PREVIEWING TUESDAY
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (7-7, 5-6 NSIC) continues its homestand on Tuesday facing nationally-ranked Minnesota State University (15-2, 12-1 NSIC) with a doubleheader (7-9) starting at 12 p.m. at Legion Field in Marshall.
•The series was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was moved up one day due to expected poor weather.
•MSU was ranked No. 19 in last week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 and No. 23 in last week's Collegiate Baseball Top 25 poll.
•SMSU is coming off a home series last Friday and Saturday winning two of three from Concordia-St. Paul.
•SMSU continue home action this weekend taking on Winona State in a three-game set on Saturday and Sunday.
 
GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for the two games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
ABOUT MINNESOTA STATE
•MSU, picked second in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, is currently atop the NSIC standings with a 12-1 record and are 15-2 overall.
•MSU won two of three games last weekend at St. Cloud State.   
•Joey Werner leads the Mavericks batting .419 (26 for 62) with six home runs, four doubles and 28 RBIs, while Teddy Peterson is hitting .322 (19 for 59) with four home runs, five doubles and 19 RBIs.
•Through 17 games, MSU is batting .315, with 43 doubles, 28 home runs, averaging 8.3 runs per game and have a team ERA of 3.04 in 136 1/3 innings with 192 strikeouts.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. MINNESOTA STATE
•SMSU and MSU have meet 74 times since the first meeting in 1973 with MSU holding a commanding 64-10 all-time advantage. MSU and SMSU were members of the NIC from 1978-81 and MSU rejoined the NSIC prior to the 2009 season. 
•MSU has won the past 12 games and 30 of the last 31 since the 2010 season.
•SMSU's lone win in the last 10 years came on March 21, 2014, in Sioux City, Iowa.
•This will be MSU's first games in Marshall since April 2, 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 542-515-2, including 309-286 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 won its first NSIC series of the season last weekend taking two of three from Concordia-St. Paul at Legion Field.
•In the series opener on Friday, John Bezdicek tossed a four-hitter with seven strikeouts in SMSU's 9-3 win. Keenan Wenzel blasted a grand slam in the fifth inning to give SMSU a 7-0 advantage. Nathan Kuhn had three hits in the win, while Brodie Smith had two hits, including a solo home run in the first inning.
•CSP picked up a 20-6 win in game two on Friday, cracking six home runs.
•SMSU had nine hits in the game, including home runs by Jake Hendricks and the first career home run for Chase McDaniel.
•In the series finale, SMSU scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to rally for a 4-3 victory. Robbie Smith drilled the game-winning single to score McDaniel from second base. Kuhn, Derek Smith and Robbie Smith each had two hits in the victory.
•Kolby Kiser started on the mound for the Mustangs and tossed six-plus innings with four strikeouts and allowed one earned run. Jared Tschetter picked up the win in relief tossing 1 1/3 shutout innings.
•John Bezdicek is now in fifth place in team history with 181 strikeouts. Pat O'Brien (2002-05) and Ryan Morse (2003-05) are tied for third all-time with 190.
 
SMSU SEASON NUMERS
•Through 14 games, SMSU is averaging 5.8 runs per game, batting .272 with 18 doubles and seven home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 5.52 ERA in 106 innings with 112 strikeouts.
•Nathan Kuhn is batting a team-high .490 (24 of 49) with a team-high five doubles and team-leading 29 total bases. He has a team-high eight multi-hit games and has collected at least one hit in 11 of 13 games played.
•Matt Bezdicek is hitting .318 (14 of 44) with three doubles and two home runs and has a team-high 15 RBIs. He leads the team with five multi-RBI games.
•Robbie Smith is batting .292 (7 for 24) with two doubles and three RBIs.
•Jake Hendricks has two home runs, eight RBIs and is hitting .256 (11 of 43).
•John Bezdicek has pitched a team-high 21 2/3 innings with a team-high 34 strikeouts. He is 2-0 with a 3.32 ERA with one shutout and two complete games.
•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 five games, has a 4.09 ERA and is third on the squad with 10 strikeouts.
•Jared Tschetter has appeared in five games and has one win, two saves with a 0.00 ERA in 4 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 (11.5) and fifth in strikeouts (181).
•Teddy Broxterman is tied for sixth in saves (6).
•Shawn Williams ranks tied for sixth in appearances (46).
 
            BEZDICEK EARNS 2020 ACADEMIC HONOR
•John Bezdicek was named CoSIDA Academic All-District following the 2020 season.
 
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 2,073 games compiling an all-time record of 972-1,098-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.