Continued: Concordia (St. Paul) baseball team reaches its first regional ever

The Concordia (St. Paul) baseball team has qualified for an NCAA Division II regional for the first time in school history.

The Golden Bears (27-14), who finished third in the NSIC during the regular season, earned the regional bid by defeating regular-season champion Wayne State in the championship game of the NSIC tournament on Sunday. Concordia (St. Paul) has been competing at the Division II level for nine seasons.

The Golden Bears will travel to Emporia, Kan., for the Central Regional, which begins Thursday. The Golden Bears will play host Emporia State (47-8) in the first round.

Joe Abellera (.391, 13 home runs), Chris Herbert (.349, 12 home runs) and Jake Schmidt (7-0, 2.67 ERA, 90 strikeouts in 67 innings) lead the Golden Bears.

In other first-round games in the double-elimination tournament, Wayne State (40-11) will play Central Missouri (41-15), and Minnesota State Mankato (27-23) will play Nebraska-Omaha (42-11).

Omaha defeated Minnesota State Mankato 17-0 in the championship game of the North Central Conference tourney on Sunday.

Tommies top seed

St. Thomas, the MIAC regular-season and playoff champion, will be the top seed for the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional, which begins today in Oshkosh, Wis.

The Tommies (32-7) will play Knox (15-23) in the first round.

Chris Bullis, who is hitting .509, and pitchers Lonnie Robinson (7-1, 3.25 ERA) and Matt Schuld (7-2, 4.10) lead the Tommies.

Other teams competing at the regional are Carthage, St. Scholastica, Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wis.-Whitewater.

St. Scholastica (32-4) won its 12th consecutive UMAC title last Friday.

Johnnies at NCAA meet

Defending NCAA Division III men's golf champion St. John's shot a first-round 314 on Tuesday at the NCAA Division III championships in Braselton, Ga.

The Johnnies, who are making their ninth consecutive appearance in the national meet, trail first-round leader La Verne by 23 strokes. Junior Joe Schoolmeesters, who is No. 3 in Division III with a 72.7 average, led the Johnnies with a first-round 76.

Etc.

• Maria Bye of St. Thomas was named the MIAC Player of the Year and the MIAC Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season. Bye finished with an 86-10 career record and the MIAC career record for strikeouts (802).

• Gustavus Adolphus is playing host to the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships. The tournament, which began Tuesday, runs through Sunday. The Gusties are making their 12th consecutive appearance in the tournament. It's the second-longest active streak in Division III.

• St. Mary's Nick Whaley resigned on Tuesday after 12 seasons as the Cardinals baseball coach to become the baseball and volleyball coach at Winona Cotter High School.

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