? THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (0-0) opens its 50th season of play this Thursday, March 7, with the first of seven games at the Tucson Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
•All seven non-conference games will take place at the Kino Sports Complex.
•SMSU opens play versus Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m.
•On Friday, March 8, SMSU will face St. Cloud State at 4 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul at 7:30 p.m.
•SMSU will then take on Concordia (Neb.) on Saturday, March 9, at 10 a.m.
•Following an off day on Sunday, March 10, SMSU?returns to face Dordt (Iowa) on Monday, March 11, at 5 p.m.
•On Tuesday, March 12, SMSU takes on Mount Marty (S.D.) at 11 a.m., before closing the trip on Wednesday, March 13, taking on Minot State at 11 a.m.
•All game times are CENTRAL.
GAME COVERAGE
•Live statistics for all seven games will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
SERIES HISTORY
•CSP holds a 31-25 all-time lead in the series, but SMSU?won two of three last season with both wins coming in NSIC play. CSP?beat SMSU in Tucson last season by a 7-2 score.
•SCSU holds a 55-18 all-time advantage and has won 11 straight in the series since 2015. SCSU won the only meeting last season in Tucson. SMSU's last win came on April 11, 2015.
•SMSU won the only meeting with Concordia (Neb.) which came in Tucson during the 2014 season.
•SMSU and Dordt meet for the sixth time with SMSU leading 3-2. The teams last met in 2013 with SMSU winning, 5-3, in Tucson.
•SMSU holds a 6-4 all-time advantage versus Mount Mary after earning a 9-6 victory last season in Tucson.
•MISU is 9-6 all-time versus SMSU, but this will be the first time the two teams have played since the 2015 season.
HEAD COACH
•
Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 23rd season as head coach and has an overall record of 518-476-2, including 294-257 in conference play.
•He enters the 2019 season ranking 48th in Division II?among active coaches in career victories.
•During his tenure, Blanchard has led the program to one 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.
2019 SMSU TEAM PREVIEW
•The 2019 team features 20 returning letter winners from last season's team that finished 17-23 overall, including 12-18 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
•SMSU returns four of its top five hitters from last season, including junior outfielder
Ben Heichel, who was one of three players to start every game a season ago. He led the squad with a .349 batting average, while also recording 19 doubles, which is the second highest total in team single-season history. Heichel also led the team with 17 multi-hit games, belted five home runs and finished second on the team with 31 RBIs.
•Senior second baseman
Jayden Fleck is another returning infielder who started all 40 games last season and batted .315 with nine doubles, a team-high six home runs and a team-high 33 RBIs. He led the team with eight multi-RBI games and had 16 multi-hit games.
•Junior shortstop
Nathan Kuhn started every game last season and led the team with 36 runs scored, while batting .309 with seven doubles.
•Sophomore third baseman
Jake Hendricks played in 36 games with 31 starts and finished with a .316 batting average with eight doubles, five home runs and 22 RBIs. He had 12 multi-hit games and added six multi-RBI games.
•Also returning in the infield is junior first baseman
Brady Lanoue, who played in 27 games with 17 starts and recorded three home runs and 14 RBIs, while hitting .266.
•Sophomore first baseman
Matt Bezdicek batted .245 in 15 starts with one home run and one double during his rookie season.
•A pair of junior catchers return in
Derek Smith and
Spencer Rudnik. Smith started 19 games and batted .242 with eight RBIs, while Rudnik started 21 games and finished batting .265 with eight RBIs. Rudnik is also expected to see time as a pitcher after seeing limited action on the mound the past two seasons.
•In the outfield, senior
Connor Johnson and junior
Tanner Strommen, both return after combining to start 60 games a season ago. Johnson batted .239 with four home runs, eight doubles and finished with 26 RBIs. Strommen hit .228 and added three doubles, one home run and 10 RBIs.
•Sophomore
Christopher Berg is another returning outfielder, having appeared in 13 games last season.
•The pitching staff returns 10 hurlers, including five who combined to start 35 of 40 games last season.
•Senior left-hander
Cole Petersen and senior right-hander
Justin Clark will help anchor the starting staff. Petersen finished 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 40 innings with eight starts. Clark tossed a team-high 54.1 innings and finished 3-4 with a 4.80 ERA with two complete games and 61 strikeouts. He recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts in a two-hit shutout at Minnesota Crookston last season.
•Sophomore left-hander
John Bezdicek also recorded 61 strikeouts last season and recorded a 2-4 mark with a 4.32 ERA in 50 innings. He had double-digit strikeouts in two games.
•Junior right-hander
Jeremy Stouffer finished with a 4.98 ERA in eight games and seven starts last season. He finished 1-3, while recording 23 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.
•Veteran senior right-hander reliever
Alex Jorgensen also returns after appearing in a team-high 14 games and compiling a 2-3 record with one save. He finished with a 3.54 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 28 innings.
•Another returner is sophomore left-hander,
Teddy Broxterman, who appeared in 10 games, despite missing a month with an injury. He had eight strikeouts in eight innings and recorded one save.
•Senior right-hander
Jared Tschetter returns after missing the last month of the season due to injury. In the first month of the season, he picked up one victory and one save in five relief appearances with six strikeouts in five innings.
•Sophomore lefty
Wesley Sarsland and sophomore right-hander
Spencer Schroeder also return after seeing limited action last season.
NEW LOOK NSIC SCHEDULE
•New this season, all NSIC weekend series will be three-game sets. The teams will play one nine and one seven-inning game the first day and will close the series with a nine-inning game the following day.
•All weekday match-ups will be doubleheaders with one nine-inning game and one seven-inning game.
HEICHEL NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-NSIC
•Junior outfielder
Ben Heichel was the lone SMSU player to earn All-NSIC?accolades last season as he was named second team All-NSIC.
•In NSIC?play, Heichel finished third in the league in doubles (14), ninth in total bases (66), 10th in slugging percentage (.589), 13th in RBIs (24), 17th in base hits (40) and 18th in batting average (.357).
FLECK EARNS 2018 HONORS
•Senior
Jayden Fleck was named a CoSIDA second team Academic All-American in 2018. It's the sixth time an SMSU?player has earned Academic All-American accolades.
MUSTANG NOTABLES
•
Ben Heichel finished fifth in Division II last season in doubles per game and was 37
th in total doubles with 19. The 19 doubles ranks second highest in team single-season history.
•Heichel led the squad with 17 multi-hit games a season ago, while
Jayden Fleck tied for second with 16.
•Fleck had a team-high eight multi-RBI games, while Heichel was second with seven.
•
Justin Clark begins the 2019 season ninth in team history with 138 strikeouts. He also ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings at 8.61.
MUSTANGS AT HOME
•SMSU is scheduled to play a total of 18 games at Alumni Field with the first home game set for March 30.
SMSU PICKED 12TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 12th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•SMSU sophomore left-handed pitcher Jon Bezdicek and junior outfielder
Ben Heichel were both named "Players to Watch" in the conference this season.
•Augustana, the defending NCAA?champion was chosen as the preseason favorite.
MUSTANG BASEBALL HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 50th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 948-1,059-3 in 12,010 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 is scheduled to open NSIC?play on March 16-17 at Concordia-St. Paul.
