PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (7-12, 5-11 NSIC) resumes home play on Thursday taking on the University of Sioux Falls (8-13, 4-13 NSIC) in a doubleheader (7-9) at Legion Field in Marshall starting at 12 p.m.
•The twinbill was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was delayed one day due to poor weather.
•SMSU, which has dropped five straight games by a total of 10 runs, begins play on Wednesday in 11^th place in the NSIC standings, while USF is currently in 13^th place.
•Following Thursday's games, SMSU will host Bemidji State in a three-game series this Saturday and Sunday.
 
GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for the two games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
ABOUT SIOUX FALLS
•USF is 8-13 overall, 4-13 NSIC, and is coming off a weekend series in which they lost two of three at St. Cloud State.
•The Cougars opened the season winning four games at Truman State prior to NSIC play.   
•Tyler Cate leads the Cougars batting .313 (20 for 64) with a home run and 11 RBIs.
•Ryan Bernardy is hitting .284 (21 for 74) with six home runs and 21 RBIs.
•Through 21 games, USF is batting .254, with 32 doubles, 12 home runs, 43 stolen bases, averaging 5.3 runs per game and have a team ERA of 7.04 in 161 innings with 145 strikeouts.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. SIOUX FALLS
•SMSU and USF have meet 23 times since the first meeting in 1972 with SMSU holding a 15-8 all-time advantage.
•The two teams have split all seven doubleheaders played since USF joined the NSIC in 2013.  
•This will be USF's first games in Marshall since March 29, 2017.
 
SMSU HEAD COACH
•Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 25^th season as head coach and has an overall record of 542-520-2, including 309-291 in conference play.
•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.
 
SMSU DIAMOND NOTES
•SMSU enters play on Thursday having lost five straight tight games in the last week.
•Nathan Kuhn ranks second in the NSIC (league games only) in batting average at .448 (26 of 58).
•SMSU lost to No. 19 Minnesota State last Tuesday by scores of 4-2 and 4-0, before losing three straight to Winona State on Sunday (2-1, 2-1) and Monday (9-7).  
•Chase McDaniel hit .462 (6 for 13) in the five games with Nathan Kuhn batting .353 (6 for 17) with two doubles and a team-high four RBIs.
•Matt Bezdicek finished the five games batting .333 (6 for 18) with a home run, a triple, a double and three RBIs
•John Bezdicek tossed a seven-inning complete game in the first loss to Winona State, allowing one earned run with seven strikeouts.
 
SMSU SEASON NUMBERS
•Through 19 games, SMSU is averaging 4.8 runs per game, batting .260 with 26 doubles and nine home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 5.05 ERA in 146 innings with 140 strikeouts.
•Nathan Kuhn is batting a team-high .455 (30 of 66) with a team-high seven doubles and team-leading 37 total bases. He has a team-high nine multi-hit games and has collected at least one hit in 16 of 18 games played.
•Matt Bezdicek is hitting .323 (20 of 62) with four doubles, three home runs and has a team-high 18 RBIs. He leads the team with six multi-RBI games and is second with seven multi-hit games.
•Brodie Smith is batting .246 (14 for 57) with four doubles, one home run and 11 RBIs.
•Jake Hendricks has two home runs, nine RBIs and is hitting .230 (14 of 61).
•John Bezdicek has pitched a team-high 28 2/3 innings with a team-high 41 strikeouts. He is 2-1 with a 2.83 ERA with one shutout and three complete games.
•Kobe Lovell has a 2.00 ERA in nine innings while appearing in seven games.
•Jake Wensmann has two victories in five starts and has recorded 17 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings.
•Kolby Kiser has appeared in four games with three starts and has a 2.57 ERA in 14 innings with nine strikeouts.
•Teddy Broxterman has pitched in seven games, has a 3.44 ERA and is third on the squad with 13 strikeouts.
•Jared Tschetter has appeared in seven games and has one win, two saves with a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 innings. 
 
MUSTANGS TIE TEAM RECORD
•SMSU's nine doubles in a game two victory at Briar Cliff on March 10 tied a program record. SMSU also collected nine doubles versus Minnesota Duluth on March 15, 2009, and versus Minot State on March 29, 2015.
 
BEZDICEK EARNS NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONORS
•John Bezdicek was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week on March 15 following his season-opening start versus Briar Cliff University on March 10.
•Bezdicek pitched three innings in the opener and was dominate in his short appearance. He faced 10 batters and recorded eight strikeouts, while allowing one walk.
 
MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
 
MUSTANGS IN THE SMSU CAREER RECORD BOOK
•John Bezdicek ranks first in team history in strikeouts per nine innings (11.4) and fifth in strikeouts (188). Pat O'Brien (2002-05) and Ryan Morse (2003-05) are tied for third all-time in strikeouts with 190.
•Teddy Broxterman is tied for sixth in saves (6).
•Shawn Williams ranks fourth in appearances (49).
 
BEZDICEK EARNS 2020 ACADEMIC HONOR
•John Bezdicek was named 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-District.
 
NSIC SCHEDULE
•For the third straight season, all NSIC weekend series will be three-game sets. The teams will play one seven and one nine-inning game the first day and will close the series with a nine-inning game the following day.
•All weekday match-ups will be doubleheaders with one seven-inning game and one nine-inning game.
•SMSU is scheduled to play 36 conference games.
 
NEW FORMAT FOR 2021 NSIC TOURNAMENT
•The NSIC Tournament will have a new look this season over two weekends in the month of May. The top eight teams will qualify for the tournament with the top four seeds hosting a best 2-out-3 series from May 13-16.
•The final four teams remaining will advance to Sioux Falls, S.D. for a double-elimination tournament on May 20-23 at Karras Park on the campus of Augustana and Sioux Falls Stadium
•The champion of the tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
SMSU PICKED 12^TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 12^th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Mustang junior John Bezdicek was named a "Pitcher to Watch", while senior infielder Nathan Kuhn was named a "Player to Watch" in the NSIC this spring.
 
MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 52^nd season of baseball in 2021.
•SMSU has played 2,078 games compiling an all-time record of 972-1,103-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.