SETTING THE STAGE
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (6-19, 5-15 NSIC) baseball team continues road Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this Friday and Saturday with a three-game series versus Minot State University (23-12, 16-6 NSIC) at Corbett Field in Minot, N.D. Friday's doubleheader is set to start at 1:30 p.m., while Saturday's game will begin at 12:30 p.m.
•The three 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 all three games. SMSU, which has yet to play a home game this season and has played just two games in the state of Minnesota, have now had 13 home games relocated this season.
•MISU, the 2018 NSIC regular season champions, are currently in fifth place in the NSIC standings while SMSU is in 13th place.
•SMSU's next conference victory will be the program's 300^th in NSIC play since joining the league in 1971.
•SMSU is scheduled to have its home opener on Wednesday, April 24, versus Minnesota Duluth at Alumni Field.
 
?              GAME COVERAGE
•Live statistics for all three games will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
 
              SERIES HISTORY
•MISU holds a 9-6 advantage in the series with the first meeting occurring in 1978.
•This will be the first meeting between the two teams since splitting a four-game series in Marshall on March 28-29, 2015.
 
              LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU split a doubleheader at Minnesota Crookston on Tuesday with UMC winning 2-1 in the opener before SMSU earned a 9-8 walk-off victory in game two. The games were originally scheduled to be played in Marshall.
•In the opener on Tuesday, SMSU starting pitcher Spencer Schroeder tossed six innings and allowed just one unearned run with five strikeouts and no walks.
•SMSU led 1-0 following a first inning RBI single by Jayden Fleck, before UMC rallied with an unearned run in the fifth inning to tie the score.
•UMC pushed across the game-winning run with a solo home run in the seventh inning.
•In game two, UMC jumped out to 6-1 lead after three and a half innings, but SMSU tied the game with a five-run fourth and the took the lead at 8-7 with a two-run fifth inning.
•The Golden Eagles tied the game in the ninth with a two-out double, but SMSU's Brady Lanoue smacked a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mustangs the victory.
•SMSU's Jake Hendricks sparked the comeback win with a three-run pinch-hit homer to tie the game in the fourth. It was the first SMSU pinch-hit home run since Bryan Nikkel during the 2004 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 524-495-2, including 299-272 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 25 games, SMSU is batting .257 with 52 extra-base hits including 35 doubles, three triples and 14 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 6.21 ERA in 195 2/3 innings with 167 strikeouts and 82 walks.
 
              MUSTANG DIAMOND NOTES
•Jayden Fleck leads the team with eight multi-hit games while Tanner Strommen has six multi-hit games.
•Fleck is batting a team-high .310 with a team-high five home runs and is tied for the club lead with 15 RBIs. Fleck's also the team-leader with six doubles.
•Matt Bezdicek, Nathan Kuhn and Hendricks all have five doubles.
•John Bezdicek's 14 strikeouts in seven innings at Upper Iowa on March 31 is tied for the highest total in the NSIC this season. He currently ranks sixth in the conference in strikeouts.
•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, a team-leading 40 strikeouts in a team-high 33 innings and has compiled a 3.00 ERA.
•Right-hander Spencer Schroeder has made five starts and is 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA in 29 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 954-1,078-3 in 2,035 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.