THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (8-18, 3-13 NSIC) continues NSIC on Tuesday afternoon hosting Wayne State College (13-17, 8-10 NSIC) at Alumni Field in Marshall with a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m.
•SMSU, which snapped a nine-game losing streak on Saturday night, will play a four-game series at Winona State this Friday and Saturday.
MEDIA COVERAGE
•Live statistics for the two-game series will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
SERIES HISTORY
•WSC leads the all-time series 48-25 in a match-up that started in 1974.
•WSC has won the last eight games, sweeping a four-game series during both the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
•Last season the teams played a four-game set in Alexandria, Minn.
•SMSU swept a three-game series in Marshall during the 2014 season.
•SMSU head coach
Paul Blanchard is 24-47 versus WSC.
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 494-438-2, including 275-224 in conference play.
•He entered the 2017 season ranking 45th in Division II among active coaches in career victories.
•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.
MUSTANGS DROP THREE OF FOUR AT NORTHERN STATE
•SMSU lost three of four games at Northern State last Friday and Saturday.
•SMSU scored first in three of the four games.
•SMSU snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 10-7 victory in game four of the series.
•SMSU cracked out 16 hits in the victory, its second highest total this season.
•
Derek Smith finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored in his first collegiate game in the game four win.
•
Shawn Williams tossed a career-high 4 2/3 innings to collect the win.
•
Shane Sellner went 5 for 15 in the series with four RBIs.
•
Jayden Fleck batted 4 for 12 with a double, triple and three RBIs.
•
Brady Lanoue had three hits in the series, including two in game four.
•
Justin Clark set a career-high with eight strikeouts in game one of the series.
MUSTANG NOTES
•SMSU is 8-18 overall, 3-13 NSIC.
•SMSU has scored more than three runs in just one of 12 NSIC games.
•SMSU head coach
Paul Blanchard is six wins away from 500 in his career at SMSU.
•
Tanner Strommen leads the team with a .325 batting average with four doubles and six RBIs.
•
Jayden Fleck is hitting .253 and has 13 walks and a .404 on base percentage.
•
Liam Lopez has a team-leading six stolen bases.
•
Brian Redemske is tied for the team lead with six doubles and is third on the team with 12 RBIs.
•
Shane Sellner leads the team with 17 RBIs and is batting .301.
•
Derek Branson also has six doubles and ranks third on the team with 24 base hits.
•
Cole VanderBeek has seven multi-hit games.
•Branson and Sellner each have a team-leading four multi-RBI games.
•Strommen has a team-leading eight multi-hit games.
•Sellner ranks third on the team with six multi-hit games.
•Strommen had a team-high seven-game hitting streak earlier this season.
•Strommen reached base in 16 straight games earlier this season.
•
Davis Bryan has a 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 innings in four relief appearances.
•
Shawn Williams has pitched in a team-high 11 games and has a 1.86 ERA in 19 1/3 innings with two saves and one victory.
•
Justin Clark has made six starts and has a 4.66 ERA with a team-high 24 strikeouts in 29 innings.
•SMSU is hitting .248 with nine home runs and 38 doubles.
•SMSU has an ERA of 6.26 with 119 strikeouts in 197 innings.
•SMSU has a .953 fielding percentage.
SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•The following is where SMSU individuals rank in the latest NCAA statistics (April 9).
•A complete listing of where SMSU ranks in the NCAA stats is on page 7.
•
Cole Petersen ranks 19th in ERA (1.59).
•
Jayden Fleck ranks 73rd in hit by pitch per game (0.31).
MUSTANGS AT HOME
•SMSU is scheduled to play a total of eight doubleheaders at Alumni Field in 2017.
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.
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 924-1,021-3 in 1,948 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.
ABOUT WAYNE STATE
•Wayne State is 13-17 overall, 8-10 NSIC.
•WSC has won six of its last 10 games, including splitting a four-game road series versus Minnesota Duluth last weekend.
•David Janes is batting .349 with four doubles and 14 RBIs.
•Cody Jenkens is batting .336 with four home runs and 26 RBIs.
•Tanner Simons has nine doubles, three home runs and 24 RBIs.
•WSC is batting .297 with 18 home runs and 45 doubles.
•WSC has an 4.64 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 240 2/3 innings.
NEXT UP
•Southwest Minnesota State will play a four-game series at Winona State on Friday and Saturday.
