PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (7-8, 0-3 NSIC) continues Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series versus the University of Sioux Falls (10-8, 2-1 NSIC) in Brandon, S.D. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday's game starting at 1 p.m. All three games will be played at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park.
•USF played a doubleheader versus Minot State on Thursday before taking on SMSU.
•SMSU was scheduled to play two mid-week games at Upper Iowa but the games were canceled due to poor weather and field conditions.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats and video for all games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. SIOUX FALLS
•SMSU and USF have meet 25 times since the 1972 season with SMSU holding a 15-10 all-time advantage.
•SMSU is 7-9 versus USF since the Cougars joined the NSIC prior to the 2013 season.
•USF defeated SMSU 11-2 and 9-8 last season in Marshall.
 
ABOUT SIOUX FALLS
•USF began play on Thursday with a 10-8 overall record, including 2-1 in NSIC play. The Cougars won two of three games last weekend at home versus Minnesota Crookston. 
•Noah Christenson is batting .423 with five doubles and 15 RBIs.
•For the season, USF is batting .293, averaging 6.4 runs per game and have a team ERA of 6.23 in 143 innings with 139 strikeouts.
 
SMSU HEAD COACH
•Paul Blanchard, the all-time leader in victories at SMSU, is in his 26^th season as head coach and has an overall record of 554-538-2, including 314-304 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 SEASON NUMBERS
•Through 15 games, SMSU is averaging 7.1 runs per game, batting .336 with 27 doubles, eight triples and six home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 7.98 ERA in 111 2/3 innings with 107 strikeouts.
•Sophomore Isaac Nett is hitting .489 with two doubles and two home runs with a team-leading 17 RBIs. He leads the club with six stolen bases and is currently on an 11-game hitting streak.
•Sophomore Chase McDaniel is batting a .431 with one double, one triple and five stolen bases.
•Sophomore Jaxon Haase is batting .432 with four doubles and 13 RBIs. He has reached base in 13 straight games.
•Freshman Owen Latendresse has belted two home runs with 12 RBIs and is hitting .354.
•Freshman Caleb Gardow is batting .364 with four doubles and home run.
•Redshirt freshman Jake Tauer had an eight-game hitting streak earlier this season.
•McDaniel leads the team with eight multi-hit games, while Latendresse and Nett each have seven.
•Sophomore Kobe Lovell is 1-0 in four relief appearances with a 0.00 ERA in 7 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
•Senior Andy Andresen has appeared in five games and has a 3.86 ERA in 4 2/3 innings with one save.
•Sophomore Kolby Kiser has started four games and has pitched a team-high 19 1/3 innings with a team-high 24 strikeouts. He has recorded seven strikeouts in three starts.
•Freshman Cameron Jensen has one victory and one save in eight innings with 10 strikeouts.
•Freshman Ryan Chmielewksi has made four starts and ranks second on the team in innings pitched (18 1/3) and strikeouts (16).
 
            SMSU DIAMOND NOTES
•SMSU opened NSIC play last weekend losing three games at Wayne State. SMSU led 3-2 in the sixth inning of game one and held an 8-4 advantage in the seventh inning in game two on Saturday. SMSU left 21 runners on base in the three-game set.
•Nett finished the three games 6 for 9 with a double and a home run, while Haase was 4 for 10.
•Junior Kip Gronholz belted his first home run of the season in Sunday's loss.  
•SMSU finished its spring trip to Tucson, Ariz., with a 6-2 record. It's was the program's best spring break trip since finishing 8-4 in 2014.
•Sophomore Ansen Dulas recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in six innings in a victory over Emerson College on March 8.
•Freshman Ryan Chmielewski earned his first career victory firing six innings versus Jamestown on March 12.
•Junior Robbie Smith stole three bases versus Emerson on March 8. He is the first Mustang player since Andy Cook in 2006 to steal three in a single game.
 
          MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and single-game highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
 
NSIC SCHEDULE
•For the fourth 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 starting.
 
            NSIC TOURNAMENT BACK TO SIOUX FALLS
•The 2022 NSIC Tournament will be held in May 11-14 in Sioux Falls, S.D., at Karras Park on the campus of Augustana and Sioux Falls Stadium.
•The top eight 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 15TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 15^th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Mustang freshman Ryan Chmielewski was named a "Pitcher to Watch", while sophomore shortstop Chase McDaniel was named a "Player to Watch" in the NSIC this spring.
 
            MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 53^rd season of baseball in 2021.
•SMSU has played 2,108 games compiling an all-time record of 984-1,121-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.