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MSU baseball hits road for series against Concordia, St. Paul

MAUSTON, Wis. – The Minot State baseball teams heads back onto the diamond this weekend for a more normal series as the Beavers battle Concordia, St. Paul.

Normal, as the games are on the road for Minot State which has not yet played at home, and normal as they will be at a neutral site in Wisconsin with the Golden Bears the home team for Sunday’s doubleheader, scheduled to start at 1 p.m., and the team’s single game Monday at noon.

And more of a normal weekend, as well, as the Beavers (15-7, 6-4 NSIC) roll into the series with four days off, and with three days off scheduled after the series, a big break for Minot State which played seven games in six games against three different NSIC foes in Nebraska and Minnesota over the last weekend.

That challenging schedule left the Beavers with a 3-4 mark as they took on two of the league favorites in Minnesota State, Mankato – last year’s NSIC Tournament champion – and Augustana, the 2022 NSIC regular-season champ.

The Golden Bears (9-12, 5-3), like the Beavers, come into the weekend series looking to get back on a roll as Concordia, St. Paul swept three games from Bemidji State and two from Mary to start NSIC play before dropping all three to Minnesota Crookston last Saturday and Sunday.

That five-game league win streak makes Concordia, St. Paul a team to be taken seriously as the Golden Bears make not be among the league leaders in batting average (.265), ERA (6.50), or home runs (7), but they make the most of opportunities.

As for the Beavers, they’ve been bashing the ball at the plate as twice they have hit six home runs in a single game – Concordia, St. Paul has seven home runs as a team all season – and lead the NSIC in batting average at .324, and in home runs with 43 as Minot State averages nearly 9 runs a game (8.95).

Mark Ossanna is leading the offensive onslaught as he is tops in the NSIC in home runs with nine this spring, and in the top five in batting average (.415), slugging percentage (.805), and on-base percentage (.510), while teammate Brent Riddle is No. 3 in the league in RBIs with 28.

All that offense supports a solid pitching staff that is sixth in the NSIC in ERA at 5.18, while Trevyn Badger (2-0) is No. 2 in the league in opponent batting average at .171 for Minot State.

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