SETTING THE STAGE
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (6-22, 5-18 NSIC) baseball team will host its first games of the 2019 season on Wednesday taking the University of Minnesota Duluth (12-25, 9-17 NSIC) in a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. at Legion Field in Marshall.
•The location was changed to Legion Field on Tuesday due to wet conditions in the outfield at Alumni Field on the SMSU campus.
•SMSU, which has had 13 home games relocated this season and has played just two games in the state of Minnesota, is scheduled to have three more games at home this season on May 3-4 versus St. Cloud State.
•SMSU's next conference victory will be the 300th conference win for SMSU head coach Paul Blanchard.

    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
•UMD holds a 65-58 advantage in the series with the first meeting occurring in 1977.
•UMD has won the last six games in the series since the 2016 season with SMSU's last victory coming on April 8, 2015, in Duluth.
•The teams last played in Marshall on April 13, 2016, with UMD winning 7-2 and 16-8.
•UMD won both games last season, 13-10 and 8-5 in Wakefield, Neb.

    SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU lost three games last weekend at Minot State, losing 10-2 and 5-2 on Friday, before dropping a 15-12 game on Saturday.
•On Friday, SMSU trailed 3-2 but cut into the deficit in the fourth as Connor Johnson singled and later scored on an RBI single by Jayden Fleck. Tanner Strommen singled and Jake Hendricks walked to load the bases before Ben Heichel scored Fleck on a fielder's choice to make the score 3-2.
•Strommen led SMSU's six-hit offense with a pair of hits.
•John Bezdicek pitched the first six inning and allowed six runs (four earned) on seven hits with four strikeouts.
•In game two, MISU hit a two-run homer in the third inning to build a 2-0 lead, but was held in check for most of the game by SMSU starter Cole Petersen. The senior lefty tossed eight-plus innings and allowed just two earned runs on five hits.
•The Mustangs, which were held to one hit in the game's first six innings, finally broke through in the eighth inning. Heichel reached base to start the inning via an error and later scored on a fielding error by the MISU left fielder following a base hit by Spencer Rudnik. Following two ground outs, another MISU error allowed Rudnik to score and cut the Beavers lead to 3-2.
•In the final game of the series, the defending NSIC regular season champions, finished the game with 14 hits and took advantage of seven walks and three hit by pitches by SMSU pitching. It was a game that featured several big innings by both teams including a pair of big rallies by SMSU.
•Trailing 1-0, the Mustangs rallied in the bottom of the first as Jake Hendricks smacked an RBI double to score Andy Andresen.
•MISU countered with a four-run second inning with four hits to build a 5-1 lead and chase SMSU starting pitcher Josh Meyer, who was making his first career start.
•SMSU picked up a run in the third as Nathan Kuhn singled and later scored on a run-scoring base hit by Ben Heichel.
•Mustang relief pitcher Josh Hardy held the Beavers scoreless for 3 2/3 innings allowing the SMSU offense rally to tie the game in the fifth. Following walks to Brady Lanoue and Hendricks, Heichel hit an RBI double to make the score 5-3. SMSU wasn't finished as Connor Johnson hit a two-run double to tie the game at 5-5 through five innings.
•The scored two runs in the sixth to regain the lead at 7-5 and looked to put the game away with a big seventh inning, scoring six runs on just three hits.
•SMSU wouldn't go away and answered with its open big inning to keep the game close plating seven runs on four hits. Spencer Rudnik started the scoring with a two-run double and was followed by an RBI single by Andresen to make the score 13-8. Following a wild pitch and a walk to load the bases, Fleck hit a two-run single to pull the Mustangs within 13-10. Heichel then hit a sac fly to plate another run before Fleck scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 13-12.
•Both teams went scoreless in the eighth, but the Beavers pushed across a pair of runs on a home run to extend the lead to 15-12.
•The Mustangs finished with 12 hits as Andresen, Heichel, Johnson and Rudnik each collected a pair of hits with Heichel recording three RBIs.


    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 524-498-2, including 299-275 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 28 games, SMSU is batting .253 with 59 extra-base hits including 42 doubles, three triples and 14 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 6.57ERA in 220 2/3 innings with 179 strikeouts and 92 walks.

    MUSTANG DIAMOND NOTES
•Jayden Fleck leads the team with eight multi-hit games while Tanner Strommen has seven multi-hit games.
•Fleck is batting a team-high .305 with a team-high five home runs a team-high 18 RBIs and is tied with seven doubles.
•Jake Hendricks also has seven doubles with three home runs and has a team-leading four multi-RBI games.
•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.
•Hendricks' three-run pinch-hit home run at UMC on April 16 was SMSU's first pinch-hit home run since Bryan Nikkel in 2004.
•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 44 strikeouts in 39 innings and has compiled a 3.46 ERA. He ranks seventh in the NSIC with 39 strikeouts.
•Bezdicek was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week on April 2 following a three-hit, seven-inning shutout, with a career-high 14 strikeouts at Upper Iowa.
•Right-hander Spencer Schroeder has made six appearances with five starts and is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in 30 innings.
•Right-hander Donny Schroeder has made eight appearances out of the bullpen and has two victories.
•Left-hander Teddy Broxterman has pitched in a team-high 10 games.    
•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.

    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 954-1,081-3 in 2,038 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.

    UMD BULLDOG NOTES
•UMD closed out a six-game homestand by sweeping a four-game series from UMary.
•The Bulldogs exploded for 22 runs (their most in eight years) and 27 hits (their most since the 2012 season) in the series opener against the Marauders on Friday
•UMD batted .374 in its six games last week. After hitting at a .227 clip during their opening 20 outings of the year, the Bulldogs are batting .324 in the 17 games since
•The Bulldogs have been outscored 49-17 in the first inning this year, but have bounced back to outscore the opposition 39-19 in the second inning