Crookston, Minn.—The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles baseball team is feeling pretty good about themselves after the first three game series of NSIC play.
 
The Golden Eagles were supposed to open conference play in Wayne, Neb., against Wayne State College, but Mother Nature had other intentions. Instead the Golden Eagles traveled two hours south of Wayne to play in Omaha, Neb., against the Wildcats.
 
The longer trip for the Golden Eagles was no problem, as the Golden Eagles swept Wayne State to start out conference play 3-0 for the first time since 2016.
 
The Golden Eagles currently sit three games over .500 at 10-7 and 3-0 in conference play, good for second in the NSIC.
 
This weekend, it doesn't get any easier for the Golden Eagles, who will travel to Minnetonka, Minn., for a top-five NSIC matchup with the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears are coming off a weekend that saw them take the last two games against Southwest Minnesota State University after losing the first game.
 
Concordia-St. Paul split two games with Minot State Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Minnesota Crookston at Concordia-St. Paul
Location: Minnetonka, Minn.
Veterans Field
Sun., March 24—12/2 pm
Mon., March 25—5 pm
Live Stats- https://cspbears.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
 
Minnesota Crookston Preview
Projected Starting Lineup
Jr. LF 6 Bryce Jorgenson, .304, 18 runs, 6 2B, 5 RBIs
Jr. CF 1 Landyn Swenson, .290, 11 runs, 3 2B, 5 RBIs
Sr. 1B 33 Reed Hjelle, .340, 17 runs, 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 14 RBIs
So. C 29 Ben Thoma, .310, 10 runs, 5 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 14 RBIs
So. RF 20 Brock Reller, .261, 10 runs, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 14 RBIs
Jr. DH 19 Bobby Chu, .294, 2 runs, 2 RBIs
Jr R-Jr. DH 32 Hunter Baldwin, .263, 3 runs, 3 2B, 3 RBIs
Jr. 3B 18 Scott Finberg, .214, 6 runs, 2 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBIs
Jr. 2B 21 Mason Ruhlman, .152, 7 runs, 2 HR, 5 RBIs
R-So. SS 9 Griffin Fussy.294, 6 runs, 1 3B, 6 RBIs
 
Top Starters
Jr. RHP 35 Jayden Grover, 2-2 3.65 ERA, 24.2 IP, 12 K, 15 BB
Sr. LHP 30 Nate Albrecht, 1-1 6.48 ERA, 16.2 IP, 13 K, 4 BB
Sr. LHP 24 Zach Rustad, 2-3 6.49 ERA, 26.1 IP, 15 K, 11 BB
 
Top Relievers
R-So. LHP 36 Dalton Grose, 1-0 3.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 8 saves, 13 K, 5 BB
RHP 17 Conner Richardson, 1-0 2.89 ERA, 9.1 IP, 1 K, 2 BB
 
Minnesota Crookston picked up the sweep over Wayne State College, who was picked to finish sixth in the NSIC preseason poll, with some timely hitting, good defense and quality pitching. As a team, Minnesota is batting .260 with 13 homeruns, 88 RBI's and have scored 102 runs, including 18 runs scored from Bryce Jorgenson (Jr., UT, Thunder Bay, Ontario). The Golden Eagles have three hitters that are hitting over .300, including Reed Hjelle (Sr., 1B, East Grand Forks, Minn.), who is leading the team at .340, Ben Thoma (So., C/SS, Clearbrook, Minn.), who is hitting .310, and Jorgenson who is hitting .304. Bobby Chu (Jr., C, Redwood City, Calif.) and Landyn Swenson (Jr., OF, Devils Lake, N.D.) are hitting .292 and .290, respectively. The Golden Eagles already have 13 homeruns on the season, including three each from four different players, including Hjelle, Brock Reller (So., OF, Grand Forks, N.D.), Mason Ruhlman (Jr., 2B, Algonac, Mich.) and Scott Finberg (Jr., 3B, Stillwater, Minn.). The Golden Eagles will look to continue the power surge this weekend against CSP.
 
On the hill, the Golden Eagles have rebounded nicely after a rough start to the season, where they gave up double-digit runs in three straight games to open the season against Central Missouri. Zach Rustad (Sr., LHP, Blaine, Minn.) has been the number one starter all year long and he proved why with a dominant outing against Wayne State. Rustad pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout against the Wildcats, while also striking out seven. That performance earned Rustad pitcher of the week in the conference. Nate Albrecht (Sr., LHP, Wahpeton, N.D.) and Jayden Grover (Jr., RHP, Cooperstown, N.D.) have helped solidify the starters as well. Grover leads the team in wins with two and has held opponents to hit just .207 on the season, good for seventh in the NSIC.
 
The relievers have been outstanding this season. Aaron Hollcraft (Sr., LHP, Crookston, Minn.), Dalton Grose (R-So., LHP, Waterville, Minn.) and Connor Richardson (Fr., RHP, Grand Forks, N.D.) have been the trio that have locked down wins for the Golden Eagles. Hollcraft has pitched in five games this year and is 1-0 with six strikeouts with a 4.26 ERA. Richardson hasn't pitched like a true freshman, maintaining a 2.89 ERA and picked up his first win over the weekend. Grose has been the closer this season and he has converted on four of his save attempts this season. Grose is tied with Nicolas Herald of Winona State for first in saves.
Concordia-St. Paul
Projected Starting Lineup
Sr. C 5 Carter Schmidt    .302, 11 R, 3 RBI's
Sr. 2B 4 Isaac Hormann  .240, 9 R, 2HR, 9 RBI's
Sr. 1B 19 Roch Wittaker .354, 8 R, 8 RBI's
So. CF 7 Ryan Cristopher  .394, 17 H, 3 2B, 16 RBI's
Sr. RF 1 Cole Kirchoff      .268, 10 R, 1 R, 6 RBI's
Sr. LF 13 Jake Steckler    .190, 8 R,
Sr. DH 11 Kyle Hortsmann  .300, 4 R
Sr. 3B 23 Drew Sannes   .188, 1 R, 8 RBI's
Fr. SS 3 Jarod Wandersee  .364, 2 R, 3 RBI's
 
Top Starters
Sr. RHP 29 Josh Gowarski 1.29 ERA, 1-0 14.0 IP, 10 SO, 4 BB
Sr. RHP 9 Zach Lauzon    1.71 ERA, 1-0, 1 CG, 21.0 IP, 24 SO, 6 BB
Sr. RHP 42 Keanu Mendez  2.00 ERA, 2-1, 18.0 IP, 17 SO
Jr. RHP 17 Louie Varland  3.44 ERA, 2-1, 18.1 IP, 24 SO
 
Top Relievers
Jr. RHP 30 Shane Benson 0.00 ERA, 6.1 IP, 1-0, 8 SO
Sr. RHP 33 Blake Stelzer 1.12, 1-0, 8.0 IP, 10 SO, 3 BB
So. RHP 31 Ross Bastyr  4.82 ERA, 0-1, 9.1 IP, 5 SO
 
The Golden Bears are always a favorite to be one of the top teams in the NSIC. Picked fifth in the preseason poll, the Golden Bears are living up to those expectations, albeit we are only three games into conference play. Concordia-St. Paul is coming off a series win over the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State. The Golden Bears fell in the first game of the series, but they were able to win the next two, including an extra inning victory in game two.
 
The Golden Bears have a good offense. As a team, CSP is hitting .282, and is led by Patrick Bordewick and Ryan Christopher who are hitting .396 and .395, respectively. The .282 average for the Golden Bears has them in seventh in the NSIC. CSP has only four homeruns on the year as a team and Isaac Hormann has two of them.
 
The Golden Bears arguably have one of the best pitching staffs in the entire conference. Their team ERA of 4.06 has them in second in the conference and has struck out 126 opponents as a team. Josh Gowarski, Zach Lauzon, Louie Varland and Keanu Mendez all have more than one start on the season. Gowarski and Lauzon have sub 2.00 ERA's and Varland is the younger brother of Gus Varland, a former Golden Bear and a 14^th round pick of the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 MLB draft. In relief, they can turn to Shane Benson and Blake Stelzer, who have a combined 1.12 ERA. The Golden Bears win a lot of games because of their pitching staff.