PREVIEWING THE WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball (19-14, 13-11 NSIC) returns home this week for five games at Legion Field in Marshall.
•The Mustangs open the week with a doubleheader on Wednesday facing Northern State University (13-22, 8-17 NSIC) with first pitch set for 3 p.m.
•On Saturday and Sunday, SMSU takes on Winona State University (13-22, 10-15 NSIC) for a three-game series. Saturday's doubleheader will start at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday's single game set for 12 p.m.
•SMSU is coming off a 2-3 week following five road games, which included splitting a doubleheader versus Wayne State last Wednesday, before losing two of three games at Minnesota Crookston last weekend.  
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for all five games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
            SMSU HEAD COACH
•Jeremy Ische is in his first season as head coach after being named to the position on June 15, 2023. He is the sixth head coach in team history.
•Ische has a career record of 76-139 in six seasons as a head coach after spending the previous five seasons (2019-23) as head coach at Upper Iowa University compiling a record of 57-125. 
•UIU had its best season under Ische in 2023, finishing with a 19-27 record, including 15-19 in NSIC play.
•He was an assistant coach at UIU for two seasons (2017-18) prior to becoming head coach.
•Ische was also an assistant coach at Luther College (2015-16), SMSU (2013-14) and St. Cloud Tech (2012).
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTHERN STATE
•SMSU leads the all-time series 103-45 since first meeting during the 1979 season.
•SMSU has won the last seven games in the series, including eight of the last 10 since the 2018 season. SMSU has swept a three-game series the last two seasons.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. WINONA STATE
•WSU leads the all-time series 125-60 since first meeting during the 1970 season.
•WSU has won the previous nine games dating back to the 2018 season and 13 of the last 16 since 2017.
 
                MCDANIEL BECOMES PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME HITS LEADER
•Senior Chase McDaniel broke the program's all-time hits record on April 14 with 214 hits. He is just the fourth player in team history to reach 200 career hits. Greg Laughlin (2006-09) held the previous record of 213, with Colby Pack (2003-06) now ranking third with 208 and Mark Lickfelt (1995-98) fourth all-time with 205.
 
                MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS
•SMSU is averaging 7.3 runs per game and batting .319 on the season.
•SMSU has a team ERA of 5.25 in 257 innings with 291 strikeouts. Opponents are averaging 5.3 runs per game and batting .280.

                MUSTANG EXTRA BASES
•Chase McDaniel is batting a team-high .453 and leads the team lead with 11 doubles, while ranking second with 34 RBIs.
•McDaniel hit an inside-the-park grand slam in a win over Dakota Wesleyan on March 3. It was SMSU's first inside-the-park home run since Jarred Carlson versus Bemidji State on March 11, 2015.
•McDaniel leads the club in both multi-hit games (23) and multi-RBI games (11).
•Besides holding the school career record for base hits, McDaniel ranks fourth in total bases (315), seventh in assists (336), tied for sixth in runs scored (139), ninth in batting average (.371) and tied for 10^th in stolen bases (35).
•Isaac Nett ranks first on the team with 11 home runs and is also the team leader in RBIs (37) and stolen bases (12).
•Owen Latendresse is hitting .368 with eight doubles, five triples and four home runs. He ranks second in team history with 11 triples. Mark Lickfelt holds the career mark with 12 from 1995-98.
•Keenan Wenzel was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 4. He is batting .311 with four triples, five home runs and 23 RBIs.
•Jake Tauer is hitting .327 with seven doubles and 17 RBIs.
•Max Kalenberg has walked a team-high 25 times and earlier this season reached base in a team-high 23 straight games.
 
                MUSTANGS FROM THE MOUND
•Kolby Kiser is 4-2 in eight starts with a 2.90 ERA in 49 2/3 innings with a team-high 55 strikeouts. He ranks second in team history in strikeouts per nine innings (10.2) and sixth all-time in strikeouts (183).
•Carter Petron has a 2.29 ERA in 38 1/3 innings with 40 strikeouts, while recording a 5-1 record in eight starts. He tossed a nine-inning six-hit shutout versus Concordia-St. Paul on April 5 with five strikeouts. It's the first nine-inning shutout by an SMSU pitcher since Mitch Wurm in 2015. He then recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts in a victory at Minnesota Crookston on April 13.
•Ansen Dulas is 1-2 in eight games with six starts and has recorded 48 strikeouts in 33 innings. He ranks eighth in team history in strikeouts (161) and fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings (9.6).
•Ryan Chmielewski has a 3-3 record in eight starts with 46 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings. He fired a career-high eight innings vs. Concordia-St. Paul on April 6 allowing zero earned runs and struck out a season-high nine Bemidji State batters on March 30.
•Shay Endres has recorded a 3.34 ERA in nine appearances with two starts, while registering 27 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings.
•Kobe Lovell ranks fifth in team history in appearances (53).
 
            MCDANIEL NAMED NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Senior Chase McDaniel was named the NSIC Player of the Week on Monday. In five games, he batted .714 (15-of-21) with four home runs, a triple, a double, nine RBIs, 10 runs scored and 30 total bases.
 
            NETT EARNS NSIC & NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS; TIES SCHOOL RECORD
•Senior Isaac Nett was named the NSIC Player of the Week and was named D2 Baseball Insider and NCBWA National Player of the Week for the week of April 1 following his play in four Mustang victories over Bemidji State on March 29-30.
•Nett batted .588 (10-for-17) with four home runs, three doubles, 17 RBIs, eight runs scored and 25 total bases. He also walked four times, stole two bases and finished with a 1.471 slugging pct. and a .667 on-base pct.
•He tied a school record with three home runs and finished with seven RBIs in SMSU's game one doubleheader victory on Saturday. He is the fourth player in team history to hit three home runs in one game and the first since 2016.
•In game two of the doubleheader on Saturday, Nett belted a home run in his first at bat and walked four times to tie another school single-game record.
 
            KISER SETS SCHOOL SINGLE-GAME RECORD; TEAM BREAKS RECORD
•Senior Kolby Kiser set a team single-game record with 16 strikeouts in eight innings earning a no-decision in a 2-1 loss versus Walsh (Ohio) on March 9. Kiser broke the previous record of 15 strikeouts set by Adam Schrader during the 2009 season.
•The 16 strikeouts rank as the third highest in Division II this season.
•Kiser, along with Shay Endres and Cameron Jensen, combined to strikeout 19 batters in the loss setting a team record for strikeouts in a single-game.
 
            MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (April 15), Kolby Kiser ranks 23^rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.5) and 48^th in ERA (2.90).
•Carter Petron ranks 22nd in ERA (2.29).
•Ansen Dulas ranks eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.09).
•Chase McDaniel ranks first in the country in hits per game (1.91), 21^st in total hits (63) and 43^rd in slugging pct. (.748).  
•Isaac Nett ranks 52^nd in slugging pct. (.728).
 
MUSTANGS EARN POSTSEASON HONORS IN 2023
•SMSU had several players receive accolades following the 2023 season.
•Chase McDaniel was named All-NSIC first team, while Kolby Kiser, Ansen Dulas and Keenan Wenzel were all named All-NSIC second team.
•Ryan Chmielewski was selected to the NSIC All-Defensive team and was also named to the ABCA Central Region All-Defensive team.
•McDaniel and Kiser were both named NCBWA All-Region honorable mention, while McDaniel picked-up CCA All-Region second team honors.
 
NETT NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
•Isaac Nett was named to 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® Division II baseball first team as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) last June.
•It's the 28th time in school history and the sixth Mustang baseball student-athlete to earn CSC Academic All-American accolades.  
 
            NSIC SCHEDULE
•The 14-team NSIC schedule will have a different look this year featuring a variety of four-game, three-game and two-game series during the season.
•The schedule format allows for each team to play every opponent at least twice during the regular season.
•SMSU is scheduled to play five four-game series (SCSU, UMD, MISU, BSU, CSP), four three-game series (UMC, WSU, UMary, MSU) and doubleheaders versus (WSC, NSU, AU, USF).
•All weekday match-ups will be doubleheaders with one seven-inning game and one nine-inning game.
•SMSU is scheduled to play 40 conference games this season.
 
             MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/baseballcareer.
 
            SMSU PICKED FIFTH IN NSIC POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish fifth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Mustang senior shortstop Chase McDaniel and senior right-handed pitcher Kolby Kiser were both named 'Players to Watch' in the conference this season.
 
             NSIC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO NORTH DAKOTA
•The 2024 NSIC Tournament will be held on May 8-11 and hosted by the University of Mary at Veterans Memorial/Municipal Ballparks, in Mandan, N.D., and Bismarck, N.D.
•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.
 
            MUSTANG HISTORY
•SMSU is in its 55th season of baseball in 2024.
•SMSU has played 2,213 games compiling an all-time record of 1,040-1,170-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC tournament titles and has played in one NCAA tournament.