The University of Minnesota Duluth saw its nine-game winning streak come to an end last weekend, but the Bulldogs have since won three straight entering the final week of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schedule.

UMD (28-12, 22-8 NSIC) will send its ace to the mound Wednesday in hopes of making an impact against the first place St. Cloud State University in the team's home finale before the Bulldogs travel to Minot, North Dakota to take on Minot State University in a four-game set beginning on Friday.

COVERING THE BASES
UMD | OVERALL: 28-12 (22-8 NSIC) | @UMDBaseball
• Junior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski followed up an NSIC Player of the Week selection by continuing to flex his home run power with three longballs on the week, batting .318/.360/.818 on the week with seven hits in 22 at-bats including two doubles in addition to the three homers, driving in seven runs and crossing the plate a team-high seven times. Additionally, he established the Bulldog program record for putouts in a season, collecting 52 on the week while playing perfect defense without an error, now at 362 on the year.
• The Bulldogs starting line-up has been feeling it this year when it comes to getting on-base: literally. They've already tied the team program record for hit-by-pitches with 48 with six games left on the regular season docket. As a team, UMD can also set a season high for fielding percentage, currently at .970 on the season, edging out the .968 mark that was set in 1992 if they can maintain pace.
• A pair of Bulldog season highs for individuals could also fall in 2015 with a late-season push. The high-water mark of 20 doubles by Matt Joesting in 1999 and Matt Johnson in 1998 is within reach of sophomore outfielder Grant Farley and junior second baseman Jimmy Heck, who each have 15 on the year. Though no one will complain about UMD's offense flying high the past few weeks, senior right-hander Wes Mleziva needs the Bulldogs to give him save situations as he has five on the year with Brian Lashomb's eight in 1991 standing as the program high.
• Another right-handed reliever that continues to shine for the Bulldogs is junior Matt Mattiacci. He continued a string of scoreless appearances with 2.1 innings for the Bulldogs last week, allowing just his second hit of the season against Upper Iowa before coming back with four perfect outs against U-Mary on Saturday. He struck out three batters on the week, bringing his total to nine in 7.2 innings pitched on the season

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES (Wednesday, April 29, 1:30 p.m.) - Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
No. 2 St. Cloud State | OVERALL: 41-3 (25-3NSIC) | @SCSUHuskies
• It's no wonder the Huskies, ranked second in the nation by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the Collegiate Baseball Newsletter, are the first place team in the NSIC, as they've won 11 straight entering the week and 17 of their last 18. They're also the only team besides UMD to topple second-place No. 3 Minnesota State University Mankato on the year in conference play, and one of three teams overall (Northwood University of Michigan).
• Senior catcher Michael Jurgella leads SCSU, currently second in the conference with a .430 batting average and just behind Wojciechowski at fifth in slugging (.702) and ahead of him, third in on-base (.503). Senior right fielder Eric Loxtercamp leads the conference with 57 runs scored and 69 hits while junior infielder Zak Hoffman tops the NSIC in runs batted in with 52.
• The Huskies have the top three pitchers in the conference in terms of ERA: junior right-hander Reese Gregory, freshman lefty Sheldon Miks, and junior southpaw Garrett Harrison at 0.84, 1.16, and 2.19, respectively, edging out UMD lefty ace Bo Hellquist at 2.76. Gregory is second in the NSIC with 62 strikeouts on the season, inlcuding a league-high 21 backwards Ks. He's also at the top of the conference with nine wins.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS (Friday-Saturday, May 1-2, 1:30 p.m./12:00 p.m.) - Live Stats | Live Video
Minot State | OVERALL: 11-28 (8-20 NSIC) | @MSUBeavers
• The Beavers were the latest victims in St. Cloud State's winning streak with a four-game series this weekend as they have now lost seven in a row but will host the University of Minnesota-Crookston on Wednesday afternoon before the Bulldogs come to town.
• Freshman Jared Young leads the Beavers offensively, ranked seventh in the NSIC (behind Wojciechowski) in batting average at .414, and 13th in the league with a .650 slugging percentage and .465 on-base percentage. Sophomore outfielder Jordan Schultz is second on the team and 15th in the conference with a .627 slugging mark.. Schultz has 12 home runs on the year, the second-highest total in the league while driving in a team-high 39 runs and crossing the plate 36 times. Young is second among Beavers in both categories with 33 of each.
• Minot State has a combined 9.21 ERA on the season, with Young the only pitcher with an ERA below 6.18 with two scoreless innings. Senior right-hander Austin Zorn has thrown a team-high 52 innings to a 6.58 ERA. He's walked just five batters on the season and struck out 30. Junior lefty Austin Berntson has racked up 44 strikeouts in 49.1 innings for Minot but has an 8.03 ERA.

UMD and St. Cloud State will hit Bulldog Park on campus on Wednesday in anticipation of a 1:30 p.m. first pitch.