SETTING THE STAGE
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (5-13, 4-9 NSIC) baseball team continues Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Wednesday with a doubleheader versus Augustana University (18-7, 11-1 NSIC) at Karras Park at Ronken Field in Sioux Falls, S.D. The first game, scheduled for seven innings, is set to start at 4 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.
•Augustana, the defending NCAA champions, are currently in first place in the NSIC standings while SMSU is tied for 11th.
 
               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
•Augustana holds a 56-45 all-time series with the first meeting occurring in 1980.
•Augustana has dominated the series since 2012, winning 22 of the last 24 games since April 11, 2012. SMSU's last victory came on May 7, 2016, in Marshall, while its last win in Sioux Falls came on March 30, 2013.
•Augustana won both games last season played in Omaha, Neb., 4-2 and 5-0.
 
              LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU won two of three games at Upper Iowa on Sunday and Monday to win its first conference series of the season.
•SMSU sophomore left-hander John Bezdicek was outstanding in the opener of the series tossing a three-hit shutout with a career-high 14 strikeouts.
•SMSU collected season-highs in both runs (16) and hits (14) in Monday's win at Upper Iowa.
•SMSU also belted a season-high four runs in the Monday victory. 
•SMSU opened the week splitting a doubleheader at Sioux Falls last Wednesday.
•The Mustangs hit .302 during the five games with 10 doubles and six home runs.
•Brady Lanoue batted .438 in the five games with a home run and seven RBIs.
 
              BEZDICEK NAMED NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
•Sophomore left-hander John Bezdicek was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday.
•Bezdicek tossed a three-hit, seven-inning shutout, with a career-high 14 strikeouts.
•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.
 
               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 523-489-2, including 298-266 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 18 games, SMSU is batting .261 with 40 extra-base hits including 27 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 5.30 ERA in 142 2/3 innings with 125 strikeouts and 59 walks.
 
              MUSTANG DIAMOND NOTES
•Jayden Fleck and Tanner Strommen lead the team with five multi-hit games with Strommen currently on a four-game hitting streak.
•Strommen leads the club batting .308 with two doubles.
•Fleck is batting .295 with a team-high 12 RBIs and a team-high four home runs.
•Jake Hendricks and Nathan Kuhn both have a team-leading five doubles.
•Connor Johnson and Nathan Kuhn both have four multi-hit games.
•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 31 strikeouts in 25 innings.
•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.
 
              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.
 
               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 ACADEMIC 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.
 
              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 953-1,072-3 in 2,028 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.