PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University (16-20, 6-18 NSIC) baseball team continues home action this week with five games at Legion Field in Marshall.
•On Wednesday, SMSU will take on Winona State University (15-19, 10-11 NSIC) for a doubleheader (7-9) starting at 1 p.m.
•This weekend, SMSU will host the University of Jamestown (10-24, 5-16 NSIC) for a three-game series. Saturday's doubleheader (7-9) is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. with Sunday's single nine-inning game slated for a 12 p.m. first pitch. This weekend will be the first time SMSU has played Jamestown as members of the NSIC.
•Sunday is 'Senior Day' with the SMSU baseball program honoring its 12 seniors in a pregame ceremony.
•WSU begins action on Wednesday in eighth place in the NSIC standings, while SMSU is 13^th.
•Following the games this weekend, SMSU is scheduled to play at Wayne State on April 22 for a doubleheader.
 
            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 third season with a record of 66-68. 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 123-193.
•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. WINONA STATE
•WSU holds a 128-64 series advantage versus SMSU with the first game played in 1970.
•The teams split four games last season with SMSU earning a non-conference victory in Tucson Ariz., before WSU won two of three league games in Winona on April 18-19.
•SMSU is 34-52 all-time in games played in Marshall. SMSU won two of three games versus WSU in Marshall during the 2024 season.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. JAMESTOWN
•SMSU holds a 5-4 all-time series lead over UJ in a series that started in 1980.
•The two clubs played seven times in Tucson, Ariz., from 2016-22, with SMSU winning four of seven games. The teams last met in 2022 with SMSU winning two of three at the Tucson Invite.
 
            SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•SMSU went 1-2 last weekend at home versus No. 28 (ABCA) Minnesota State. SMSU won the opener 4-1, behind a five-hit complete pitching performance from Jameson Quinn. MSU won game two of the series, 10-4, before winning the series with a 24-5 victory on Sunday.
 
            SMSU NOTES
•As a team, the Mustangs are batting .303, while scoring 7.1 runs per game. SMSU pitchers have recorded a 6.62 ERA with 220 strikeouts in 275 innings. The Mustangs have committed 40 errors in 1,200 total chances (.967 fielding pct.).
•SMSU turned a triple play to end the game in a victory over Minnesota State on April 11. It was the program's first triple play since 2016 versus Upper Iowa.
•In NSIC play, seven of SMSU's 18 losses have come with its opponent scoring in its last at bat.
•SMSU's eight-game winning streak earlier this season was the program's longest since the 2010 season.
•Senior Levi Lampert had a 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. 
•Sophomore Jared Cortez is batting a team-high .426 with a team-high 13 doubles, while ranking second on the team with 31 RBIs. He has a team-high 19 multi-hit games. In NSIC games, Cortez ranks first in the league in hits (40) and ninth in batting average (.417).
•Lampert is batting .367 with 10 doubles and team-leading six home runs. He is second on the squad with 17 multi-hit games and had a team-high 15-game hitting streak earlier this season.
•Junior Connor Davis has five home runs, a team-leading 36 RBIs, is batting .342 while leading the squad with 11 multi-RBI games.
•Redshirt freshman Tanner Rezny is hitting .357 with three doubles, three home runs and 19 RBIs, but is out for the remainder of the season with an injury.
•Senior Henry Hammrich reached base in 21 straight games earlier this season, the longest by a Mustang player this season.
•Junior Cody Wichmann has a 6.25 ERA in 44 2/3 innings with 36 strikeouts compiling a 2-2 record in eight starts.
•Sophomore Jameson Quinn is 3-3 with a 5.47 ERA in nine starts with a team-high 39 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings.
•Freshman Tad Tjaden has recorded 31 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings.
•Junior Ryan Bell has made nine starts and is 4-3 with a 5.76 ERA in 45 1/3 innings.
•Redshirt freshman Ryan Dalager and sophomore Austin Dent have both made a team-high 13 appearances out of the bullpen, while junior Lincoln Vasgaard has made 12 appearances in relief.
 
            SMSU IN THE NCAA STATS
•As of April 13, SMSU pitching ranks 13th in Division II in walks allowed per nine innings (3.47) and 33^rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.08).
•Jared Cortez ranks 31^st in batting average (.426) and 33^rd in hits per game (1.61).
•Ryan Bell ranks seventh in walks per nine innings (1.19) and 26^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.67).
•SMSU ranks 26^th in double plays per game (0.8) and 39^th in double plays (30).
 
            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 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 (before SCSU series)
•SMSU is in its 57^th season of baseball in 2026.
•SMSU has played 2,314 games compiling a record of 1,087-1,224-3.
•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).