THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University (12-14, 5-5 NSIC) baseball team continues Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Wednesday with a doubleheader at the University of Minnesota Duluth (13-9, 7-5 NSIC) in Duluth, Minn. The twinbill begins at 1 p.m. at Wade Stadium.
Following Wednesday's doubleheader, SMSU will conclude its 12-game road trip with a four-game series at St. Cloud State on Saturday and Sunday.
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 Wednesday's games versus Minnesota Duluth can be found at SMSUmustangs.com.
SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth meet for the 116th and 117th time on Wednesday, with UMD holding a slight 58-57 advantage in a series that started in 1977. This will be SMSU's first games in Duluth since 2004. Since 2006, the teams have played 24 times with SMSU leading 16-8, but only two games (2012 in Marshall) have been played on either team's home field. Since 2006, the teams have played in Ft. Myers, Fla.; Minneapolis; St. Cloud, Minn.; Fergus Falls, Minn.; Minnetonka, Minn.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.
SMSU head coach
Paul Blanchard is 27-18 all-time versus Minnesota Duluth.
ABOUT MINNESOTA DULUTH - The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend four-game home series split with Minnesota State last Friday and Saturday and are 13-9 overall, 7-5 NSIC. Grant Farley is batting a team-high .422 with 10 doubles and two home runs. Alex Wojciechowski is second on the team with a .390 batting average with three doubles and two home runs, while Kyle Comer is batting .378 with five doubles and a team-high 19 RBIs.
UMD is batting .308 with 14 home runs and averaging 6.5 runs per game. The Bulldog pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 5.87 in 165 2/3 innings with 112 strikeouts and 74 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 468-371-2, including 256-175 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 12-14, 5-5 entering Wednesday's games after splitting four games this past weekend at Northern State. Earlier in the week, SMSU split a doubleheader at Winona State.
Jarred Carlson batted .500 (12 of 24) with four doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs in the six games.
Austin Stubbs leads the team with a .379 batting average with nine doubles and eight home runs. Carlson is second with a .374 average and has 11 doubles with seven home runs. Stubbs and Carlson are tied for the team lead with 29 RBIs.
Brian Redemske is batting .355 with a team-leading nine stolen bases.
Patrick Rients is batting .340 with five home runs and 28 RBIs.
Mitch Wurm (3-1, 4.62) has the lowest ERA among starting pitchers and has tossed a team-leading 37 innings with 35 strikeouts.
Jake Leighton has appeared in a team-high eight games and has a 1.74 ERA in 10 1/3 innings with a 1-0 record and two saves.
SMSU is batting .313 with 31 home runs, while averaging 7.1 runs per game. The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 7.42 ERA in 203 2/3 innings with 168 strikeouts and 102 walks.
