 6 app/1 gs, 17.0 IP, 17-6 SO-BB, .304 oav
Peyton Lee, RHP: 0-1, 2.70 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 7 app/1 gs, 13.1 IP, 12-6 SO-BB, .255 oav
Boyd Skelley, RHP: 0-1, 5.40 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 8 app/1 gs, 8.1 IP, 3-7 SO-BB, .226 oav
Easton Arendt, RHP: 0-2, 6.43 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, 3 app/3 gs, 7.0 IP, 9-3 SO-BB, .345 oav
Pierce Gritzmaker, RHP: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 2 app/2 gs, 3.0 IP, 4-0 SO-BB, .333 oav