PREVIEWING WEDNESDAY 
•The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team (16-8, 7-3 NSIC) will be back on the road to continue NSIC play with a doubleheader against No. 1 Augustana (21-3, 9-1 NSIC) on Wednesday that was rescheduled from last week due to weather. The doubleheader will start at 3 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D.
•Following the midweek doubleheader, SMSU will be back on the road traveling to Moorhead, Minn., and Aberdeen, S.D., to take on MSU Moorhead on Saturday and Northern State on Sunday.  
 
                GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for Wednesday's games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com. 
 
ABOUT AUGUSTANA
•Augustana, picked first in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' poll, is 21-3 this season going into Wednesday's doubleheader. 
•Augustana is the defending 2019 NCAA national champion. 
•The Vikings swept both Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul this past weekend, shutting out the Golden Bears in both games on Saturday and only allowing the Mavericks to score four runs in Sunday's doubleheader. 
•Augustana is led by Kendal Cornick, who is batting .519 and leading her team in runs (29), hits (41), and doubles (10). 
•Abbie Lund is hitting .420 with a team high two triples and has recorded 29 hits.
•The Vikings are batting .327 and averaging 6.8 runs per game, while the pitching staff has a 2.47 ERA with 124 strikeouts in 155 2/3 innings. 
 
                  SERIES HISTORY VS. AUGUSTANA
•SMSU and Augustana have meet 77 times since the 1974 season with the Vikings leading 63-14 in the all-time series.
•The Mustangs look to snap an 11-game losing streak with the team's last win coming on April 14, 2015. The Vikings have won 23 of the last 24 meetings since the 2010 season. 
 
SMSU HEAD COACH
•Bailey Bouman is in her third season as head coach with an overall record of 44-41, including 20-20 in NSIC play.
•The 11th head coach in program history, Bouman was named to the position on Aug. 8, 2019.
•SMSU finished 19-26 during her first season in 2019 and qualified for the NSIC Tournament. 
•Bouman was an assistant coach with the SMSU women's basketball program from 2015-17 and was also an assistant women's basketball coach at Dordt College (Iowa) before returning to SMSU.
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of the University of Sioux Falls where she played both basketball and softball for the Cougars. 
 
                SMSU DIAMOND NOTES
•SMSU looks to come back after being swept by Winona State on Sunday with a 5-1 loss in game one and a 2-1 defeat in game two. SMSU was able to earn a sweep against Upper Iowa the day before with a 4-3 victory in game one and a 3-0 victory in game two. 
•SMSU would record four doubles throughout the weekend with two coming from Bailey Johnson in game one against Upper Iowa, where she would break the program's all-time doubles record. She passed Amanda Burkhart's (2006-09) previous record of 42 doubles and now hollds the record with 44. 
•Shelby Bloemendaal pitched her first career shutout in game two against the Peacocks, recording four strikeouts and only allow six hits. 
•In the opener against Upper Iowa, Emma Grote would hit a sac fly out to left field that would bring Patia Wolfe home in the bottom of the seventh and give the Mustangs a 4-3 walk-off victory. In game two, Lileya Kebos would finish with two hits and also stole home in the bottom of the fourth, her team-leading fifth of the season.
•In game one against WSU, SMSU was limited to three hits with its lone run coming on an RBI single by Kebos. 
•SMSU threatened to tie the game in the sixth inning trailing 2-1, as Kali Tomlinson hit her first triple of the season but a pop out ended the comeback attempt. 
•In game two, SMSU would score its lone run of the game on a bases loaded walk to Bloemendaal. 
 
                  SMSU SEASON NUMERS
•Overall, through 24 games, SMSU is averaging 5.1 runs per game, batting .314 with 40 doubles, nine triples and 15 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 3.08 ERA in 156 2/3 innings with 128 strikeouts. 
•Emma Grote is batting a team-high .469 and leads the team in base-hits with 38. 
•Lileya Kebos is hitting .427 and leads the team in triples with five, along with leading the team in multi-hit games with 11. 
•Bailey Johnson is hitting .378 with two home runs, 15 RBIs and is tied for the team-lead in doubles with 10, while leading the team in runs scored with 24. She is the all-time doubles leader for SMSU with 44.
•Kali Tomlinson is batting .373 with eight home runs, a team-high 29 RBIs and is tied for the team lead in doubles (10). Tomlinson also leads the team in multi-RBI games with seven and two games where she five or more RBIs. She also has the longest current hitting streak for the team with 12. 
•Megan Cull has appeared in 14 games in the circle and is 8-2 with one save. She has a 2.45 ERA with a team-high 60 innings pitched and 56 strikeouts. 
•Shelby Bloemendaal is 4-3 in 10 starts tossing 56 1/3 innings with a 3.60 ERA. 
•Allison Christians has appeared in 13 games with a 4-2 record and two saves. She has a 3.00 ERA while pitching 37 1/3 innings. 
 
                  MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (April 13), SMSU ranks 22^nd nationally in triples, 60^th in batting average and slugging percentage, 94^th in scoring, and 98^th in total runs. 
•Lileya Kebos is 4^th in triples with five.  
•Kali Tomlinson is 24^th in doubles with 10, 43^rd in RBIs with 29, and 31^st in home runs.
•Bailey Johnson is 24^th in doubles, tied with Tomlinson, and ranks 80^th in runs per game. 
•Emma Grote is 44^th in batting average and 51^st in hits.
 
          MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/softballcareer.
 
MUSTANGS IN THE CAREER RECORD BOOK
•Entering play on Wednesday, Bailey Johnson ranks first in team history in doubles (44), slugging pct. (.634) and on-base pct. (.475), second in batting average (.384), tied for 10^th in home runs (12), 10^th in walks (56) and 15^th in most runs batted in with 79. 
•Johnson passed Amanda Burkhart (2006-09) for all-time in doubles now holding the record with 44. 
•Kali Tomlinson ranks third in slugging pct. (.614), tied for third in home runs (26), and in doubles (39), fourth in RBIs (109) and total bases (288), and sixth in batting average (.356).
•Emma Grote is seventh in hits (184), eighth in runs scored (108) and is tied for 11^th in stolen bases (28). 
•Megan Cull is second in games finished (38), sixth in strikeouts (253), and ninth in appearances (85).
 
                  GROTE EARNS 2020 ACADEMIC HONOR
•Senior Emma Grote was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the second straight season following the 2020 season.
 
                  NSIC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO ROCHESTER
•The 2021 NSIC Tournament will be held in May 13-15 in Rochester, Minn., at the RYFSA Complex. 
•The top 10 teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the tournament with the champion earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
                  SMSU PICKED 10^TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 10th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Mustang senior Megan Cull was named a "Pitcher to Watch", while junior outfielder Bailey Johnson was named a "Player to Watch" in the NSIC this spring. 
 
            MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 50^th season of softball in 2021.
•SMSU has played 1,885 games compiling an all-time record of 976-908-1.
•SMSU has won 10 NSIC regular season championships, two NSIC Tournament titles and has played in four NCAA Tournaments.