THIS WEEK – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (1-12) continues non-conference play on Monday with a doubleheader at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. The twinbill will begin at 4 p.m.
 
            MEDIA COVERAGE - Live statistics for the two games can be found at nwcraiders.com, while updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
 
            SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Northwestern meet for the 27^th and 28^th times on Monday with SMSU holding a 16-10 all-time advantage. The two teams split a four-game, home-and-home series last season, meeting for the first time since 1992. The two teams split the four-game series a season ago. In the doubleheader played in Marshall, NWC won 12-9 in the opener, before SMSU rallied to win 10-9. The following day in Orange City, NWC won 6-5, before SMSU picked up a 6-4 victory.
 
            MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 908-981-3 in 1,892 games. SMSU won conference championships in 1974, 1994, 1996 and 2002 and has won NSIC?tournament championships in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002. SMSU made its only NCAA tournament appearance in 2009.
 
            HEAD COACH - Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 20th season as head coach in 2016 and has an overall record of 478-398-2, including 265-190 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.
 
            ABOUT THE RED RAIDERS – Northwestern College is 7-10 on the season and will play a doubleheader at Bellevue (Neb.) on Saturday. The Red Raiders are batting .350, averaging 6.9 runs per game and have a team ERA of 10.01.
 
            ABOUT THE MUSTANGS – Southwest Minnesota State is 1-12 overall after recording a 1-8 mark at the Tucson Invitational from March 5-12. Derek Branson led the Mustangs during the nine games batting .441 with four doubles and seven RBIs. Shane Sellner also had a strong week, hitting .429 with three doubles and 10 RBIs. Tanner Picht clubbed a team-high seven doubles and hit .389, while Jon Leighton batted .375 with four doubles and 12 RBIs. Erik Thorvilson tossed a team-high 10 1/3 innings in two appearances (one start) during the week with a 2.61 ERA with eight strikeouts. Justin Clark compiled a 2.70 ERA in two starts, recording 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
            For the season, SMSU is batting .263 with five home runs, averaging 4.9 runs per game and a have a team ERA of 11.15.
 
            MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS – Tanner Picht and Derek Branson both lead the squad with five multi-hit games … Jon Leighton has a team-high five multi-RBI games … Derek Branson had a team-high eight-game hitting streak earlier this season from Feb. 28-March 10 … Branson also reached base in 10 straight games, which is the longest by a Mustang this season.
 
            YOUNG GUNS –Southwest Minnesota State has just three seniors on the active roster this spring. A pitcher that is either a sophomore or true freshman has started ten of SMSU's 13 games this season.
           
            MUSTANGS AT HOME - SMSU is scheduled to play a total of nine doubleheaders at Alumni Field with the home opener set for March 25 versus Northern State. SMSU finished the 2015 season with an 8-10 home record.
 
            NSIC SCHEDULE - SMSU is scheduled to play a 34-game unbalanced schedule in conference play again this season. The team will play six four-game weekend series along with five mid-week doubleheaders. The schedule will allow SMSU to play 11 of 14 conference opponents at least twice this season. SMSU will not play Minnesota State, Minnesota Crookston or U-Mary in conference play.
 
            NSIC DOUBLEHEADERS - For the sixth straight season the first game of each NSIC doubleheader will be a 7-inning game, while game two is scheduled for a 9-inning game. If the first game goes into extra innings, then game two will be changed to a 7-inning game.
 
            SMSU PICKED NINTH IN NSIC POLL - Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll. St. Cloud State was chosen as the preseason favorite earning 190 points, including 10 first place votes. SMSU sophomore right-handed pitcher Alex Jorgensen and junior outfielder Derek Branson were both named "Players to Watch" in the conference this season.        
 
            MORE MUSTANG STATS - For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
 
            NEXT UP – Southwest Minnesota State opens Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at Alumni Field on March 25-26, taking on Northern State in a four-game series.