THIS WEEK – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (2-13, 0-0 NSIC) opens Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Monday and Tuesday, March 28-29, hosting Northern State University (7-5, 0-0 NSIC) for a four-game series at Alumni Field in Marshall. Monday's doubleheader begins at 1:30 p.m. with Tuesday's doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.

    MEDIA COVERAGE - Live stats links for the four game series can be found by going to SMSUmustangs.com, while updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.

    SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State leads the all-time series versus Northern State, 93-38, in a series that started in 1979. NSU defeated SMSU earlier this season in Tucson, Ariz., 17-7, on March 7. SMSU held a 7-1 lead in the eighth inning before NSU rallied for the victory. The two teams split a four-game series last season in Aberdeen, S.D. SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 55-16 all-time versus NSU.

    MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 909-982-3 in 1,894 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 479-399-2, 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. Complete bio is located on page 3.

    ABOUT NORTHERN STATE – The Wovles begins the series7-5 on the season with all 12 games being played at the Tucson Invitational from March 7-18. NSU is led by Jack Schmidt, who leads the team with a .540 average, followed by Matt Stubbs, who is batting .500. The Wolves have combined for 172 hits, 132 runs scored, 30 doubles, 24 home runs, nine triples and are hitting .371 as a team. Five players are batting over .400 on the year, while another three have breached the .300 mark. Lucas Lorenz leads the team with seven home runs and a 1.021 slugging percentage, followed by Stubbs with six round-trippers. Stubbs also leads the team with 29 hits and 21 RBI.
    Colton Boucher leads the team on the mound with two wins in three appearances. The senior has tallied 23 strikeouts in 18.1 innings of work, and currently holds a 4.91 ERA. Dillon Lee leads the team with a 0.84 ERA in 10.2 innings pitched. He has also recorded nine strikeouts in five appearances. Marcus Manderbach is second on the team with 15 strikeouts and also holds the team's lone save.

    ABOUT THE MUSTANGS – Southwest Minnesota State is 2-13 overall after splitting a non-conference doubleheader at Northwestern (Iowa) on March 21, winning game one 8-4, before dropping an 8-4 decision in game two. Through 15 games, Tanner Picht leads SMSU with a .364 batting average and is also the team leader in both home runs (4) and doubles (7).  Jon Leighton is batting .346 with six doubles and a team-high 15 RBIs. Derek Branson is hitting .340 with seven RBIs, while Shane Sellner is also hitting .340 and is second on the club with 13 RBIs. On the mound, Erik Thorvilson (0-1) has tossed 15 innings in four appearances with 12 strikeouts, recording a team-low 3.60 ERA. Connor Johnson (0-1) has appeared in five games and has a 5.91 ERA.
    For the season, SMSU is batting .267 with six home runs, averaging 4.7 runs per game and a have a team ERA of 10.71.

    MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS – Tanner Picht leads the team with six multi-hit games … Jon Leighton, Shane Sellner and Derek Branson all have five multi-hit games ... Leighton has a team-high six multi-RBI games with Sellner recording 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 11 of SMSU's 15 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 28 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 will host St. Cloud State in a four-game series on April 2-3.