On Tap: Sixth-ranked Minnesota State can clinch its fourth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season championship in the past five years as it wraps up the regular season this weekend. MSU will travel to Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday for a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m., before hosting Wayne State in a four-game series this Friday and Saturday.
 
Last Time on the Diamond:  The Purple and Gold extended its winning streak to a season-high 13 games last week with a sweep of visiting St. Cloud State last Wednesday in its only action of the week.
 
Game one was scoreless through three frames until SCSU pushed across an unearned run in the top of the fourth to claim a 1-0 lead. That score held until the bottom of the sixth when a leadoff double by junior Max Waletich (Fairmont, Minn.) was followed by back-to-back RBI triples from junior Nolan Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) and senior Stetson Olson (Renton, Wash.), before junior Connor McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) tagged a RBI single giving MSU a 3-1 edge which proved final. Senior righthander Jason Hoppe (Rice, Minn.) improved to 9-1striking out five in his fifth complete game of the season.
 
The second affair was all Minnesota State as it scored four runs in the first three innings with three off a RBI triple and a two-run home run from Johnson. The Mavericks added eight runs over the final three frames to claim a 12-2 victory as senior righthander Bryce Bellin (Kimberly, Wis.) moved to 3-1 by scattering five hits, two walks and an earned run with two strikeouts over seven innings.
 
A Look at the Golden Bears: Concordia-St. Paul stands 25-11 overall and 17-9 in conference play, placing it fourth, and is riding a six-game winning streak after sweeping Upper Iowa last weekend. The Golden Bears are hitting .318 as a team and averaging 5.9 runs per game with six individuals batting over .300 led by junior Kyle Dalton (UTL, 6-0, 175, Minnetonka, Minn.) who is hitting .446 with a home run, six doubles, 22 RBI, 33 runs scored and a team-high six steals. CU holds a 3.43 team earned run average and has surrendered a .250 opponent batting average to date. Sophomore Zach Rengel (LHP, 6-2, 195, Fergus Falls, Minn.) stands 5-2 over eight starts with a 1.91 ERA and 27 strikeouts over 47 innings of work.
 
Inside the MSU-CU Series:  The Mavericks stand 10-22 all-time against the Golden Bears after going 2-0 versus CU last season by margins of 8-1 and 9-0.
 
A Look at the Wildcats: Wayne State owns a 23-18 overall record and a 16-11 mark in league play ranking it seventh after taking three-of-four from Augustana last weekend. The Wildcats are hitting .284 and averaging 6.6 runs per game. Junior Michael Herman (INF, 6-0, 200, Omaha, Neb.) is batting .353 with a home run, 15 doubles, 18 runs and team-high 29 RBI to date. The WSC pitching staff holds a 4.02 team ERA and a .261 opponent batting average. Sophomore Eric Browning (RHP, 6-1, 190, Lyons, Neb.) stands 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA, three complete games and 69 strikeouts over 52.1 innings pitched.
 
Inside the MSU-WSC Series:  MSU boasts an 18-6 all-time record against Wayne State and won three-of-four games at WSC a season ago.
 
Minnesota State History: The 2014 season marks the 74th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,616-820-7 (.663) all-time record in 2,443 total games. Minnesota State has five Northern Intercollegiate Conference titles (1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1981), 19 North Central Conference championships (1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007) and three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crowns (2010, 2011, 2012). The program has 32 appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and seven in the NCAA Division II World Series (1971, 1979, 1980, 1986, 2010, 2012, 2013) including a third-place finish in 2012 and national runner-up performance in 2013.
 
Additionally, seven Mavericks have been selected All-Americans.

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