THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (6-8, 1-3 NSIC) opens its 2017 home season on Wednesday afternoon taking on the University of Sioux Falls (6-11, 4-4 NSIC) for a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Alumni Field.

    MEDIA COVERAGE
•Live statistics for the doubleheader will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.

    SERIES HISTORY
•SMSU is 12-5 all-time versus USF, but is 4-4 since USF joined the conference in 2013.
•The teams split a twinbill last season in Sioux Falls.
•SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard is 4-4 versus USF.  

    HEAD COACH
•Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 21st season as head coach and has an overall record of 492-428-2, including 273-214 in conference play.
•During his tenure, Blanchard has led the program to its only NCAA tournament appearance, one NSIC championship, three NSIC tournament championships, 15 appearances in the NSIC tournament and four 30-win seasons.
•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.

    LAST WEEK
•Southwest Minnesota State had last weekend off.
•SMSU last played March 18-19, losing three of four games versus Concordia-St. Paul in Minnetonka, Minn.
•Cole Petersen tossed a career-high 7 1/3 shutout innings in SMSU's game two victory. Petersen allowed five hits with three strikeouts and zero walks.
•Jayden Fleck led the team with a .286 average in the four games with six total bases.
•Derek Branson hit .267 with six total bases and two RBIs.
•SMSU was no-hit in game one of the series and batted just .158 in the four games.

    ROOKIE STARTS HOT
•Freshman Tanner Strommen has opened the season in a big way leading the squad with five multi-hit games, while batting a team-high .326.
•Strommen has also been solid in the field with a .982 fielding percentage with 39 assists, 17 putouts and just one error.

    LEFTY IS "RIGHT ON"
•Sophomore left-hander Cole Petersen is 3-0 in three appearances with one start this season.
•He has not allowed a run in 12 innings with seven strikeouts, three walks and 11 hits.
•In his lone start of the season, he tossed 7 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and five hits in defeating Concordia-St. Paul on March 18.  

    MUSTANG NOTES
•SMSU is 6-8 overall, 1-3 NSIC, following its opening NSIC series versus Concordia-St. Paul on March 18-19.
•Tanner Strommen leads the team with a .326 batting average with three doubles and four RBIs.
•Jayden Fleck is hitting .295 and leads the team with nine walks.
•Brian Redemske has clubbed a team-high six doubles and is tied for the team lead with 11 RBIs.
•Shane Sellner is tied for the team lead with 11 RBIs.
•Derek Branson also has six doubles and is tied for the team-lead with 15 base hits.
•SMSU is hitting .251 with eight home runs and 25 doubles.
•SMSU has an ERA of 6.90 with 70 strikeouts in 105 2/3 innings.
•SMSU has a .950 fielding percentage.

    SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•The following is where SMSU ranks in the latest NCAA statistics (March 26).
•SMSU's Derek Branson and Brian Redemske both rank 65th in Division II in doubles per game (0.43).
•Alex Jorgensen is 66th in saves (3).
•Liam Lopez is 34th in hit by pitch per game (0.36).


    ABOUT SIOUX FALLS
•Sioux Falls is 6-11 overall, 4-4 NSIC.
•The Cougars split a four-game series with St. Cloud State on March 19-20 and then split a four-game series with Minnesota Crookston this past weekend.
•Rob Johnson is batting .408 with five doubles and two home runs.
•Connor Merriam leads the club with five home runs.
•USF is batting .303 with 11 home runs and 29 doubles.
•USF has an 8.13 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 130 2/3 innings.
    
    MUSTANGS AT HOME
•SMSU is scheduled to play a total of eight doubleheaders at Alumni Field with the home opener set for March 29 versus Sioux Falls.

    NSIC SCHEDULE
•SMSU is scheduled to play a 38-game unbalanced schedule in conference play this season.
•The team will play seven four-game weekend series along with five mid-week doubleheaders.
•The schedule will allow SMSU to play 12 of 14 conference opponents at least twice this season.
•SMSU will not play Minot State or St. Cloud State in conference play.

    NSIC DOUBLEHEADERS
•For the seventh 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 12TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 12th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Minnesota State was chosen as the preseason favorite earning 192 points, including 10 first place votes.

    MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY
• Southwest Minnesota State is in its 47th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 922-1,011-3 in 1,936 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.

    MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.

    NEXT UP
•Southwest Minnesota State will face NSIC-leading Minnesota State for a four-game, home-and-home series this Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader will be in Mankato, while Sunday's two games will take place at Alumni Field.