THIS WEEK – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (3-20, 1-7 NSIC) will return home for a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 13, taking on the University of Minnesota Duluth (15-9, 8-4 NSIC) starting at 1:30 p.m. at Alumni Field.

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

    SERIES HISTORY - Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series versus SMSU, 59-58, in a series that started in 1977. Since 2010, SMSU leads 11-9, including splitting a doubleheader last season in Duluth. Wednesday will be the first time UMD has played in Marshall since 2012. SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 28-19 all-time versus UMD.

    MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 910-989-3 in 1,902 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 480-406-2, including 266-197 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 MINNESOTA DULUTH – The Bulldogs are 15-9 on the season, including 8-4 in conference play. UMD recently won three of four games from Sioux Falls last weekend. UMD is led by Alex Wojciechowski, who is batting .453 and has already set a school single-season record with 16 home runs. He has 51 RBIs and has amassed a 1.019 slugging percentage. Tyler Wojciechowski is batting .435 with five doubles and two home runs, while Jimmy Heck is batting .435 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs. As a team, UMD is batting .358 with 39 home runs and averaging 9.2 runs per game. The UMD pitching staff has a 6.79 ERA with 158 strikeouts in 185 2/3 innings.

    ABOUT THE MUSTANGS – Southwest Minnesota State is 3-20 overall, 1-7 NSIC, following last Thursday's split at Winona State. In the 11-5, game two win, SMSU tied a season-high with 16 hits, including collecting a season-high seven doubles and a season-high 29 total bases. Justin Clark tossed eight-plus inning to earn the win in game two, which is the longest outing by an SMSU pitcher this season. Through 23 games, Jon Leighton leads SMSU with a .390 batting average with eight doubles, three home runs and a team-high 23 RBIs. Tanner Picht is batting .318 with eight doubles and a team-leading five home runs. Derek Branson is hitting .368 with seven doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs, while Shane Sellner is hitting .308 and is second on the club with 17 RBIs. On the mound, Erik Thorvilson (0-2) has tossed 20 1/3 innings in five appearances with 13 strikeouts, recording a 5.75 ERA. Justin Clark (1-2) has appeared in six games and has a 4.56 ERA. For the season, SMSU is batting .267 with 15 home runs, averaging 4.6 runs per game and a have a team ERA of 10.19.

    BRANSON TIES RECORD - Junior Derek Branson tied a school single-game record in SMSU's win at Winona State on April 7 recording three doubles. He is the ninth player in school history to record three in a game and the first since Jarred Carlson reached the mark during the 2015 season.  

    MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS – Tanner Picht and Jon Leighton lead the team with eight multi-hit games … Leighton has a team-high 10 multi-RBI games with Shane Sellner recording six multi-RBI games … Leighton is currently on a 14-game-game hitting streak, which is the longest by a Mustang this season. Derek Branson is currently on an eight-game hitting streak.

    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 18 of 23 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 and another moved to Winona because of poor weather. 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 play at Minot State for a four-game series this Saturday and Sunday with doubleheaders beginning each day at 12 p.m.