THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University (7-9, 0-0 NSIC) baseball team opens Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Saturday and Sunday with a four-game home series versus Minot State University (4-11, 1-3 NSIC) at Alumni Field in Marshall. Doubleheaders both days begin at 12 p.m. SMSU is coming off a four-game, home-and-home series split with Northwestern College (Iowa) last weekend, while Minot State opened conference play last weekend losing three of four games at Wayne State College.
The two teams faced each other twice earlier this month in Tucson, Ariz., with Minot State winning 10-3 on March 9, before SMSU earned a 9-3 victory on March 11.
EARLY HOME START - Last Friday's games were one of the earliest home openers in school history. It was SMSU's first home game in the month of March since the 2005 season when SMSU played Minnesota Crookston on March 29.
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.
SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Minot State have met 11 times with MISU leading 7-4 in a series that started in 1978. The two teams have meet five times since 2013, all in Tucson, Ariz., with Minot State winning the first four games, including one this season on March 9. SMSU snapped the losing streak two days later on March 11. This will be the first ever meeting in Marshall.
ABOUT MINOT STATE - The Beavers are coming off a 1-3 weekend to open league play at Wayne State this past Saturday and Sunday and enter this weekend's series with a 4-11 record. Jared Young is batting a team-high .414 with six doubles, two triples and one home run with 18 RBIs. Kyle Williamson is second on the team with a .379 batting average with five doubles and 10 walks. Jordan Schulz is batting .235, but has a team-leading four home runs and ranks second with 12 RBIs. Joshua Larsen (0-0, 5.02) and Austin Zorn (2-1, 5.09) lead the Beaver pitching staff, having combined for six starts and eight appearances. Austin Berntson (1-1, 5.59) has a team-high 14 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings.
Minot State is batting .283 with 11 home runs and averaging 5.9 runs per game. The Beaver pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 7.26 in 120 1/3 innings with 84 strikeouts and 59 walks.
HEAD COACH - Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 19th season as head coach and has an overall record of 463-366-2, including 251-170 in conference play. During his tenure, Blanchard has led the program to its only NCAA tournament appearance, one NSIC championship, three NSIC tournament championships and 15 appearances in the NSIC tournament. Named the fifth coach in SMSU history on July 14, 1996, Blanchard has coached two NSIC Players of the Year, one NSIC Pitcher of the Year, 21 all-region honorees, two Academic All-Americans, one NCAA All-American and two Major League Baseball draft picks. A complete bio on coach Blanchard is on page 5.
MUSTANG CAREER STATS - For career statistics on each Mustang player see pages 10-14 and for career-highs on each player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
