PREVIEWING WEDNESDAY
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball (14-9, 8-7 NSIC) steps out of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Wednesday traveling to Sioux Falls, S.D., to face Augustana University (17-6, 10-4 NSIC) for a single nine-inning game. 
•The teams will meet with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. at Ronken Field on the campus of Augustana. The teams will play an NSIC doubleheader on April 24 in Sioux Falls.
•AU, which advanced to the College World Series last season, was ranked No. 14 in the latest NCBWA Top 25 poll (March 27).
•Following Wednesday's game, SMSU is set to open its home season this Saturday and Sunday versus Concordia-St. Paul at Legion Field.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for the game 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 spent the previous five seasons (2019-23) as head coach at Upper Iowa University compiling a record of 57-125. 
•Ische has a career record of 71-134 in six seasons as a head coach.
•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. AUGUSTANA
•Augustana leads the all-time series 65-46 since first meeting during the 1980 season.
•AU has dominated the series since 2013, winning 29 of the last 32 meetings, including the last six.
•AU won all three games last season played in Omaha, Neb., and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
•SMSU's last victory came on March 25, 2021, in Sioux Falls.
 
            NETT EARNS NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS; TIES SCHOOL RECORD
•Senior Isaac Nett was named the NSIC Player of the Week on Monday following his play in four Mustang victories over Bemidji State.
•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
•Senior Kolby Kiser ranks seventh in Division II (April 1) in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.4), ninth in WHIP (0.88), 14^th in ERA (1.63) and 18th in walks allowed per nine innings (1.16).
•Senior Ansen Dulas ranks third in strikeouts per nine innings (14.7) and 66^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.2).
•Senior Chase McDaniel ranks 10^th in hits per game (1.7).
•Senior Isaac Nett ranks 37^th in slugging pct. (.747) and 60^th in hits per game (1.52).
 
            MUSTANG EXTRA BASES
•SMSU is coming off a four-game sweep over Bemidji State last weekend to move over .500 in NSIC play for the first time this season.
•The four-game sweep was SMSU's first in league play since winning four in a row over UMary in 2017.    
•SMSU walked 13 times in the game four victory setting a team single-game record.
•SMSU is averaging 7.8 runs per game and batting .320 on the season.
•SMSU has a team ERA of 5.06 in 181 1/3 innings with 210 strikeouts. Opponents are averaging 5.0 runs per game and batting .275.
•Chase McDaniel is batting a team-high .406 and is tied for the team lead with seven doubles, while ranking second with 25 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 (15) and multi-RBI games (eight). He had a nine-game hit streak earlier this season which is tied for the longest by a Mustang player this season.
•McDaniel ranks eighth in team history in base hits (190) and eighth in assists (313). Only three Mustangs have reached 200 career hits with Greg Laughlin (2006-09) holding the record of 213.  
•Entering Wednesday's game, Isaac Nett has reached base in 19 straight games. He has a current nine-game hitting streak and ranks second on the team with a .402 average with seven doubles and a team-high seven home runs.
•Keenan Wenzel was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 4. He batted .583 (7-for-12) with one double, two triples, one home run and 10 RBIs in SMSU's first three games in Arizona. He racked up 15 total bases and a 1.250 slugging pct., while scoring four runs.
•Wenzel is batting .348 with four triples and 17 RBIs.
•Junior Owen Latendresse is tied for second in team history with 10 triples. Mark Lickfelt holds the career mark with 12 from 1995-98.
 
            MUSTANGS FROM THE MOUND
•Kolby Kiser is 4-1 in six starts with a 1.63 ERA in 38 2/3 innings with 42 strikeouts. He ranks second in team history in strikeouts per nine innings (10.2) and seventh all-time in strikeouts (170).
•Ansen Dulas is 1-2 in six games with four starts and has recorded 42 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings. Dulas ranks ninth in team history in strikeouts (155) and fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings (9.73).
•Ryan Chmielewski has a 3-2 record in six starts with 36 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings. He struck out a season-high nine Bemidji State batters on March 30.
•Carter Petron has a 3.09 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with 24 strikeouts, while recording a 3-1 record in six starts.  
•Shay Endres has recorded a 3.92 ERA in seven appearances with 17 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.
•Senior Kobe Lovell ranks fifth in team history in appearances (49).
 
        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 2,203 games compiling an all-time record of 1,035-1,165-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC Tournament titles and has played in one NCAA Tournament.