GAME NOTES | LIVE STATISTICS
THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (1-3) will travel to Tucson, Ariz., to play 12 games over the course of nine days competing at the Tucson Invitational from March 7-15. SMSU will play eight different opponents which will take place at the Kino Sports Complex - the former spring training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox. SMSU begins the week on Friday with a 4 p.m. CST game versus Malone University (Ohio) and then will face Cal. State San Bernardino later that evening at 8 p.m. On Saturday, SMSU will take on Concordia (Neb.) at 5 p.m. CST, before closing the weekend on Sunday with a game versus Northern State at 2:30 p.m. CDT. SMSU and NSU will play a doubleheader on Monday starting at 12 p.m. CDT, before SMSU takes its lone day on Tuesday. SMSU and Bemidji State will play a twinbill on Wednesday, March 12, at 11 a.m. CDT, before meeting up with Mayville State (N.D.) for a single game on Thursday, March 13 at 9 p.m. CDT. SMSU will play its final doubleheader on Friday, March 14, versus Concordia-St. Paul at 11 a.m. CDT, before closing the trip with a game versus Minot State at 11 a.m. CDT.
LIVE STATISTICS - Live statistics for all 12 games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com/baseballstats
SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State will be meeting Malone, Cal. State San Bernardino and Concordia (Neb.) for the first time in program history. SMSU is 84-33 all-time versus Northern State and leads the all-time series versus Bemidji State at 91-59. Concordia-St. Paul holds a slight 18-17 advantage, winning twice last season in NSIC play in Minnetonka. Mayville State holds a 1-0-1 series advantage over SMSU, while Minot State is 5-3 all-time versus SMSU, including winning three times last season in Tucson.
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS - Southwest Minnesota State is 1-3 on the season after opening the season on Feb. 15-16 with four games in Emporia, Kan. SMSU opened the season on Feb. 15 with an 11-7 loss to Emporia State, before earning a 7-6 walk-off victory over Missouri Western State. On Feb. 16, the Mustangs dropped a pair of 4-2 games to ESU and MWSU. Both ESU and MWSU snapped a 2-2 game scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Jon Ellis led SMSU batting .583 (7 for 12) with one double and one home run with a team-leading six RBIs.
Jordon Kontz batted .438 (7 for 16), while
Ryan Engels finished with a .429 average (3 for 7) with a home run.
Patrick Rients finished the four games with 11 total bases and belted two home runs, including a solo walk-off blast to defeat MWSU.
Joe Axelson tied a career-high with seven innings tossed, allowing one earned run, in the 4-2 setback versus ESU, while James Callahan also had a solid start in his Mustang debut allowing two earned runs in seven innings versus MWSU.
