THIS WEEK – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (2-15, 0-2 NSIC) continues Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Saturday and Sunday, April 2-3, hosting No. 1 ranked St. Cloud State University (17-0, 2-0 NSIC) for a four-game series at Alumni Field in Marshall. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday'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 - St. Cloud State leads the all-time series versus SMSU, 48-18, in a series that started in 1970. The two schools were members of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference from 1970 to 1981, before SCSU left for the North Central Conference. SCSU leads the series 8-3 since rejoining the NSIC prior to the 2009 season. SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 9-12 all-time versus SCSU.

    MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 909-984-3 in 1,896 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 and has an overall record of 479-401-2, including 265-192 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 ST. CLOUD STATE – The Huskies are 17-0 on the season, including 2-0 in conference play. SCSU swept Wayne State, 3-0 and 5-0, on Monday night in Yankton, S.D. SCSU is led by Judd Davis, who leads the team with a .585 average with three triples and 18 RBIs in 15 games, while Karl Sorensen is batting .439 with five doubles, two home runs and a team-leading 24 RBIs. Sheldon Miks leads the team on the mound with a 5-0 record compiling a 0.75 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 36 innings. Reese Gregory, the 2016 NSIC preseason pitcher of the year and 2015 All-American, is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 23 innings. As a team, SCSU is batting .379 with 18 home runs and averaging 11 runs per game. The SCSU pitching staff has a 2.67 ERA with 161 strikeouts in 145 innings.

    ABOUT THE MUSTANGS – Southwest Minnesota State is 2-15 overall after dropping a pair of games (3-0 and 5-3) on Tuesday at Alumni Field to Northern State in the conference opening twinbill for both teams. Through 17 games, Jon Leighton leads SMSU with a .351 batting average with six doubles and a team-high 15 RBIs. Tanner Picht is batting .349 and leads the club with seven doubles and a team-leading four home runs. Derek Branson is hitting .328 with seven RBIs, while Shane Sellner is hitting .311 and is second on the club with 14 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 .266 with six home runs, averaging 4.4 runs per game and a have a team ERA of 9.45.

    REACHING NEW MARKS - Right-hander Alex Jorgensen set a career-high with eight strikeouts and tossed his first complete game in a 3-0 loss to Northern State on March 29. He has recorded a combined 15 strikeouts in his last two starts.     

    MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS – Tanner Picht leads the team with seven multi-hit games … Derek Branson, Jon Leighton and Shane Sellner each have five multi-hit games ... Leighton has a team-high six multi-RBI games with Sellner recording five multi-RBI games … Leighton is currently on an eight-game hitting streak ... 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. SMSU has started either a sophomore or true freshman on mound in 13 of 17 games this season.
     
    MUSTANGS AT HOME - SMSU was scheduled to play a total of nine doubleheaders at Alumni Field this season but has had one doubleheader canceled due to poor field conditions. 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.

    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 Winona State in a two-game series on April 6.