GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (21-20, 12-13 NSIC) will face Bemidji State University (19-18, 13-11 NSIC) in a key Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader on Thursday in Sioux Falls, S.D., starting at 1 p.m. The two games were scheduled to be played at Alumni Field in Marshall, but due to field conditions because of rain the last few days, the twinbill will be played at Augustana College's Karras Park Home of Ronken Field. SMSU is currently in ninth place in the NSIC standings and trail BSU by 1.5 games. The top eight teams qualify for the NSIC tournament on May 7-10 in Sioux Falls. SMSU will close the regular season this weekend with a four-game home series versus Northern State.

SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State leads the all-time series versus Bemidji State 93-59 ... SMSU defeated BSU 4-2 and 5-0 earlier this season in a non-conference doubleheader on March 12 in Tucson, Ariz. ... SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 41-18 all-time versus BSU ... complete game-by-game listing can be found on pages 9-11.

LEADING OFF - SMSU is batting .276 with 28 home runs and averaging 5.1 runs per game ... SMSU pitching has a 5.32 ERA with 229 strikeouts in 320 innings with opponents batting .305 ... SMSU has outscored its opponents 33-18 in the first inning and 41-19 in the fifth inning ... SMSU has been outscored 23-4 in the eighth inning ... SMSU is 19-2 when leading after six innings ... Patrick Rients tied school single-game record with three home runs vs. Augustana on April 19 ... Rients and Gary Schleper (vs. Austin College, 1986) are the only two players in program history to hit three in a game ...  Austin Stubbs hit three home runs in a doubleheader at Augustana (April 18) and is batting .336 on the season … Stubbs had a team-high 13-game hitting streak snapped on April 19 ... Rients leads the team with 13 home runs and is also the team leader in batting average (.379), hits (55) and RBIs (40) ... Rients and Ben Korger lead the team with 26 runs scored ... Jon Ellis and Korger lead the team lead with 12 doubles ... Korger and Sam Haas lead the team with seven stolen bases ... Jordon Kontz has a team-high 17 multi-hit games and ranks third on the team in hitting at .331 ... Rients has a team-leading 12 multi-RBI games ... Kontz drilled his first career home run on April 6 vs. Minnesota Duluth ... Jimmy Callahan tossed a nine-inning shutout vs. Minnesota Duluth (April 5) and a seven-inning shutout vs. Minnesota Crookston (April 26) ... Mitch Wurm tossed a seven-inning three-hit shutout vs. Minnesota Duluth (April 6) and a four-hit shutout vs. Wayne State (April 12) ... Joe Axelson recorded a career-high nine strikeouts vs. Wayne State (April 12) ... Steven Wehr tossed his first career complete game in a 4-2 victory over Bemidji State (March 12) ... Kontz ranks tied for second in school history in hit by pitches with 35 ... Korger ranks sixth in program history with 343 assists … Ellis was named NSIC Player of the Week on Feb. 18 ... Axelson was named NSIC Pitcher of the Week on March 17  and also earned two national pitcher of the week honors for his no-hitter on March 12 versus Bemidji State ... Rients was named Player of the Week on April 15 … SMSU's three-game sweep of Wayne State was the program's first of three or more games versus WSC in program history … SMSU has beaten a pair of ranked teams this season, including No. 17 Missouri Western State on Feb. 15 and No. 2 Minnesota State on March 21 ... SMSU was picked to finish 10th in the NSIC preseason coaches' poll ... SMSU's games on April 9 were the first played in Marshall since April 29, 2012, snapping a streak of 69 consecutive games played away from Marshall.

MUSTANG PITCHING "ZEROS" - The SMSU pitching staff has recorded five shutouts this season, which is tied (1999, 2006, 2007) for the second highest in team history and the most since 2007. The 1998 team holds the school record with six shutouts.

MORE ON RIENTS - Junior Patrick Rients has set a team single-season record with six triples, while his 13 home runs ranks tied for the sixth highest in one season in program history. He is the first player to reach double figure home runs since the 2010 season.

MORE MUSTANG STATS - For career statistics and career-highs on each SMSU player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.