PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•Southwest Minnesota State (7-7, 2-0 NSIC) opened conference play with a sweep over Sioux Falls in the home opener on Tuesday at the Schwan Regional Event Center. SMSU took game one 3-1 and earned a comeback victory of 4-3 after USF put up three runs in the first inning. 
•Saturday's doubleheader versus Minnesota Crookston (11-15, 0-2 NSIC) will take place at 1 and 3 p.m. and Sunday's double header versus Bemidji State (19-7, 2-0 NSIC) has first pitches at 12 and 2 p.m. at the Schwan Regional Event Center.

    GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats will be available for fans at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @SMSUSoftball on Twitter. 
•Live Video will be available for fans at smsumustangs.com

    PREVIEWING THE MUSTANGS
•SMSU comes into the weekend at 7-7 overall and 2-0 in the conference. 
•SMSU opened NSIC play on Tuesday with a sweep over USF. 
•Emma Grote leads the Mustang offense with a .439 batting average with a team-high 18 hits including one double, triple, and homerun. 
•Grote is also 5-of-5 for stolen bases and leads the team in runs scored with 13. 
•Bailey Johnson comes in second with a .395 batting average with 15 hits including four doubles, one triple, and one homerun. 
•Johnson is the RBI leader with eight.
•SMSU has five players all batting over .300 with a team total five homeruns. 

    STRIKEOUT DUO
•SMSU'S two starting pitchers Athena Golling and Megan Cull earned wins in the circle on Tuesday. 
•Golling has a 4-3 record with a 1.25 ERA with 33 strikeouts this season. 
•Cull came into pitch relief in game two on Tuesday to throw four innings earn the win. Cull contributed to a team effort to retire 20 of 21 batters, following USF's first inning which included two doubles and homerun. 
•Cull has 31 strikeouts this season with a 3-2 record and a 4.83 ERA. 

    HEAD COACH BAILEY BOUMAN
•Head coach, Bailey Bouman, enters her first season as head coach. 
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of Sioux Falls where she played basketball and softball. 

    PREVIEWING MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•UMC is 11-15 overall and 0-2 in the NSIC after getting swept by Bemidji State in the conference opener. 
•Jordan Peterson leads the Golden Eagles batting .348 with 14 hits, two of them doubles and eight RBIs. 
•Malia Pula and Maggie Morales both are batting over .300 with Pula hitting .345 and Morales hitting .333. Both with two homeruns each. 
•Mikaela Rodriguez leads the team with five homeruns this season. 
•Taylor Graven has the only winning record for UMC in the circle with a 5-3 record and a 2.88 ERA. 
•Paige Pitlick has a 3.17 and a 4-9 record with a team-high 60 strikeouts this season. 
•Head coach, Travis Owen, is in his first season after searching as an assistant coach at Northern Colorado. 

    
    UMC SERIES HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State dominates the all-time record with a 38-2 advantage over Minnesota Crookston, dating back to 2000. 
•SMSU holds a 12-1 record in games played in Marshall. 
•SMSU's only losses occurred in 2010 and 2016. 
•SMSU has won the last four consecutive games. 

    LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU faced UMC in the Beaver/Dragon Battle in the West St. Paul Dome for a nonconference game. 
•SMSU earned a 7-6 victory off 12 hits. 
•Four Mustangs tied for a game-high two hits; Abbie Decker, Emma Grote, Kali Tomlinson, and Alex Reak. 
•Megan Cull earned the victory throwing six innings with 10 strikeouts. 

    PREVIEWING BEMIDJI STATE
•Bemidji State (17-9, 2-0 NSIC) enters the double header having won 10 consecutive games. 
•The winning streak began on March 14, with a 1-0 shutout victory over Bentley in Florida. 
•In that 10 game span, five of the Beavers games have finished in five or six innings. 

    BSU SERIES HISTORY
•SMSU holds a 66-22 advantage of BSU in the all-time record.
•SMSU has a 20-7 advantage in games played in Marshall. 
•The teams met earlier this season at the Beaver/Dragon Battle on Feb. 12 in the West St. Paul Dome. 
•The season prior, SMSU dropped a double header on April 28 in Bemidji, Minn., with a 8-4 and 10-8 final. 
•Jessica Burlingame leads the Beavers batting .416 with four doubles, four triples, and four homeruns.
•Megan Pagel leads with 20 RBIs and has two homeruns of her own. 
•Stephi Dullum leads BSU in the circle with a 8-3 record and a 1.08 ERA. Dullum has 49 strikeouts. 

    LAST TIME OUT
•The teams met on Feb. 12 at the West St. Paul Dome for a 3-1 Mustang nonconference victory. 
•Emma Grote and Madysson Schliinz led the team with two hits each. 
•Bailey Johnson drove in two RBIs going 1-for-3 at the plate. 
•Athena Golling threw a complete game in the win as she tied her career-high with 11 strikeouts

    NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Sophomore outfielder Bailey Johnson earned NSIC Player of the Week, announced on Feb. 19. 
•This is Johnson's first time receiving the conference honor. 
•In the season opener versus MSU Moorhead, Johnson finished 3 for 3 with two runs scored, a stolen base and one RBI to help SMSU earn a 7-2 victory. She also had a two-run double in SMSU's win over BSU. She closed the week with two hits, including a home run, a double, two runs scored and an RBI, in a 9-1 victory over MSU Moorhead. 

    NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
•Senior pitcher Athena Golling earned NSIC Pitcher of the Week, announced on Feb. 19. 
•This was Golling's first time receiving the conference honor. 
•Golling threw two complete games to go 2-0 with 15 strikeouts and allowing one earned run in 12 innings. Golling struck out 11 batters to tie her career-high against Bemidji State.