PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (9-15, 7-14 NSIC) opens a stretch of seven straight road games this Thursday when SMSU faces nationally-ranked University of Minnesota Crookston (16-2, 11-2 NSIC) in a doubleheader (7-9) starting at 1:30 p.m. at the UMC Baseball Field in Crookston, Minn.
•The doubleheader was scheduled to be played on Wednesday but was moved to Thursday due to COVID protocols at UMC.
•UMC, ranked No. 18 in this week's NCBWA Top 25 poll, has had its last five games canceled due to COVID protocols.
•Following Thursday's games, SMSU will play a three-game series at Minot State on Saturday and Sunday.
 
GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for the two games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
ABOUT MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•UMC is 16-2 overall, 11-2 NSIC, and last played on April 11 splitting a doubleheader with Concordia-St. Paul.
•Brock Reller leads the Golden Eagles batting .380 (27 for 71) eight home runs, five doubles and 27 RBIs.
•Jake Hjelle is hitting .363 (24 for 68) with six home runs and five doubles.
•Through 18 games, UMC is batting .293, with 36 doubles, 36 home runs, averaging 9.8 runs per game and have a team ERA of 5.50 in 149 innings with 145 strikeouts.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•SMSU and UMC have meet 56 times since the first meeting in 2000 with SMSU holding a 49-7 advantage.
•The two teams last met splitting a doubleheader in Crookston during the 2019 season.
•Four of UMC's victories have come since the 2017 season.
 
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 544-523-2, including 311-294 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 is coming off a home weekend winning two of three games from Bemidji State.
•Derek Smith finished the weekend 7 for 10 with two doubles and four RBIs. He had seven straight hits in games 2 and 3.
•Kip Gronholz was 7 for 11 in the series with four RBIs, while Chase McDaniel also had seven hits and four RBIs.
•John Bezdicek picked up the victory in game one on Saturday tossing six innings with 10 strikeouts. Bezdicek ranks second in the NSIC (league games only) with 43 strikeouts.
•Nathan Kuhn ranks second in the NSIC in batting average at .442 (34 for 77).
 
SMSU SEASON NUMBERS
•Through 24 games, SMSU is averaging 5.7 runs per game, batting .279 with 38 doubles and 13 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 5.58 ERA in 187 innings with 178 strikeouts.
•Nathan Kuhn is batting a team-high .447 (38 for 85) with a team-high seven doubles and team-leading 45 total bases. He has a team-high 11 multi-hit games and has collected at least one hit in 20 of 23 games played.
•Matt Bezdicek is hitting .321 (26 for 81) with six doubles, three home runs and has a team-high 22 RBIs. He leads the team with seven multi-RBI games and is second with nine multi-hit games.
•Jake Hendricks has four home runs, 17 RBIs and is hitting .247 (20 of 81).
•Derek Smith is batting .292 (21 for 72) with three doubles, one home run and six RBIs.
•Kip Gronholz is hitting .291 (23 for 79) with five doubles and 11 RBIs.
•John Bezdicek has pitched a team-high 34 2/3 innings with a team-high 51 strikeouts. He is 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA with one shutout and three complete games.
•Kobe Lovell has a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings while appearing in nine games.
•Jake Wensmann has two victories in six starts and has recorded 22 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings.
•Teddy Broxterman has pitched in eight games, has a 5.12 ERA and is third on the squad with 15 strikeouts.
•Jared Tschetter has appeared in nine games and has one win, two saves with a 3.24 ERA in 7 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.
 
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 (11.5) and third in strikeouts (198). Chris Pack (1995-98) ranks second with 224, while Adam Schrader (2006-10) holds the school record with 244.
•Teddy Broxterman is tied for sixth in saves (6).
•Shawn Williams ranks fourth in appearances (51).
 
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 2,083 games compiling an all-time record of 974-1,106-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.