PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (22-15, 17-13 NSIC), currently fifth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings, will host its final home games of the season this week with five games at Legion Field.
•SMSU will take on second place Augustana University (28-12, 22-8 NSIC) for a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 3 p.m.
•On Friday and Saturday, the Mustangs will entertain the University of Mary (18-21, 14-16 NSIC), currently 10^th in the league standings, for a three-game series. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday's single game starting at 12 p.m.
•Sunday will be 'Senior Day' at the ballpark as SMSU will honor its 11 seniors in a pregame ceremony.
•Following this weekend, SMSU will close the regular season with a doubleheader at Sioux Falls on April 29 and a three-game series at Minnesota State on May 2-3.  
 
            SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU lost two of three games at Winona State last Friday and Saturday. SMSU lost 11-7 in game one on Friday, before suffering an 8-7 walk-off loss in 10 innings in game two. SMSU was able to salvage the final game of the series with a 10-8 victory on Saturday.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats and video for all five 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 49-38. 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. AUGUSTANA & UMARY
•AU leads the all-time series, 68-46, with the first match-up occurring during the 1980 season.
•This will be the first time SMSU has hosted AU since the 2016 season.
•AU has won nine straight in the series and 29 of the last 31 since the 2014 season.
•The last time SMSU swept a doubleheader from AU came on March 20, 2012, in a non-conference match-up at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
•SMSU is 29-13 all-time versus UMary with the first game played in 2007.
•SMSU is 10-3 all-time in games played in Marshall, including sweeping a doubleheader on April 27, 2022, at Legion Field.
•UMary won two of three games last season in Bismarck and Mandan, N.D.
 
            SMSU NOTES
•As a team, the Mustangs are batting .286 and scoring 6.7 runs per game. SMSU pitchers are carrying a 4.50 ERA with 252 strikeouts in 290 innings. The Mustangs have made 40 errors in 1,232 total chances (.968 fielding pct.).
•SMSU has belted six grand slams this season.
•Junior Levi Lampert has reached base in all 37 games and is batting a team high .359 with a team-leading 47 hits.
•Lampert has collected a team-high 13 doubles, a team-leading 10 home runs and leads the team lead with 34 RBIs. He has walked a team-high 27 times, is first with nine multi-RBI games and ranks tied for second with 12 multi-hit games
•Lampert hit home runs in four consecutive games versus Minot State on March 27-28 becoming the first Mustang to hit home runs in four straight games since Austin Stubbs in 2015.
•Junior Cory Bantam is second with 29 RBIs and is batting .349 with eight doubles. He has reached base in 19 straight games.
•Junior Evan Behn is hitting .337 with five doubles, four home runs and 26 RBIs. He ranks second on the team with eight multi-RBI games.
•Freshman Jared Cortez is batting a .333 with eight doubles, five home runs and 25 RBIs. He leads the club with 14 multi-hit games.
•Senior Carter Petron has a 3.59 ERA in 42 2/3 innings with 39 strikeouts compiling a 4-3 record in eight starts.
•Freshman Jameson Quinn is 3-1 in nine appearance and eight starts with 44 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings.
•Senior Ryan Chmielewski is 4-2 in eight starts with a 4.11 ERA collecting a team-leading 45 strikeouts in 46 innings.
•Senior Cameron Jensen is 3-1, with five saves in 16 appearances with a 3.04 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings.
•Senior Bennett Knapper has appeared in 16 games and carries a 3.93 ERA in 18 1/3 innings.
•Senior Jerod Cyrus has pitched in 12 games recording 19 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings with a 4.35 ERA.
 
            MUSTANGS IN THE RECORD BOOK
•Senior Ryan Chmielewski ranks fourth in team history in strikeouts (211) and is fourth all-time in innings pitched (221).
•Senior Cameron Jensen ranks third all-time in saves (8). 
•Senior Owen Latendresse, along with Mark Lickfelt (1995-97), is tied for first all-time in triples (12), while ranking sixth in hit by pitches (32) and 10^th in base hits (181).
 
            SMSU IN THE NSIC STATS
•In the latest NSIC stats (league games only), SMSU ranks third in ERA (4.64) and eighth in batting (.283).
•SMSU is second in home runs (34) and fourth in stolen bases (43).
•SMSU ranks second in opponents' batting average (.244), second in fewest hits allowed (217) and third in fewest walks allowed (99).
•Levi Lampert ranks third in runs (36), third in walks (22), fourth in on base pct. (.507), fifth in OPS (1.193), sixth in doubles (10), sixth in home runs (8) and eighth in slugging pct. (.686).
•Cory Bantam ranks 10^th in hits (39).
•Carter Petron ranks ninth in ERA (4.06).  
•Jameson Quinn ranks fourth in opposing batting average (.189), with Petron ranking seventh (.217) and Chmielewski ranking eighth (.236).
 
            SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the NCAA statistics (April 21), the SMSU pitching staff ranks 14^th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.29), 18^th in WHIP (1.38), 33^rd in ERA (4.50) and 67^th in strikeout to walk ratio (1.91).
•The SMSU offense is 42^nd in home runs per game (1.22) and 62^nd in home runs (45).
•Jameson Quinn ranks 22^nd in hits allowed per nine innings (6.59).
•Carter Petron ranks 20^th in hits allowed per nine innings (6.54).
•Cameron Jensen ranks 43^rd in saves (5).
•Ryan Chmielewski ranks 74^th in hits allowed per nine innings (7.43) and 64^th in WHIP (1.15).
•Levi Lampert ranks 76^th in on base pct. (.500), 81^st in runs per game (1.19), 82^nd in slugging pct. (.687) and 82^nd in doubles per game (0.35).
 
LAMPERT & CHMIELWESKI EARN WEEKLY HONORS
•Junior outfielder Levi Lampert was named the NSIC Player of the Week on March 31 and on March 24.
•He was also named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Central Region Player of the Week on April 3.
•Senior pitcher Ryan Chmielewski was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week on April 14.
 
            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 2,268 games compiling a record of 1,070-1,195-3.
•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).