THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University (5-7) baseball team continues non-conference play with a four-game, home-and-home series this Friday and Saturday versus Northwestern College (Iowa) (7-13). Friday's doubleheader will take place in Marshall at Alumni Field with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader will be played in Orange City, Iowa, with first pitch at 1 p.m. All four games will be seven-inning games. The four-game series was added this week with the mild temperatures in the Upper Midwest the past two weeks.
Following this weekend, SMSU will open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a four-game home series versus Minot State University on March 28-29.
EARLY HOME START - Friday's games could possibly be one of the earliest home openers in school history. Friday will be the first time SMSU has played a home game in the month of March since the 2005 season, when SMSU played Minnesota Crookston on March 29. In 2004, SMSU hosted St. Cloud State on March 24.
MEDIA COVERAGE - Live statistics for all home games can be found at livestats.smsu.edu/baseball, while updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter. Live stats during the two games at Northwestern can be found at nwcraiders.com/baseball/stats and clicking on the live stats link.
SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Northwestern will be meeting for the first time since the 1992 season when both programs were members of NAIA. SMSU leads the all-time series 14-8, including holding a 9-1 advantage in games played in Marshall. SMSU is 8-2 in the last 10 games played since the 1988 season.
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN - The Red Raiders, a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, were picked to finish third in the GPAC this season. Northwestern enters the weekend with a record of 7-13 and are currently on a four-game losing streak. The Red Raiders lost three games last weekend at Bellevue (Neb.). NWC lost its first eight games of the season, before reeling off seven wins in nine games during its spring trip in Tucson, Ariz. Skyler Wheeler is batting a team-high .423 with seven doubles, two home runs and 18 RBIs. Mitch Peschon is second on the team with a .395 batting average with a team-high four home runs and 15 RBIs. Chase Davis (1-2, 6.66) and Isaac Horigan (1-3, 6.75) have both started a team-high five games and have combined to strikeout 52 batters in 52 1/3 innings.
Northwestern is batting .265 as a team with seven home runs and is scoring an average of 4.7 runs per game. The Red Raider pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 7.65 in 147 innings with 121 strikeouts and 87 walks.
Last season, the Red Raiders made their second straight trip to the NAIA national tournament and finished with an overall record of 42-13.
