PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (19-10, 14-8 NSIC), currently in third place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings, continues league action this weekend with a three-game series at home versus the University of Minnesota Crookston (14-18, 11-11 NSIC) at Legion Field in Marshall.
•Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday's single game starting at 12 p.m.
•UMC is currently tied for eighth in the NSIC standings.
•SMSU has played six 'home' games this season, all victories, at Yankee Field in Milroy, Minn., as Legion Field finishes up offseason field upgrades.
 
SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU swept a doubleheader from Wayne State on Wednesday in Milroy, winning 5-4 and 12-4.
•Jared Cortez hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to give SMSU the victory in game one, while Cody Wichmann fired seven-plus innings to earn his first career victory in game two.
•Cory Bantam had three hits in each game to pace the Mustangs.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats and video for all three games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
SMSU HEAD COACH
•Jeremy Ische, the sixth head coach in team history, is in his second season with a record of 46-33. He was named to the position on June 15, 2023.
•SMSU finished 27-23 overall in 2024 and placed sixth in the NSIC at 20-19. SMSU won its opening game at the NSIC tournament, earning the program's first conference tournament victory since the 2014 season.
•Prior to SMSU, Ische spent 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. MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•SMSU leads the all-time series, 54-14, with the first match-up occurring during the 2000 season.
•UMC holds a 7-5 advantage since the 2021 season, including winning two of three regular season games last season in Crookston.
•SMSU defeated UMC, 6-0, in the opening round of the NSIC tournament last season in Bismarck, N.D.
•The last time the two teams played in Marshall, UMC swept a three-game series to close the 2023 regular season.
 
SMSU NOTES
•As a team, the Mustangs are batting .296 and scoring 7.1 runs per game. SMSU pitchers are carrying a 3.90 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 226 innings of work. The Mustangs have made 34 errors in 966 total chances (.965 fielding pct.).
•SMSU has belted six grand slams this season.
•Junior Levi Lampert has reached base in all 29 games and is batting .396 with a team-leading 40 hits. He has collected a team-high 11 doubles, a team-leading nine home runs and leads the team lead with 28 RBIs. He has walked a team-high 24 times, is tied for the lead with 12 multi-hit games and is tied for first with eight multi-RBI games.
•Lampert hit home runs in four consecutive games versus Minot State on March 27-28. He is the first SMSU player to hit home runs in four straight games since Austin Stubbs in 2015.
•Freshman Jared Cortez is batting a .388 with seven doubles, five home runs and 23 RBIs.
•Junior Cory Bantam is second with 27 RBIs and is batting .381 with seven doubles.
•Junior Evan Behn is hitting .351 with five doubles, four home runs and 24 RBIs. He ranks tied for first on the team with eight multi-RBI games.
•Junior Henry Hammrich, junior Tyler Froland, junior Carter Lang and Cortez have all belted five home runs to rank second on the team.
•Senior Carter Petron has a 2.40 ERA in 30 innings with 26 strikeouts compiling a 4-2 record in six starts.
•Freshman Jameson Quinn is 3-1 in seven starts with a team-high 41 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings.
•Senior Ryan Chmielewski is 3-1 in six starts with a 3.35 ERA collecting a team-leading 39 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings. He tied a career-high with eight innings in his last start on April 5 at Concordia-St. Paul.
•Senior Jerod Cyrus has pitched in 10 games recording 15 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings with a 2.60 ERA.
•Senior Cameron Jensen has three saves in 11 appearances with a 1.02 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
•Senior Bennett Knapper has appeared in a team-high 12 games and carries a 3.07 ERA.
 
            MUSTANGS IN THE RECORD BOOK
•Senior Ryan Chmielewski ranks fifth in team history with 205 strikeouts and is sixth all-time in innings pitched at 212 2/3.
•Senior Cameron Jensen is tied for sixth all-time with six saves. 
•Senior Owen Latendresse is tied for first all-time with 12 triples along with Mark Lickfelt (1995-98), ranks eighth in hit by pitches with 29 and is 15^th in base hits with 170.
 
            SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the NCAA statistics (April 9), the SMSU pitching staff ranks third in hits allowed per nine innings (7.49), seventh in WHIP (1.29) and 13^th in ERA (3.90).
•The SMSU offense is 20^th in home runs per game (1.45), 44^th in slugging pct. (.491) and 44^th in home runs (42).
•Carter Petron ranks ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.7) and 50^th in ERA (2.40).
•Ryan Chmielewski ranks 54^th in WHIP (1.12), while Petron and Jameson Quinn are both 71^st in WHIP (1.17).
•Levi Lampert ranks 11^th in on base pct. (.556), 33^rd in slugging pct. (.772) and 43^rd in runs per game (1.31).
 
LAMPERT EARNS NSIC AND NCBWA ACCOLADES
•Junior outfielder Levi Lampert was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 31. It was the second straight week he earned the league award.
•He was also named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Central Region Player of the Week on April 3.
•In five games versus South Dakota State and Minot State, Lampert batted .571 (12 for 21) with four home runs, four doubles, eight RBIs, 15 runs scored and 28 total bases. He walked five times, was hit by two pitches, and stole two bases to close the week with a 1.333 slugging pct. and an on-base pct. of .667.
 
            SMSU PICKED NINTH IN NSIC POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•SMSU senior outfielder/pitcher Owen Latendresse and senior right-handed relief pitcher Cameron Jensen were both named 'Players to Watch' this season.
 
NSIC SCHEDULE
•The 14-team NSIC schedule will have feature 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 will play five four-game series (SCSU, UMD, BSU, MISU, CSP), four three-game series (UMC, WSU, UMary, MSU) and doubleheaders versus (WSC, NSU, AU, USF).
•All matchups 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.
 
             NSIC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO SOUTH DAKOTA
•The 2025 NSIC tournament will be held on May 7-10 in Sioux Falls, S.D., and hosted by the University of Sioux Falls and Augustana University.  
•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 56^th season of baseball in 2025.
•SMSU has played 2,260 games compiling a record of 1,067-1,190-3.
•SMSU has won four NSIC championships (1974, 1994, 1996, 2002), four NSIC tournament titles (1996, 1997, 1999, 2002) and has played in one NCAA tournament (2009).