GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS

THIS WEEKEND - The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (23-20, 14-13 NSIC) will host Northern State University (27-14, 20-10 NSIC) in a key four-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference series at Alumni Field on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1:30 p.m., while Sunday's twinbill begins at 12 p.m. SMSU is currently in eighth place in the NSIC standings, while NSU is in fourth place. The top eight teams qualify for the NSIC tournament on May 7-10 in Sioux Falls. SMSU is looking to qualify for the NSIC tournament for the first time since 2010.

SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State leads the all-time series versus Northern State 87-33 ... SMSU defeated NSU three times earlier this season, earning 14-9, 7-5 and 4-3 victories in Tucson, Ariz. ... SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 49-11 all-time versus NSU ... complete game-by-game listing can be found on pages 9-10.

SENIOR DAY - Sunday's two games will be the final home appearances for six SMSU seniors. The six players - Ryan Ecalbarger, Jon Ellis, Josh Hanson, Jordon Kontz, Ben Korger and Steven Wehr - will be honored between games on Sunday.

LEADING OFF - SMSU is batting .278 with 31 home runs and averaging 5.3 runs per game ... SMSU pitching has a 5.15 ERA with 235 strikeouts in 334 innings with opponents batting .304 ... SMSU has outscored its opponents 35-18 in the first inning and 43-21 in the fifth inning ... SMSU has been outscored 23-4 in the eighth inning ... SMSU is 21-2 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) … Stubbs had a team-high 13-game hitting streak snapped on April 19 ... Rients leads the team with 15 home runs and is also the team leader in batting average (.382), hits (58), runs scored (34) and RBIs (47) ... Jon Ellis and Ben Korger lead the team lead with 12 doubles ... Korger leads the team with nine stolen bases ... Jordon Kontz has a team-high 18 multi-hit games and ranks second on the team in hitting at .342 ... Rients has a team-leading 13 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 15 home runs ranks tied for the fourth highest in one season in program history. He is the first player to reach double figure home runs since the 2010 season. Andrew Kinney (2009 & 2010) and Travis Irwin (2002) hold the school single-season record with 17 home runs.

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