Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 It is not the way head coach Jim Weyandt would have planned it. But he and his  Hamline baseball team knows what it has to do when it faces Concordia Wednesday afternoon at the Metrodome. The Pipers stand 8-10 in the MIAC. That's currently eighth place but barely behind four teams tied for fourth place with .500 records. They know they will need to win at least one ... and quite possibly both ... games of the 2:30 p.m. twinbill against the Cobbers.

Hamline dropped two games at MIAC regular season champ St. Thomas, 6-0 and 10-4, Tuesday. In the opener, Mark Radmacher (pictured) broke up a no-hit attempt with a 7th inning single. He got as far as second base but that was it. In the nightcap, HU was down 6-0 in the 5th inning when Jordan Rubbelke singled home a run in the 5th inning. Later, Radmacher drilled a three-run homer to make it 6-4 and rapped out nine hits in all (Dan Ellefson reached base four times on two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch) but the Tommies scored the last four runs to finish off the day. 

HU stands 23-13 overall, the second best overall record in the league. But they know they will need to come out swinging against the Cobbers, who are part of a major logjam with a 8-8 MIAC won-loss mark after splitting a pair of games at St. Olaf Tuesday. They will play the Pipers Wednesday and then go home to face St. Mary's Thursday. Augsburg and St. Mary's -- both of which have four games to play, also stand 8-8 while St. John's, which will not play any more games, is 9-9. St. Olaf is 6-8 but also have four games remaining.

Bethel is 10-10 and is finished with conference play.

A decision by the MIAC today expanded the conference playoff field to six teams with a single elimination format for this season. So we have seven teams vying for four playoff spots in the field that will begin play Friday in Minnetonka, Minn. For the Pipers to be one of those teams, they know they will need to fare well against Concordia Wednesday. 

The twinbill begins at 2:30 p.m.