The University of Minnesota Duluth returns to Bulldog Park this weekend to host Minot State University this weekend in a four-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference series while celebrating Alumni Day in Duluth on Saturday afternoon.
In the midst of 14-game winning streak, the Bulldogs moved into first place in the NSIC while inactive on Wednesday as the University of Minnesota Crookston knocked off No. 23 Augustana (S.D.) University in the first of two conference match-ups. UMD (29-9, 22-4 NSIC), Augie, and No. 2 St. Cloud State University are all even in the loss column, but the Bulldogs have a two-game lead in conference victories over the Vikings and five wins on the Huskies due to rainouts and cancellations.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS | 7-26, 4-15 NSIC
Minot State swept an doubleheader against in-state rival the University of Mary on Wednesday afternoon, moving out of the basement of the NSIC standings ... the Beavers have now won 3-of-4 but had lost 15 straight after starting the league season with a win ... junior outfielder Jordan Schultz leads the Minot line-up with a .384 average and .632 slugging percentage, hitting six home runs and nine doubles on the season ... freshman first baseman Celestino Rodriguez has a team-high 11 home runs to go with eight doubles; 19 of his 34 hits have gone for extra-bases ... senior hurler Austin Bernston leads the starting staff with a 3-4 record and 35 strikeouts, but has a 7.66 ERA in 47.0 innings pitched ... sophomore reliever Wyatt Moore has a team-high 16 appearances and a team-best 5.91 ERA in 32.0 innings ... head coach Brock Wessler is in his ninth season leading the Beavers ... UMD is 4-2 all-time against Minot State including a season-ending four-game sweep last year on May 1-2.
CIRCLING THE BASES
UMD has five hitters leading the way during its 14-game winning streak, each hitting over .300 on the season, including senior first baseman
Alex Wojciechowski at .563, senior second baseman
Jimmy Heck at .521, senior third baseman
Kyle Comer at .393, senior outfiedler
Spencer Diedrich at .364, and junior outfielder
Grant Farley at .309 ... each of them is also getting on-base at a plus-.400 clip and has multiple home runs over the stretch, led by Wojciechowski with 12 ... five relievers have combined for 10.2 innings without an earned run allowed (junior
Colton Sinning and freshmen
Ryan Cunningham,
Jeremy Thorson,
Adam Hallberg, and
Connor Crabtree) ... Sinning leads the pack with 5.1 shutout innings, striking out six and picking up his first save of the season ... sophomore left-hander
Tommy Hanson has allowed just one earned run in 10.1 innings over three appearances including a start, striking out 16 in that span ... senior right-hander
Wes Mleziva had two saves in four appearances over 6.2 innings, striking out 10.
MILESTONE WATCH
A. Wojciechowski became the first Bulldog in program history to collect 250 hits and 200 RBIs in his career on Tuesday afternoon against Upper Iowa University. He sits 12 runs away from being the first UMD player to reach 200 in the category as well ... Comer and Heck continue to climb the all-time hitting ranks. Comer's 218 are five hits away from fourth-place all-time while Heck is now at his heels with 205, good for sixth-place ... Comer became the third Bulldog ever to reach 150 RBIs in his career with five on Tuesday afternoon ... though he threw just three innings on Tuesday, senior lefty
Bo Hellquist collected four strikeouts and is now three shy of third-place all-time at UMD ... while Mleziva ceded closing duties to Sinning this past Wednesday, his 11 career saves still are second-best and three shy of the most in a Bulldog career.
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RANKINGS
| Poll |
UMD |
MINOT |
| NCBWA National Top 25 (Apr. 26) |
-- |
-- |
| CBN National Top 30 (Apr. 25) |
-- |
-- |
| NCAA II Central Region Rankings (Apr. 27) |
3 |
-- |
| NCBWA Regional Top 10 (Apr. 26) |
6 |
-- |
WEATHER EYE
Saturday: Sunny ... High 47 (RealFeel: 44) Low 34 ... Winds ENE 14 mph ... Precipitation 5%
Sunday: Partly sunny ... High 50 (RealFeel: 54) Low 34 ... Winds NE 8 mph ... Precipitation 2%
GAME COVERAGE
Live Stats & Video
ON DECK
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. Saturday's doubleheader will celebrate Alumni Day at UMD. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
