PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (8-10, 1-5 NSIC) resumes Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series versus Concordia-St. Paul (11-9, 5-3 NSIC) in Sioux City, Iowa. The three-game set will be played at Bishop Muller Field on the campus of Briar Cliff University. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 12:30 p.m. with Sunday's game starting at 12 p.m.
•The games were scheduled to be played at Legion Field in Marshall, but were moved due to poor weather and field conditions in Marshall.
•SMSU has now had four games canceled this season due to poor weather.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats and video for all games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL
•SMSU and CSP have met 68 times since the first meeting in 1982 with CSP holding a 37-29 all-time advantage.
•SMSU won two of three games played last season at Legion Field in Marshall.
•CSP leads the series 7-6 since the 2018 season.
 
ABOUT CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL
•CSP begins the weekend at 11-9 overall, 5-3 NSIC. CSP's mid-week doubleheader scheduled for Thursday versus Minnesota Duluth was canceled due to weather.
•Neil Lerner is in his third season as head coach of the Golden Bears.
•For the season, CSP is batting .268, averaging 6.0 runs per game and have a team ERA of 4.47 in 161 innings with 134 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 555-540-2, including 315-306 in conference play.
•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 18 games, SMSU is averaging 6.7 runs per game, batting .323 with 31 doubles, eight triples and 11 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has an 8.68 ERA in 132 2/3 innings with 126 strikeouts.
•Sophomore Isaac Nett is hitting .455 with two doubles and three home runs with a team-leading 18 RBIs. He leads the club with six stolen bases and earlier this season had an 11-game hitting streak. He ranks second on the club with eight multi-hit games.
•Sophomore Chase McDaniel is batting a .422 with one double, one triple and five stolen bases. He has a team-leading 10 multi-hit games.
•Sophomore Jaxon Haase is batting .377 with four doubles and 13 RBIs. He has reached base in a team-leading 16 straight games.
•Freshman Owen Latendresse has belted a team-high four home runs, ranks second on the team with 16 RBIs and is hitting .356 with eight multi-hit games.
•Junior Keenan Wenzel has a team-high five doubles and his batting .364.
•Freshman Caleb Gardow is batting .324 with four doubles and home run.
•Sophomore Kobe Lovell is 1-0 in five relief appearances with a 2.70 ERA in 10 innings with nine strikeouts.
•Senior Andy Andresen has appeared in six games and has a 3.18 ERA in 5 2/3 innings with one save.
•Sophomore Kolby Kiser has started five games and has pitched 22 2/3 innings with a team-high 27 strikeouts.
•Freshman Ryan Chmielewski has two victories in a team-high 23 2/3 innings with 21 strikeouts.
 
NCAA STATISTICS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (March 30), Isaac Nett ranks 12^th in batting average (.455), 12^th in on-base percentage (.559) and 18^th in toughest to strikeout at (18.3).
•Chase McDaniel ranks fifth in hits per game (1.8) and 36^th in batting average (.422).
•Jaxon Haase ranks 48^th in on-base percentage (.515).
•SMSU's .323 batting average ranks 28^th in country, while its .406 on-base percentage ranks 60^th.
 
            SMSU DIAMOND NOTES
•SMSU lost two of three games at the University of Sioux Falls last Saturday and Sunday. After being shutout and limited to one hit in the series opener, the Mustangs cracked out 14 hits and won 11-6 in game two.
•Owen Latendresse had three hits (including two home runs), scored four runs and drove in three runs in the victory. Chase McDaniel collected three hits, while Max Kalenberg, Jake Tauer and Nick Brown each had two hits.
•Ryan Chmielewski would get the win after going 5 1/3 innings, giving up a pair of earned runs on a season-low four hits and four walks while striking out five.
•Keenan Wenzel hit a two-run homer in Sunday's loss. SMSU trailed 4-3 in the fifth inning before USF scored 11 runs to blow the game open.
•SMSU has double-figure hits in 10 of 18 games.
•The SMSU pitching staff has struck out 10 or more batters in five games.
•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.
 
          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 but has had four games canceled as of April 1.
 
            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 2,111 games compiling an all-time record of 985-1,123-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.