PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team (17-10, 12-8 NSIC), currently in fourth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings, continues league action this week with five games in Milroy and Marshall.
•SMSU will take on Wayne State College (17-12, 13-7 NSIC), currently third in the conference standings, on Wednesday with a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. at Yankee Field in Milroy, Minn.
•Offseason field renovations at Legion Field are near completion but a few more days is needed.
•This Saturday and Sunday, SMSU will host the University of Minnesota Crookston (13-17, 10-10 NSIC) for a three-game series 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.
 
            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 44-33. 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. WAYNE STATE
•WSC leads the all-time series, 62-31, with the first match-up occurring during the 1974 season.
•WSC is 52-21 in conference regular season games since WSC joined the NSIC in 1999.
•WSC won 15 in a row from 2015-19, but since 2021, WSC holds a 7-6 advantage.  
•The two teams split a doubleheader last season in Wayne, Neb.
•SMSU swept a three-game league series at WSC in 2023, while WSC ended SMSU's season later that season in the NSIC tournament.  
 
SMSU NOTES
•As a team, the Mustangs are batting .290 and scoring seven runs per game. SMSU pitchers are carrying a 3.94 ERA with 186 strikeouts in 210 innings of work. The Mustangs have made 30 errors in 902 total chances (.967 fielding pct.).
•SMSU has belted six grand slams this season.
•Junior Levi Lampert has reached base in all 25 games and is batting .413 with a team-leading 38 hits. He has collected a team-high 10 doubles, a team-leading eight home runs and is tied for the team lead with 24 RBIs. He has walked a team-high 23 times, is tied for the lead with 11 multi-hit games and ranks second with seven 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 .378 with seven doubles, three home runs and 20 RBIs.
•Junior Evan Behn is hitting .348 with four doubles, four home runs and 22 RBIs. He ranks first on the team with eight multi-RBI games.
•Junior Cory Bantam is tied for first with 24 RBIs and is batting .348.
•Junior Henry Hammrich, junior Tyler Froland and junior Carter Lang 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 six starts with 36 strikeouts in 31 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 nine games recording 14 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA.
•Senior Cameron Jensen has three saves in 10 appearances with a 0.57 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 15 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 7), the SMSU pitching staff ranks fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.71), 15^th in WHIP (1.33) and 15^th in ERA (3.94).
•The SMSU offense is 22^nd in home runs per game (1.41), 50^th in slugging pct. (.482) and 58^th in home runs (38).
•Carter Petron ranks ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.7) and 50^th in ERA (2.40).
•Ryan Chmielewski ranks 57^th in WHIP (1.12), while Petron is 76^th in WHIP (1.17).  
•Levi Lampert ranks 11^th in on base pct. (.556), 31^st in slugging pct. (.783), 50^th in runs per game (1.30) and 52^nd in batting average (.413).
 
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 2,258 games compiling a record of 1,065-1,190-3.
•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).