SETTING THE STAGE
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (8-22, 7-18 NSIC) baseball team travels to Bismarck, N.D., to face the University of Mary (14-26, 10-17 NSIC) in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday at the Bismarck Municipal Ballpark.
•Friday's doubleheader will begin at 10 a.m., while Saturday's game is set for a 12 p.m. start.
•The series was pushed ahead one day to expected poor weather in the Bismarck area on Sunday.
•UMary, which swept a home doubleheader from Bemidji State on Wednesday, is currently in 10^th place in the NSIC.
•SMSU begins the weekend in 13^th place in NSIC play.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and statistics for all three games will be available at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @smsubaseball on Twitter.
 
            SERIES HISTORY
•SMSU holds a 21-7 advantage in the series with the first meeting occurring in 2007, which was the first year UMary joined the NSIC.
•SMSU has won 11 of the past 14 meetings since  2010, including sweeping a four-game series the last time the two teams met on April 22-23, 2017, in Marshall.
 
            SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU opened its home season on Wednesday sweeping a conference doubleheader from Minnesota Duluth, winning 8-4 and 9-3.
•Brady Lanoue had a big day for the Mustangs combining for four hits and five RBIs in the two games while teammate Ben Heichel hit a pair of home runs and finished the twinbill with five RBIs.
•In the opener, SMSU scored all eight runs with two outs.
•Jake Hendricks clubbed two doubles and two RBIs.
•The Mustangs finished the game with 11 hits with Connor Johnson, Lanoue, Hendricks and Tanner Strommen all collecting two hits each.  
•Spencer Schroeder earned the victory in game one firing the first five innings and allowing three runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked two to improve to 2-1.
•Teddy Broxterman entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh and retired three of the four batters he faced including a pair of strikeouts to record his third save of the season.
•In game two, Johnson, Lanoue and Heichel each finished with two hits.
•Heichel hit a two-run homer while Strommen belted his first home run of the season.
•Wes Sarsland, making just his second start of the season, tossed the first 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts.
•Alex Jorgensen recorded the final out in the fifth and then fired two more scoreless innings to record the victory and improve to 2-0.
 
            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 526-498-2, including 301-275 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 30 games, SMSU is batting .257 with 67 extra-base hits including 46 doubles, three triples and 18 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has compiled a 6.35 ERA in 236 2/3 innings with 189 strikeouts and 102 walks.
 
            MUSTANG DIAMOND NOTES
•Jayden Fleck and Tanner Strommen lead the team with eight multi-hit games while Connor Johnson has seven multi-hit games.
•Fleck is batting a team-high .293 with five home runs and is tied for the team lead with 18 RBIs.
•Ben Heichel leads the club with six home runs and has 18 RBIs. His six home runs in conference play is tied for fifth in the NSIC.
•Jake Hendricks has a team-leading nine doubles with three home runs and has a five multi-RBI games and 18 RBIs. He ranks tied for eighth in the NSIC with eight doubles in league play.
•Brady Lanoue also has five multi-RBI 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.
•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.
•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 46 strikeouts in 40 innings and has compiled a 3.38 ERA.   
•Bezdicek's 14 strikeouts in seven innings at Upper Iowa on March 31 is tied for the highest single-game total in the NSIC this season. He currently ranks 10th in the conference with 41 strikeouts and is 14^th in ERA (2.88).
•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 seven appearances with six starts and is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 35 innings.
•Right-hander Donny Schroeder has made nine appearances out of the bullpen and has two victories.
•Left-hander Teddy Broxterman has pitched in a team-high 11 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 956-1,081-3 in 2,040 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.