SETTING THE STAGE
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (5-18, 4-14 NSIC) baseball team will look to snap a five-game losing streak on Tuesday as it resumes Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a doubleheader at the University of Minnesota Crookston (19-13, 12-6 NSIC) at the UMC Baseball Field in Crookston, Minn. The first game, scheduled for seven innings, is set to start at 1:30 p.m., followed by a nine-inning game.
•The two games were originally scheduled to be played at Alumni Field in Marshall, but was moved due to poor field conditions. SMSU will serve as the "home team" for both games. SMSU, which has yet to play a home game or a game in the state of Minnesota, has now had 10 home games relocated this season.
•UMC is currently in sixth place in the NSIC standings while SMSU is in 14^th place.
 
               GAME COVERAGE
•Live statistics for both games will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
 
              SERIES HISTORY
•SMSU holds a 48-6 all-time series with the first meeting occurring in 2000.
•SMSU is 32-2 all-time in games played in Crookston, including winning three of four last season.
•SMSU has won 17 of the last 20 games since the 2010 season.
 
              LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU last played on April 6-7, losing three games at Wayne State. The games were originally scheduled to be played in Marshall.
•SMSU's three-game series scheduled for this past weekend at Bemidji State was canceled due to poor weather and field conditions.
 
               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 523-494-2, including 298-271 in conference play.
•He entered 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.
 
              TEAM NUMBERS
•Through 23 games, SMSU is batting .253 with 46 extra-base hits including 30 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 6.31 ERA in 179 2/3 innings with 151 strikeouts and 74 walks.
 
              MUSTANG DIAMOND NOTES
•Jayden Fleck leads the team with seven multi-hit games while Tanner Strommen has six multi-hit games.
•Nathan Kuhn, who missed the last two games with an injury, leads the club batting .306 with five doubles and seven RBI.
•Fleck is batting .286 with a team-high 13 RBIs and a team-high five home runs.
•Jake Hendricks, Matt Bezdicek and Kuhn all have a team-leading five doubles.
•Fleck's grand slam to help defeat CSP on March 15 was the first grand slam by a Mustang since Fleck hit one versus Mount Marty on March 10, 2018.
•Connor Johnson reached base in 11 straight games earlier this season, the longest by a Mustang this season.
•Left-hander John Bezdicek has two complete games and has a team-leading 37 strikeouts in a team-high 31 innings and has compiled a 2.61 ERA.
•Right-hander Spencer Schroeder has made four starts and is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 23 1/3 innings.
•Right-hander Donny Schroeder has made a team-high eight appearances out of the bullpen and has two victories.
•Left-hander Wes Sarsland recorded his first career save win SMSU's win over Dordt on March 11.        
•Senior right-hander Justin Clark started two games this season but is expected to miss the remainder of the season due to an injury. He has appeared in 34 games including 29 starts with 147 strikeouts in 153 innings during his career.
 
              BEZDICEK NAMED NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
•Sophomore left-hander John Bezdicek was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week on April 2.
•Bezdicek tossed a three-hit, seven-inning shutout, with a career-high 14 strikeouts at Upper Iowa.
•He walked just one batter and did not allow a UIU runner to reach second base until the sixth inning and allowed just one runner to reach third base.
 
              NSIC SCHEDULE
•New this season, all weekend NSIC series will be three-game sets, with a doubleheader the first day consisting of one 7-inning game and one 9-inning game. The final game of the series will be a 9-inning game.
•All weekday doubleheaders will feature one 7-inning and one 9-inning game.
 
              2019 NSIC PRESEASON POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish 12^th in the NSIC preseason poll.
•Defending NCAA champion Augustana was tabbed the preseason favorite.
 
               MUSTANG SINGLE-GAME AND CAREER STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
 
              MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 50th season of baseball and has an all-time record of 953-1,077-3 in 2,033 games.
•SMSU won conference championships in 1974, 1994, 1996 and 2002 and captured NSIC tournament championships in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002.
•SMSU made its only NCAA tournament appearance in 2009.