This weekend brings the University of Minnesota-Crookston into St. Paul, MN and our very own Bob Barnes Field. UMC brings in a (3-32) record and (0-20) NSIC record. The host Bears are coming off a mid-week double-header sweep of Northern State University at home and have improved their record to (14-22) and a (6-9) NSIC record. CU is riding a recent wave of success having won four of the last five contests, and carry in a 23 game win streak against Minnesota-Crookston.

Last Time Out:

The last time the Bears took the field was last Wednesday against Northern State University at home, taking both ends of a mid-week twin bill. Nick Anderson (Plymouth, MN) made his 18^th appearance of the season coming out of the bullpen for the last two innings and picking up the win. The win improved Anderson to (4-5) on the season. On the offensive side Bryan Lippincott (Des Moines, IA), Brenden Furrow (Johnston, IA), and Logan Bouts (Hopkins, MN) all notched three-hit performances. Furrow drove in four runs during the game, three on one massive swing blasting his eighth homer of the season, and in the process broke the Concordia University career RBI record. After the double-header Furrow had 155 RBI’s, snapping Erik Quarberg’s (03-06) previous record of 150. J.T. Schneider (Oak Creek, WI) and Jon Stockton (Oakdale, MN) both hit safely to extend their current hit streaks. The final tally of game one was a 10 to 9 victory for CU, Schneider singled to right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off victory.

In game two freshman Hogan Jackson (Oakdale, MN) made his first collegiate start in the mound. Jackson was solid through five innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just three runs. Ty Hall (Spring Lake Park, MN) tossed the final two frames out of the bullpen. Hogan put the handcuffs on NSU hitters all day while the CU bats heated up. Blake DeVries (Eden Prairie, MN) smashed his 12^th homerun of the season. DeVries is now just two short of the single-season record held by Matt Borman (03-04, 07). Once again in the night-cap J.T. Schneider and Jon Stockton both hit safely to extend their hitting streaks to 15 and 9 games respectively. Jackson logged his second win of the season and lowered his team leading ERA to 3.95.

What to Expect from the Weekend:

This weekend is the third NSIC four-game weekend series at Bob Barnes Field this year. Minnesota-Crookston comes in to town. The Golden Bears will shake up the rotation this weekend for the first time in conference play. In past weekend series the rotation has gone Ben Lemke (Rosemount, MN), Chris Peterson (St. Anthony, MN), Andy Fagely (Mahtomedi, MN), and Griff Kilber (Chanhassen, MN). But with Lemke getting a rare mid-week start this week, Andy Fagely will get the nod in game one. Fagely delivered one of the best performances of the year last weekend at 13^th ranked St. Cloud State when he tossed a complete game victory. Fagely will be followed in game two by Peterson who has been outstanding all season with a 2-1 record including a dominating performance in the Wayne State series. Sunday is still up for debate as Lemke is questionable having thrown on Wednesday and a fourth starter is yet to be determined. Ryan Rodeck (Lino Lakes, MN) having thrown well out of the bullpen recently could be in line to make a start against the UMC Golden Eagles.

Offensively expected some power numbers from the weekend as balls have been flying out of Bob Barnes field this year with double digit homeruns in each of the previous two weekend series held there. Opponents have sent 39 balls over the fence this year, while the Bears have drilled 37 long balls, 27 of those coming from DeVries, 12, Furrow, 8, and Lippincott, 7. J.T. Schneider will put his 15 game hit-streak on the line Saturday and Jon Stockton will try to extend his current 9 game streak.

Making a Run at the Tournament:

After a shaky start to the year, especially in NSIC play the Golden Bears have begun to turn things around. After beginning the conference season 1-7, CU has won 5 of their last 7 games. With 16 games left to play we sit just 2.5 games back of 6^th place and the final NSIC tournament entry spot. If you make it to the tournament anything is possible. With series against Crookston, #27 Minnesota State Mankato, Bemidji state, and #23 Winona State standing between us and the post season it is going to take a full team effort every day. Anything is possible when we play as a team. Hopefully we can ride our current wave of success into a big win streak and with a little luck into the tournament.

Random In-Season Facts:

CU plays best on Thursday’s having a (4-3) record on that day of the week.

CU seems to be a morning team currently (5-2) in games starting before noon.

CU is (6-9) in one-run contests, 15 of our 36 games have been one-run games, that is 42% of games.

Brenden Furrow has broken five CU career offensive records this season, and if he plays in both games on Saturday will break the record for most games played.

Furrow’s list of career records:

Career At-Bats: 597

Career Hits: 231

Career Runs: 137

Career RBI’s: 155

Career Doubles: 47

Currently 2^nd in Career games played: 167 (leader Dave Johnson (95-98) with 168)

In-Season Notes:

Next Game: University of Minnesota-Crookston (Barnes Field), Double-header, Saturday, April 17^th, 2010, 1:00pm

Overall Team Record: 14-22

Central Region Record: 10-16

Conference Record: 6-9

Conference Standing: 9^th (Week of April 12th)

If any readers have any feedback or questions that they would like answered please feel free to email SID@csp.edu, and I will answer them in future blogs or through email if they are better suited to be answered that way. Personal thoughts from readers are always appreciated.

-Go Golden Bears-