PREVIEWING THE WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball (17-11, 11-8 NSIC) hits the road this week with two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games in Wayne, Neb., and three more league games in Crookston, Minn.
•SMSU opens the week with a doubleheader on Wednesday taking on NSIC leading Wayne State College (20-8, 15-3 NSIC) with first pitch set for 12 p.m. at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex on the campus of WSC.
•This Saturday and Sunday, the Mustangs travel north to Crookston, Minn., to face the University of Minnesota Crookston (17-11, 11-7 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 home weekend series win over Concordia-St. Paul last Friday and Saturday winning three of four games.
•WSC won three of four games at Minnesota Duluth last weekend and have won eight of its last nine games.
•UMC won three of four games last weekend at Winona State and begins the week having won eight of its last nine games. UMC plays two games at Minot State on Wednesday before hosting SMSU.   
 
            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 74-136 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. WAYNE STATE
•WSC leads the all-time series 61-30 since first meeting during the 1974 season.
•SMSU swept a three-game series at WSC last season before WSC earned a 7-6 13-inning win to end SMSU's season at the NSIC tournament in Mandan, N.D.
•WSC holds a 21-5 advantage in the series since the 2015 season.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•SMSU leads the all-time series 52-12 since first meeting during the 2000 season.
•UMC swept a three-game series last season in Marshall to close the regular season.
•The series is tied 9-9 since the 2017 season.
 
            MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS
•SMSU is averaging 7.2 runs per game and batting .315 on the season.
•SMSU has a team ERA of 4.96 in 221 1/3 innings with 241 strikeouts. Opponents are averaging 5.1 runs per game and batting .274.
•Last weekend, SMSU won three of four home games versus Concordia-St. Paul, winning via walk-off fashion in both victories on Saturday. Jaxon Haase had a walk-off bases loaded walk in game one, while Jake Tauer stroked a one-out bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh in game two.
 
            MUSTANG EXTRA BASES
•Entering the week, Isaac Nett has reached base in 23 straight games. He had a team season-high 11-game hitting streak ended last weekend. Nett ranks first on the team with nine home runs and is also the team leader in RBIs (31), stolen bases (11) and slugging pct. (.729).
•Chase McDaniel is batting a team-high .407 and leads the team lead with 10 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 (18) and multi-RBI games (eight). •McDaniel ranks fourth in team history in base hits (199). Only three Mustangs have reached 200 career hits with Greg Laughlin (2006-09) holding the record of 213. He is eighth in program history in assists (327), tied for ninth in runs scored (129), tied for ninth in total bases (285) and tied for 10^th in stolen bases (35).
•Keenan Wenzel was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 4. He is batting .354 with four triples, four home runs and 20 RBIs.
•Jake Tauer is hitting .333 with five doubles and had a .417 on-base pct.
•Max Kalenberg has walked a team-high 24 times and begins the week having reached base in 23 straight games and 55 of his last 56 games dating to last year.
•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 seven starts with a 2.01 ERA in 44 2/3 innings with 47 strikeouts. He ranks second in team history in strikeouts per nine innings (10) and sixth all-time in strikeouts (175).
•Ansen Dulas is 1-2 in seven games with five starts and has recorded 42 strikeouts in 29 innings. He ranks ninth in team history in strikeouts (155) and fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings (9.5).
•Ryan Chmielewski has a 3-2 record in seven starts with 41 strikeouts in 39 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.
•Carter Petron has a 2.23 ERA in 32 1/3 innings with 29 strikeouts, while recording a 4-1 record in seven 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.  
•Shay Endres has recorded a 3.97 ERA in eight appearances with 20 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings.
•Kobe Lovell ranks fifth in team history in appearances (51).
 
 
            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
•Senior Kolby Kiser ranks 32^nd in Division II (April 8) in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.2), 37th in WHIP (1.05), 24^th in ERA (2.01).
•Junior Carter Petron ranks 32^nd in ERA (2.23).
•Senior Ansen Dulas ranks 11th in strikeouts per nine innings (13).
•Senior Chase McDaniel ranks fifth in hits per game (1.7).
•Senior Isaac Nett ranks 49^th in slugging pct. (.729) and 71^st in hits per game (1.5).
 
            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 2,208 games compiling an all-time record of 1,038-1,167-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC regular season championships, four NSIC tournament titles and has played in one NCAA tournament.