THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University (17-21, 10-12 NSIC) baseball team returns home on Wednesday afternoon to take on Concordia University, St. Paul (15-17, 13-11 NSIC) at Alumni Field with a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader starting at 1:30. SMSU begins the week in 10th place in the NSIC standings, while CU is tied for seventh place. The top eight teams qualify for the NSIC/US Bank Tournament on May 6-9 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
This will be the third and fourth time SMSU and CU have played this season. SMSU defeated CU twice during non-conference play in Arizona, winning 5-3 on March 12 and 9-6 on March 13.
Following Wednesday's games, SMSU will play a four-game, home-and-home series with Augustana this Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader will be in Marshall starting at 1:30 p.m., while Sunday's doubleheader will start at 1:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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 for all games can be found at SMSUmustangs.com.
SERIES HISTORY - Concordia-St. Paul leads the series versus Southwest Minnesota State 21-20 with the first meeting coming in 1981. SMSU has defeated CU twice this season in non-conference play in Tucson, Ariz., earning 5-3 and 9-6 victories on March 12 and March 13. This will be just the fifth and sixth games of the series played in Marshall. SMSU swept a doubleheader in Marshall in 2000, while CU won both games last season at Alumni Field, 7-0 and 7-2.
SMSU head coach
Paul Blanchard is 16-21 all-time versus Concordia-St. Paul.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS - Concordia-St. Paul begins Wednesday at 15-17 overall, 13-11 NSIC. CU lost four games last weekend at Minnesota State. Eric Fasnacht is batting a team-high .373 with nine doubles, five home runs and 27 RBIs. Connor Olson is second on the team with a .360 batting average with eight doubles and two home runs, while Kyle Dalton is batting .353 with a team-high seven stolen bases.
The CU pitching staff is led by Zach Rengel who is 3-2 with a 3.06 ERA in six starts and is tied for the team lead with 35 1/3 innings. Kody Knaus is 2-2 with a 5.09 ERA in 35 1/3 innings, while Kevin Woebke is 2-3 with a 5.24 ERA in 34 1/3 innings with 37 strikeouts.
CU is batting .298 with nine home runs and averaging 4.8 runs per game. The Golden Bear pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 5.12 in 251 1/3 innings with 202 strikeouts and 94 walks.
SMSU 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 473-378-2, including 261-182 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.
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS - SMSU is 17-21, 10-12 NSIC, entering Wednesday's games after splitting a four-game road series last weekend versus Upper Iowa.
Brian Redemske led SMSU in the four games with a .600 (9 for 15) batting average with one double, one home runs and 10 RBIs, while
Cole VanderBeek batted .538 (7 for 13) with four runs scored.
Redemske leads the team with a .360 batting average with 10 doubles and five home runs.
Jarred Carlson is second with a .355 average and has 13 doubles with eight home runs and 41 RBIs, while
Austin Stubbs has a team-high 11 home runs with 13 doubles.
Patrick Rients is batting .318 with five home runs, 10 doubles, 33 RBIs and a team-high 40 runs scored.
Alfson is 2-2 on the mound in seven appearances (four starts) with a 2.70 ERA in 30 innings.
Mitch Wurm (5-1, 5.07) has tossed a team-leading 49 2/3 innings with 45 strikeouts.
Jake Leighton has appeared in a team-high 12 games and has a 3.79 ERA in 19 innings with a 2-1 record and three saves.
Cameron Knudsen is 2-0 with a 6.67 ERA in 10 appearances with one start.
SMSU is batting .300 with 38 home runs, while averaging 6.6 runs per game. The Mustang pitching staff has compiled a 7.42 ERA in 293 2/3 innings with 231 strikeouts and 149 walks.
