Winona State baseball welcomes Concordia, St. Paul to Loughrey Field on Wednesday afternoon as the Warriors conclude the 2019 home schedule. The doubleheader between the Warriors and Golden Bears is set for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch.

WSU was affected by mother nature early in the spring as the Warriors were forced to play their first four home series at a neutral site. Despite the massive amounts of weather changes, Winona State has recorded a 7-4 record on its home turf this season while playing as the visitors on the scoreboard in six of those contests due to site reversal. With the NSIC Tournament looming, the Warriors look to cement their name on the bracket entering the last week of the season.
 
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SCOUTING CSP: The Golden Bears enter Wednesday with a 20-23 (11-19 NSIC) record sitting just outside the playoff bubble in 10th place. CSP has lost five straight games after splitting a doubleheader with Wayne State and being swept by Minnesota State this past weekend in a four-game set. The Golden Bears own a team .255 batting average with 339 hits, just behind Winona State (343). Ryan Christopher leads CSP in hitting (.313) and RBI (25). Concordia's pitching staff has totaled a 4.87 ERA surrendering the leagues seventh-most hits (384). The Golden bears have given up an average of 12 his per game over their recent five game skid. Louie Varland (4-4) heads the CSP starters with a 3.28 ERA in 49.1 IP striking out a team-high 61. Out of the 'pen, Blake Stelzer leads the pack with a team-best 2.12 ERA in 29.2 IP. 
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE: Entering the final week of the season, Winona State sits right inside the NSIC tournament bubble in the eight spot with a 13-14 conference record. Breathing down the Warriors neck is UMary (12-18) and Wednesday's opponent CSP (11-19). Not yet solidified until the final out is recorded this weekend, Winona State needs to keep a close eye on what the Marauders do this weekend against St. Cloud and Northern State as Mary could potentially knock the Warriors out of playoff contention. 
 
ON-BASE MACHINE: Leadoff man Zac Stange has done his job this season getting on base for the Warriors. The sophomore is third in the league in on-base percentage (.486) and also occupies the second spot on the conference walk list (34). Stange has had a productive month of April reaching base in each of the last eight games while drawing 15 free passes over that stretch. His ability to get on base has yielded a team-high 32 runs this season. The second baseman is averaging a hit per game over the condensed April schedule while sprinkling in seven RBI.
 
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP:  Third baseman Tanner Williams continues to impress the spectators in his second year in a Warrior uniform. After acting primarily as the designated hitter in 2018, Williams has found himself cemented at the "hot corner" and hitting out of the number two spot this year. Sandwiched between leadoff man Zac Stange and the ever-present threat of Sam Kohnle, Williams has perfected the art of setting the table for Winona State's middle of the order to produce. Williams (.318) is just shy of Kohnle (.355) for the highest batting average on the team and is one hit shy of his teammate for most hits (48). The sophomore launched his team-leading fifth long ball this past weekend against Sioux Falls and has produced 15 multi-hit games.
 
HITTING THE COVER OFF THE BALL: Winona State started off the 2019 campaign with some red-hot bats at the plate, collecting four 10-plus hit games helping the team to a 6-2 start. The Warriors maintained steady offensive production into the first portion of the NSIC schedule but saw a bit of a drop in production at the plate in early April as Winona State faced some teams near the top of the conference. Recently, production has trended upward once again as Winona State added four more 10-plus hit games to their season total (14). The bats have continued to stay hot as WSU posted two nine-hit performances against Sioux Falls this past weekend while hitting three home runs. Williams (15), Kohnle (13) and Austin Savary (10) each have double digit multi-hit games this year. Chad Herbst enters the midweek set riding a season-high 11-game hitting streak. 
 
PITCHING PROWESS: The Warrior pitching staff has plenty of talent to go around with Aaron Mutter and Dillon Whittaker leading the pack. Mutter (4-2) recently threw a complete-game gem against Upper Iowa on Wednesday on the front end of the Warriors' sweep. Whittaker leads Winona State in strikeouts (47) and innings pitched (54.0). Anchoring the lock-down bullpen is Parker Holmstrom and Nicolas Herold. Holmstrom has given up just one run on four hits over his last seven appearances. Herold continues to hold down the closer role, limiting opposing batters to a .164 average and maintaining a presence among the NSIC save leaders (6). The closer rendered Sioux Falls hitless over 3.2 IP collecting six punch-outs on Sunday en route to his first win of the season.