? WEDNESDAY'S MATCH-UP
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (11-19, 6-14 NSIC) continues Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Wednesday with a doubleheader at Upper Iowa University (12-17, 10-13 NSIC) starting at 1 p.m. at Robertson Woods Field in Fayette.
•SMSU is coming off a four-game road split versus Winona State last Saturday and Sunday.
•The four games played at Winona State were the first by SMSU in the state of Minnesota this season.
•SMSU begins play on Wednesday in 12
th place in the NSIC standings, while UIU is currently in 10
th place. The top eight teams advance to the NSIC Tournament in May held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
GAME COVERAGE
•Live statistics for Wednesday's games will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
SERIES HISTORY
•UIU?holds a slight 22-21 all-time advantage versus SMSU?in a series that started in 2005.
•UIU won both games last season in Fayette, 7-0 and 10-0.
•The two teams split a four-game series in Marshall in 2016.
•The two teams have split the last 16 meetings since the 2012 season.
•SMSU head coach
Paul Blanchard is 21-22 all-time versus UIU.
HEAD COACH
•
Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 22nd season as head coach and has an overall record of 512-472-2, including 288-253 in conference play.
•Blanchard entered the 2018 season ranking 44th for career victories in Division II?among active coaches.
•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.
MUSTANG NOTABLES
•SMSU is hitting .274 with 15 home runs and 52 doubles.
•SMSU has an ERA?of 5.36 with 220 strikeouts in 236 2/3 innings.
•SMSU?has a .959 fielding percentage.
•SMSU is 3-8 in one-run games.
•SMSU is 7-2 when leading after six innings and 4-2 when leading after eight innings.
•SMSU has four players with at least 50 at bats hitting .300 or better.
•Junior
Connor Johnson's three-run, walk-off home run at Winona State on April 22, was the program's first walk-off homer since Patrick Rients in 2014.
•Senior
Shane Sellner leads the team with a .355 batting average with eight doubles, one home run and 16 RBIs.
•Junior
Jayden Fleck has a team-leading 27 RBIs with seven doubles and a team-high six home runs.
•Sophomore
Ben Heichel has recorded a team-high 10 doubles with three home runs and 21 RBIs.
•Fleck and Sellner lead the team with 12 multi-hit games, while Fleck has a team-leading seven multi-RBI games.
•Sellner and Heichel both had 10-game hitting streaks this season, which are the longest on the team this season.
•Sophomore
Tanner Strommen cracked his first career home run at Winona State last Sunday.
•Freshman
Jake Hendricks belted his first career home run in the loss to Minnesota Duluth on April 5.
•Senior
Josh Cook has a 1-1 record in eight relief appearances with 11 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings.
•Freshman left-hander
John Bezdicek is 2-3 on the season with one complete game and has compiled a 3.64 ERA in 42 innings. He has recorded a team-leading 51 strikeouts while opponents are hitting .226.
•
Alex Jorgensen has a team-high 11 relief appearances and has a 3.00 ERA in 21 innings with a 2-2 record and one save.
•
Chase Meyer, who leads the team with three victories, recorded a career-high six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the victory vs. Concordia-St. Paul on March 30.
MUSTANGS IN THE RECORD BOOK
•
Justin Clark ranks seventh in team history with 9.60 strikeouts per nine innings.
•
Shane Sellner ranks third in both chances (1,006) and putouts (922).
NCAA STATISTICS
•In the latest Division II?statistics through April 23,
John Bezdicek ranks 65th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.93).
•As a team, SMSU ranks 78th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.4).
MUSTANGS AT HOME
•SMSU was scheduled to play a total of 11 doubleheaders at Alumni Field, but nine doubleheaders have been relocated or canceled.
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 eighth 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 14TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 14th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•SMSU junior right-handed pitcher
Justin Clark and sophomore outfielder Tranner Strommen were both named "Players to Watch" in the conference this season.
•Minnesota State was chosen as the preseason favorite earning 196 points, including 14 first place votes.
MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 49th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 942-1,055-3 in 2,000 games.
•SMSU won conference championships in 1974, 1994, 1996 and 2002 and 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 play a four-game series at Minnesota Crookston on Saturday and Sunday.
