PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (13-7, 3-6 NSIC) baseball team continues play this Friday and Saturday with a four-game series at the University of Mary (6-10, 2-4 NSIC) at Municipal Ballpark in Bismarck, N.D.
•The teams will play a doubleheader each day with Friday's action starting at 1:30 p.m., while Saturday's doubleheader starts at 12 p.m. The first three games will serve as conference games, while the second game of Saturday's doubleheader will count as a seven-inning non-conference game.
•Following this weekend's games, SMSU is scheduled to open its home season taking on St. Cloud State in a three-game set on March 28-29 at Legion Field in Marshall.
GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats and video for all four games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
SMSU HEAD COACH
•
Jeremy Ische, the sixth head coach in team history, is in his third season with a record of 63-55. He was named to the position on June 15, 2023.
•SMSU finished 27-23 overall and placed sixth in the NSIC at 20-19 during his first season as head coach in 2024. 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.
•In seven seasons as a head coach he has a career record of 120-180.
•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. UMARY
•SMSU is 30-15 all-time versus UMary with the first game played in 2007.
•UMary won two of three games played last season in Marshall.
•SMSU holds a 15-8 advantage in games played in Bismarck or Mandan, N.D.
SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU lost two of three games at home to the University of Mary this past Saturday and Sunday.
•SMSU opened with a 7-2 victory on Saturday with
Ryan Chmielewski tossing a seven-inning complete game six-hitter with six strikeouts and no walks.
•SMSU suffered a 12-9 loss in game two of the series on Saturday before losing 18-13 in game three on Sunday.
WICHMANN EARNS WEEKLY AWARDS
•Junior pitcher
Cody Wichmann was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Region Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 25.
•Wichmann fired a nine-inning complete game, allowing just six hits and one unearned run with six strikeouts and one walk in SMSU's 5-1 victory over Minot State on Feb. 23. He carried a shutout into the ninth and finished the game tossing 100 pitches with 72 for strikes. He faced three or four MSU batters in seven of the nine innings.
SMSU NOTES
•As a team in 2026, the Mustangs are batting .329, while scoring 9.0 runs per game. SMSU pitchers have recorded a 4.72 ERA with 135 strikeouts in 154 1/3 innings. The Mustangs have committed 21 errors in 658 total chances (.968 fielding pct.).
•SMSU's eight-game winning streak earlier this season was the program's longest since the 2010 season.
•Senior
Levi Lampert had his 64-game on-base streak come to an end on March 10 versus Concordia-St. Paul. Lampert reached base safely in all 47 games last season and the first 17 games this spring.
•Lampert is batting .429 with a team-high seven doubles and team-leading five home runs. He has a team-high 13 multi-hit games and had a 15-game hitting streak earlier this season.
•Redshirt freshman
Tanner Rezny is hitting .487 with three doubles and three RBIs. He is tied for the team lead with six multi-RBI games.
•Sophomore
Jared Cortez is batting a .411 with six doubles, while leading the club with 21 RBIs.
•Junior
Connor Davis has four home runs, 19 RBIs, is batting .343 and is tied for the team lead with six multi-RBI games.
•Senior
Henry Hammrich has a team-high eight stolen bases and is hitting .321 with six doubles and three home runs.
•Junior
Cody Wichmann has a 2.63 ERA in 27 1/3 innings with 22 strikeouts compiling a 2-0 record in four starts.
•Sophomore
Jameson Quinn is 2-2 with a 6.11 ERA in five starts with 25 strikeouts in 28 innings.
•Freshman
Tad Tjaden has racked up a team-high 27 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings.
•Junior
Ryan Bell has won three straight starts, including tossing eight innings in a win over Concordia-St. Paul on March 14.
•Sophomore
Austin Dent has two wins, and one save in six appearances out of the bullpen.
SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•As of March 17, SMSU pitching ranks fourth in Division II in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.0) and second in walks allowed per nine innings (2.62).
•SMSU ranks 32
nd in batting average (.329).
SMSU PICKED NINTH IN NSIC POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•SMSU senior outfielder
Levi Lampert and sophomore right-handed pitcher
Jameson Quinn were both named 'Players to Watch' this season.
NSIC SCHEDULE
•The 15-team NSIC schedule will have feature a variety of three-game series and doubleheaders during the season.
•The schedule format allows for each team to play every opponent at least twice during the regular season.
•SMSU will play nine three-game series (UMC, MISU, CSP, UMARY, SCSU, NSU, MSU, UJ, UMD) and doubleheaders versus (BSU, USF, WSU, WSC, AU).
•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 2026 NSIC tournament will be held on May 6-9 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 57
th season of baseball in 2026.
•SMSU has played 2,298 games compiling a record of 1,084-1,211-3.
•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).
