PREVIEWING THE WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball (23-15, 17-12 NSIC) has its final road games of the regular season this week with five Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games.
•The Mustangs open the week with a doubleheader on Wednesday facing NSIC leading and nationally-ranked Augustana University (33-6, 24-4 NSIC) in Sioux Falls, S.D., with first pitch set for 1:30 p.m. at Ronken Field. AU was ranked No. 17 in last week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll and is No. 13 in this week's ABCA poll.  
•On Saturday and Sunday, SMSU faces the University of Mary (18-20, 14-14 NSIC) for a three-game series at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark in Bismarck, N.D. Saturday's doubleheader will start at 12 p.m. with Sunday's single game set for 12 p.m.
•SMSU finished 4-1 last week in five home games, sweeping a mid-week doubleheader from Northern State before winning two of three games from Winona State.   
 
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 80-140 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. AUGUSTANA
•Augustana leads the all-time series 66-46 since first meeting during the 1980 season.
•AU has dominated the series since 2013, winning 30 of the last 33 meetings, including the last seven. The Vikings earned a 13-6 non-conference win earlier this season in Sioux Falls on April 3.
•AU won all three NSIC games last season played in Omaha, Neb., and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
•SMSU's last victory came on March 25, 2021, in Sioux Falls.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. UMARY
•SMSU leads the all-time series 28-11 since first meeting when UMary joined the NSIC in 2007.
•SMSU swept a three-game series last year in Mandan, N.D., and has won the previous six games.
•SMSU leads the series 11-4 since the 2017 season.
 
MCDANIEL BECOMES PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME HITS LEADER
•Senior Chase McDaniel broke the program's all-time hits record on April 14 with his 214^th career hit. He is just the fourth player in team history to reach 200 career hits and has amassed 219 in his career. 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 7.4 runs per game and batting .323 on the season.
•SMSU has a team ERA of 5.17 in 296 innings with 324 strikeouts. Opponents are averaging 5.2 runs per game and batting .279.
 
MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (April 22), SMSU ranks 22^nd in slugging pct. (.521), ninth in triples (19), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.9) and 28^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.28).
•Chase McDaniel ranks first in the country in hits per game (1.79), 21^st in total hits (68), 39^th in total bases (114) and 49^th in slugging pct. (.726).  
•Kolby Kiser ranks 28^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.1) and 30^th in ERA (2.54).
•Carter Petron ranks 44^th in ERA (2.84).
•Ansen Dulas ranks 18^th in strikeouts per nine innings (11.7).
 
MUSTANG EXTRA BASES
•Chase McDaniel is batting a team-high .433 and leads the team lead with 13 doubles, while also ranking first with 44 RBIs. He has collected 68 hits ranking tied for third in team single-season history. Last season, he tied Colby Pack (2005) for the single-season record of 70.
•McDaniel leads the club in both multi-hit games (24) and multi-RBI games (13).
•Besides holding the school career record for base hits, McDaniel ranks third in total bases (325), fifth in runs scored (145), seventh in assists (352), tied for eighth in doubles (36), tied for 10^th in batting average (.368) and tied for 10^th in stolen bases (35).
•McDaniel has hit two grand slams this season, including a 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.
•Isaac Nett ranks first on the team with 11 home runs, is second in RBIs (42) and first in stolen bases (12). He is batting .364, ranking third on the team.
•Owen Latendresse is hitting .383 with nine doubles, five triples and five home runs. He ranks second in team history with 11 triples. Mark Lickfelt holds the career mark with 12 from 1995-98.
•Keenan Wenzel, who was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 4, is batting .309 with four triples, six home runs and 25 RBIs.
•Jake Tauer is hitting .336 with seven doubles and 19 RBIs.
•Max Kalenberg has walked a team-high 29 times and earlier this season reached base in a team-high 23 straight games.
•Jaxon Haase ranks second on the team with 10 doubles and is batting .306 with three home runs.
 
MUSTANGS FROM THE MOUND
•Kolby Kiser is 5-2 in nine starts with a 2.54 ERA in 56 2/3 innings with a team-high 57 strikeouts. He ranks second in team history in strikeouts per nine innings (9.9) and sixth all-time in strikeouts (185).
•Carter Petron has a 284 ERA in 44 1/3 innings with 48 strikeouts, while recording a 5-1 record in nine starts. He tossed a nine-inning six-hit shutout versus Concordia-St. Paul on April 5 with five strikeouts. It was the first nine-inning shutout by an SMSU pitcher since Mitch Wurm in 2015. He also recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts in a victory at Minnesota Crookston on April 13.
•Ansen Dulas is 2-2 in nine games with seven starts and has recorded 51 strikeouts in 39 innings. He ranks eighth in team history in strikeouts (164) and fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings (9.4).
•Ryan Chmielewski has a 3-4 record in eight starts with 50 strikeouts in 47 1/3 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 is 3-1 and has recorded a 3.03 ERA in 10 appearances with three starts, while registering 30 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings.
•Kobe Lovell ranks fourth in team history in appearances (55). B.J. Richter (1997-2000) holds the school record of 58 appearances.
 
MCDANIEL NAMED NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Senior Chase McDaniel was named the NSIC Player of the Week on April 15. In five games versus Wayne State and Minnesota Crookston, he batted .714 (15-of-21) with four home runs, a triple, a double, nine RBIs, scored 10 runs and collected 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 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 CSC 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 was 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 PRESEASON 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 2,218 games compiling an all-time record of 1,044-1,171-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC tournament titles and has played in one NCAA tournament.