Jun. 16– The Concordia University baseball team closed out the 2008 campaign as one of the most successful seasons in school history. After winning the 2008 NSIC Baseball Tournament title and earning their first trip to the NCAA Central Region Tournament, the Golden Bears' success was apparent in the final 2008 NCAA Division II Baseball Statistics, being ranked in the top-25 in six statistical categories and receiving four top-10 rankings in various hitting, pitching and fielding categories.

The .973 team fielding percentage ranked second in all of Division II with 223 teams ranked and just .002 behind the national leader, UC San Diego (.975). They committed only 35 errors all season (43 games) while opponents kicked the ball around 66 times.

The defense undoubtedly had a boost from one of the most prolific strikeout pitching staffs in the nation. The Golden Bear hurlers struck out 9.0 batters per nine innings, third in the nation with 311 strikeouts in 310.1 innings. The dominant arms also exhibited plenty of control, finishing sixth in the nation in fewest walks per nine innings, surrendering just 2.78 walks per nine. Being ranked as highly as they were in each statistic, CU would've have been a contender, if not a favorite, to be the national leader in K/BB ratio, striking out 3.24 per walk as a team. Concordia's pitchers only walked 96 batters in the 310.1 innings they threw in 43 games. Individually, junior Jake Schmidt (Oakdale, Minn.) and his 12.28 strikeouts per nine innings were third in the nation, finishing with 100 strikeouts.

Offensively, Concordia boasted some of the best sluggers in the nation, finishing eighth in the country in home runs per game (1.44), slugging 62 homers in 43 games. Their team slugging pct. of .535 was ranked 12th in NCAA D-II as well.