After a series victory in Sioux Falls this past weekend, the University of Minnesota Duluth will head southwest once again on Wednesday afternoon before finally opening its home campaign this weekend with a four-game series against Concordia University, St. Paul scheduled at Bulldog Park.
UMD (15-9, 8-4 NSIC) will take on Southwest Minnesota State University on Wednesday afternoon in Marshall to get the week started.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS | 3-20, 1-7 NSIC
Southwest Minnesota State picked up its first conference victory of the season, an 11-5 win over Winona State University last weekend, to earn a doubleheader split against the Warriors ... the Mustangs had been up-ended in eight straight before that victory and are currently 0-6 at their home park ... redshirt freshman catcher Jon Leighton leads SMSU with a .390 batting average and 23 RBIs while starting all 23 games ... junior outfielder Tanner Picht has a team-high five runs batted in and two doubles, slugging .588 in 23 starts ... freshman right-hander Justin Clark leads the starting staff with a 4.56 ERA in five starts and 23 strikeouts in 23.2 innings ... freshman lefty Cole Petersen has a 7.33 ERA but a 2-2 record ... head coach Paul Blanchard is leading the Mustangs for the 20th season ... Southwest owns a 59-58 all-time record against UMD, and the teams split a doubleheader at Duluth's Wade Stadium last season including a 22-0 victory for the Bulldogs.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS | 15-3, 8-1 NSIC
Concordia-St. Paul will take on top-ranked St. Cloud State University on Wednesday afternoon before heading to Duluth this weekend ... the Golden Bears have won three straight but had a four-game series against the University of Minnesota Crookston cancelled this past weekend so have been inactive since April 6 ... sophomore catcher Connor Olson leads CU with a .409 batting average, 22 RBIs, 20 runs scored six home runs, and nine doubles ... senior infielder Eric Fasnacht has crossed the plate 16 times, hitting .324 with a .395 on-base percentage, while driving in five runs ... junior lefty Kevin Woebke leads the Concordia starting staff with a 2.88 ERA and 22 stirkeouts in 25.0 innings but just a 1-0 record on the year ... senior lefty Kody Knaus has a 3.91 ERA and a 4-0 record in four starts ... senior righty Yuji Suzuki has four saves but a 6.00 ERA in six appearances ... head coach Lunck McKenzie is in his 17th season leading the Golden Bears ... UMD owns a 22-18 record all-time against Concordia including a 3-1 series victory last season played at Minnetonka High School's field.
CIRCLING THE BASESSenior first baseman
Alex Wojciechowski made Bulldog history hitting for the cycle in Saturday's 31-16 offensive showcase with his 16th home run of the season, establishing a UMD single season record. He also scored six runs in the game, also a Bulldog program high ... the 31 runs scored and 31 runs batted in were both team single-game highs for UMD as were six hit-batters, which along with 10 walks helped UMD score that many runs with only 20 hits ... senior third baseman
Kyle Comer continued his hot streak, hitting .588/.632/1.059 in the four-game set (10-for-17) with team highs of two homers, two doubles, 13 runs batted in, and 12 runs scored. He has 18 hits in the last seven games ... junior lefty
Kevin Stocke tosses 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run in the Bulldogs' extra inning-win on Sunday ... senior left-hander
Bo Hellquist threw 5.0 innings, striking out six and allowing one run while picking up his fourth victory of the season.
MILESTONE WATCHA. Wojciechowski's 16 home runs are already a program single season high, but with 36 longballs in his career, Wojciechowski can set a Bulldog career record with four more this season ... Comer sits four hits shy of 200 for his career. He'll be just the sixth player in program history to reach that mark ... Wojciechowski's 223 career hits are tied for the third-most in a UMD career; the Bulldog program record is 237, established by Tyler Erickson ('11).
| Poll | UMD | SMSU | CU |
| NCBWA National Top 25 (Apr. 12) | -- | -- | -- |
| CBN National Top 30 (Apr. 11) | -- | -- | -- |
| NCBWA Regional Top 10 (Apr. 12) | 9 | -- | 6 |
WEATHER EYEWednesday: Sunny ... High 71 (RealFeel: 70) Low 50 ... Winds: NE 9 mph ... Precipitation: 10%
Saturday: Partly Cloudy ... High 60 (RealFeel: 60) Low: 47 ... Winds: NE 10 mph ... Precipitation: 12%
Sunday: Mostly Cloudy ... High 57 (RealFeel: 55) Low 36 ... Winds: NE 10 mph ... Precipitation: 25%
HOW TO FOLLOWvs. Southwest Minnesota State:
Live Statsvs. Concordia-St. Paul:
Live Stats & VideoWHAT'S NEXT?All NSIC doubleheaders feature one seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning game. If the first game goes to extra innings, then the second reverts to a seven-inning game as well. UMD and SMSU will get the action started on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field in Marshall. Opening pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
