THIS WEEK – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (2-19, 0-6 NSIC) will play a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader on Thursday, April 7, at Winona State University (5-15, 2-5 NSIC) starting at 1:30 p.m. at WSU's Loughrey Field. The games were originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 6, in Marshall, but poor weather conditions forced the games to be moved. SMSU will be the home team in both games.

    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 - Winona State leads the all-time series versus SMSU, 111-56, in a series that started in 1970. The teams split a doubleheader last season in Winona, with WSU winning game one 10-8, before SMSU won game two, 10-7. SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 34-35 all-time versus WSU.

    MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 909-988-3 in 1,900 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 479-405-2, including 265-196 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 WINONA STATE – The Warriors are 5-15 on the season, including 2-5 in conference play. WSU split a four-game series with Minnesota Duluth on Sunday and Monday. WSU is led by Joe Kubera, who leads the team with a .358 average with five triples and seven RBIs in 19 games, while Jesus Cazares is batting .354 with four doubles, two home runs and14 RBIs. Mitch Voter is batting .333 with four doubles and a team-high 22 RBIs. As a team, WSU is batting .274 with 14 home runs and averaging 5.6 runs per game. The WSU pitching staff has a 5.69 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 166 innings.

    ABOUT THE MUSTANGS – Southwest Minnesota State is 2-19 overall after losing four straight games to No.1 St. Cloud State on Sunday and Monday at Alumni Field. Through 21 games, Jon Leighton leads SMSU with a .377 batting average with eight doubles, three home runs and a team-high 21 RBIs. Tanner Picht is batting .312 with eight doubles and a team-leading five home runs. Derek Branson is hitting .338 with eight RBIs, while Shane Sellner is hitting .282 and is second on the club with 14 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 (0-2) has appeared in five games and has a 5.17 ERA. Alex Jorgensen (0-3) has a 6.97 ERA in five games with 19 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings. For the season, SMSU is batting .258 with 12 home runs, averaging 4.4 runs per game and a have a team ERA of 10.61.

    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. Left-hander Cole Petersen tossed a career-high six innings in a loss to No. 1 St. Cloud State, recording a career-high seven strikeouts.

    MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS – Tanner Picht and Jon Leighton lead the team with seven multi-hit games … Leighton has a team-high nine multi-hit games ... Leighton has a team-high six multi-RBI games with Sellner recording five multi-RBI games … Leighton is currently on a 12-game-game hitting streak, 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 16 of 21 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 Minnesota Duluth in a doubleheader on April 13.