THIS WEEK: Minot State continues on the road in Northern Sun play, traveling to Concordia-St. Paul for four conference games. The pair of double headers were moved back one day and the Beavers and Golden Bears match up Sunday and Monday starting at noon each day. Sunday's games will be played at Minnetonka's Veterans Field and Monday's games are scheduled for CSP's Bob Barnes Field.

RECORDS: Minot State is off to one of its best starts in school history, coming into the weekend with an 8-3 overall record and a 3-1 mark in NSIC play. CSP is 9-7 overall and 3-1 in the NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Scott Eul is in his first season as head coach of the baseball program at Minot State and is 8-3 in his young career as we head coach. Eul joins MSU after spending the past two seasons helping build St. Cloud State into a national powerhouse. Mark "Lunch" McKenzie is in his 18th season as head baseball coach at Concordia-St. Paul and is the school's all-time wins leader with 395. He is 395-299-1 overall.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: MSU provides live video – with Leif Bakken serving as the play-by-play announcer – and live stats at msubeavers.com for all home NSIC games. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Neither Minot State nor CSP received votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Division II poll.  

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State rolled to a pair of wins over Dickinson State Wednesday in nonconference baseball played in Watford City, N.D. The Beavers topped DSU 13-10 in game 1 and then exploded for a season-high 21 runs in a 21-2 win in game 2. MSU finished with 31 hits with Michael Borst finishing with five hits in the series including a grand slam and eight RBIs in game 2. Sean Alp had four RBIs in game 1 for the Beavers. CSP took three of four from Southwest Minnesota State last week to open NSIC play. In an up-and-down series, the Golden Bears no-hit SMSU in game 1, lost in a 2-0 shutout in game 2, blew out SMSU 11-1 in game 3 and went 10 innings in a 7-3 win in game 4. Gus Varland threw the first no-hitter in CSP's DII era.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Minot State earned its first win over Concordia-St. Paul, winning 4-0 March 9 at US Bank Stadium in nonconference play. The Beavers are 0-2 against CSP in NSIC games all-time.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State's Jeremy Sylvester was super in 8.1 innings pitched in the Beavers 4-0 over the Golden Bears in March in Minneapolis. He struck out five and didn't allow a run in the win. Trevaun Smith collected his first collegiate hit and RBI with a triple and scored on a Kyle Williamson double to give MSU a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning. Sylvester outdueled Keanu Mendez who was solid in the loss, striking out 10 MSU batters.

NOTING THE GOLDEN BEARS: Concordia-St. Paul is off to a solid start on the season with a 9-7 record including a win over then No. 17 ranked St. Cloud State (3-1, Feb. 27) and wins over SCSU, Northern State, Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State… Gus Varland's no hitter in a 6-1 win over Southwest Minnesota State was the a team's first no-hitter in its DII era and was just two strikeouts from setting the team's record as he fanned 14 SMSU batters… Connor Olson hit a walk-off grand slam in game 4 of the team's series with SMSU and had six hits in the series… CSP pitching is third in the NSIC in strikeouts with 124.

TREVAUN DOING SOMETHING EXTRA: Minot State redshirt freshman Trevaun Smith has come on strong in his first season on the field with the Beavers, batting .391 in eight games. He has nine hits on the season, seven for extra bases. Smith has three doubles, two triples, two home runs and two singles this season. He has driven in eight runs and scored nine while slugging an impressive .957.

BORST GRAND TO START THE YEAR: Michael Borst "cooled" off to the tune of a .523 batting average after boasting .700-plus numbers early in the year. But, while Borst hasn't kept up the nearly impossible pace, he has continued to hit for power and drive in runs. Borst has two home runs on the season – both grand slams – and has driven in 21 runs already this year. He has 21 of the team's 74 RBIs. He has eight extra base hits of his 23 total.

O'ROURKE LIGHTS OUT IN DEBUT: MSU's pitching staff has been solid to begin the season and a big reason has been the trio of first-year players Jeremy Sylvester, Reilly O'Rourke and Justin Demary.. Sylvester is 2-0 had hasn't given up a run. Demary is 2-1 wit ha 3.78 ERA in four games for the Beavers. And finally, O'Rouke pitched seven strong innings against Wayne State to push his record to 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA, giving up just one hit in his first start.

BY THE NUMBERS

.447: Jordan Schulz's batting average through 11 games. The senior outfielder has 17 hits in 38 at bats and has scored 11 runs. He has three doubles, two triples and two home runs, while driving in seven.

6: Strikeouts for Wyatt Moore against Dickinson State as he picked up his first win of the season going 5.1 innings in relief. Moore has a solid 3.00 ERA in two appearances in 2017.

10: Home runs for Minot State compared to just five for its opponents to start the season. The Beavers have seven different players with a dinger this year.