THE OPENING PITCH: The University of Minnesota Duluth  will close out its regular season road schedule with a six-game road trip starting this weekend against No. 7 Winona State University and Upper Iowa University. The Bulldogs and the Warriors hit the field Friday afternoon starting at 1:00 p.m. The Bulldogs and the Peacocks play their twinbill Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

SCOUTING REPORT ON WINONA STATE: The Warriors are 35-5 overall and 20-0 in the NSIC. They have won the last 20 games, tied for the longest in program history and currently tied for the longest in all of Division II (Colorado Mesa). Winona State is third in batting average (.341), second in on-base percentage (.413), and third in slugging percentage (.481) in the NSIC. It is 13th in batting average and 17th in on-base percentage in the NCAA. In the circle, the Warriors are first in ERA (1.48), first in opposing batting average (.192), first in strikeouts per game (8.6) and seventh in walks allowed per game (2.2). They also have the best fielding percentage (.976) in the NSIC. Lani Van Zyl is hitting a NSIC-best .464 with 16 extra-base hits and 29 RBI. Alison Nowak is leading the NSIC with 10 home runs and has a team-high 46 RBI. Nowak is third in the NSIC with a .445 batting average.  Van Zyl and Nowak lead the NSIC in on-base percentage. Kelsey Alexis also has seven home runs and is hitting .361. Liz Pautz and Jordyn Kleman have been outstanding in the circle. Pautz is 13-2 with a miniscule 0.83 ERA in 92.1 innings. She has 136 strikeouts and 34 walks. Kleman is 18-1 with 14 complete games and a 1.58 ERA. She has 157 strikeouts and 34 walks in 119.2 innings. Pautz is first in the NSIC and second in the NCAA in earned run average. Pautz has a 10.3 strikeouts per seven innings. Kleman is the leader in victories in NSIC and in shutouts. Pautz and Kleman are second and third in the NSIC in strikeouts.

SCOUTING REPORT ON UPPER IOWA: The Peacocks are 20-15 overall and eighth in the NSIC with a 12-8 mark. They lost a double header to Minnesota State which ended their nine-game winning streak. Upper Iowa is sixth in batting average (.303), eighth in on-base percentage (.359), and seventh in slugging percentage (.433) in the NSIC. On the mound, the Peacocks are eighth in ERA (4.00), ninth in opposing batting average (.302), 12th in strikeouts per game (3.8) and 12th in walks allowed per game (3.2). Julia Buffington leads Upper Iowa with a .386 batting average with four home runs and 22 RBI. Katie Crogan leads the Peacocks with 44 hits, six home runs and 36 RBI. Crogan is hitting .379. Erin Drahozal also has six home runs. Emily Kisch is 11-6 with a 3.10 ERA in 22 appearances. She has  63 strikeouts and 30 walks in 101.2 innings. Jaclyn Thompson is 3-5 in 11 starts with a 3.59 ERA.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and its opponents stack up head-to-head with its respective records, in the NSIC, and in the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association poll.

LAST AT BAT: The Bulldogs got back on track on Tuesday as the Bulldogs swept Bemidji State at home. UMD won with a walk-off home run in the eighth inning in the opener. Sophomore second baseman Taylor Koehnen provided the heroic three-run blast. Sophomore catcher Jessica Bren and sophomore first baseman Jordyn Thomas hit back-to-back home runs in the 4-2 victory on the backend of the double header.

SCORE FIRST: Scoring first doesn't always lead to victories but it is close. The Bulldogs have a combined 115-24 (.827) record dating back to 2015.

FREE PASSES: The Bulldogs lead the NSIC in free bases in league play. UMD has 73 walks, 11 more than the next opponent. The Bulldogs walked a team-high 12 times against U-Mary. The 12 walks was the most in a single game the most since Finlandia offered 16 free passes back on March 4, 2004.

TURN TWO: The Bulldogs have turned 16 double plays this season. Only 31 other clubs have turned more double plays on the season and UMD is 27th in double plays turned per game.

DIALED IN: Sophomore infielder Jordyn Thomas has been the Bulldogs most consistent batter this season. Thomas has at least a share of the lead in: batting average (.310), doubles (11), walks (16), on-base percentage (.395) and slugging percentage (.611).

HITTING STREAK: Junior outfielder Sammi Sadler is on a nine-game hitting streak. Sadler has the longest UMD hitting streak all season. During her hitting spree, Sadler is 12-for-28 over the last nine games and has raised her batting average 56 points up to .274. 

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman pitcher Sam Pederson is among the NSIC leaders in pitching categories. Pederson is tied for fifth in wins with 13 and is the top freshman in wins. She is ninth in the conference with a 2.59 ERA and has the eighth best opposing batting average (.241). 

100 RUNS AND 100 RBI: Junior shortstop Lauren Oberle is the sixth batter in the last 15 seasons to have compiled at least 100 runs and 100 RBI during her Bulldog career. 

HOME RUN LEADER: Junior shortstop Lauren Oberle has 24 career home runs, which is the most among active Bulldogs. Oberle has a team-high eight home runs this season. She is tied for eighth in the NSIC.

GREEDY WITH RUNNERS: Slap hitter Lauren Greeder has excelled with runners in scoring position. The junior outfielder carries a .224 batting average his season but is hitting a team-high .467 with runners in scoring position.

COOL UNDER PRESSURE: Sophomore catcher Jessica Bren is hitting a team-best .419 with two outs. She is 13-for-31 with 11 RBI with two outs.

200 STRIKEOUT CLUB: Junior pitcher Breanna Swint needs one more strikeout to become the sixth pitcher this decade to reach 200 career strikeouts for the Bulldogs. Swint has fired 84 strikeouts, which is two short of her season-high 86 she struck out last season.

THROW 'EM OUT: Junior catcher Hannah Bloch is one of the Bulldogs' better catchers to come through the program. Bloch has thrown out 29 would-be base stealers including five this season. She has also picked off a pair base runners off first base.

THE CLOSER: Junior pitcher Breanna Swint has five career saves, which is three away from tying the program record.  Jessica Horne has eight saves for UMD. Swint has two saves this season.

MILE MARKER 100: Jen Walter became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins. Walter reached the historical mark in the first game against Northern State on Thursday. She attained 100 victories in 145 games while former head coach Jen Banford reached 100 wins in 182 games. 

PILING UP THE HITS UNDER WALTER: Since the arrival of the new manager, UMD is 108-9 when it out-hits the opposition. That is roughly 56.8 percent of the total games under Walter's tenure (117 of 206) that they have out-hit the opposition. They are 12-2 this season when having more hits in a ballgame.

SHUTOUT OF EPIC PROPORTIONS: UMD's 15-0 win over St. Michael's College was the biggest shutout by the Bulldogs since 2006 when they picked up a pair of identical 15-0 decisions against Finlandia University and Minnesota State University Moorhead in the same season.

PLAYOFFS!: The Bulldogs are on pace to make their 11th consecutive NSIC postseason appearance. Sitting tied for third in the NSIC, the top 10 teams from the conference compete in the league tournament for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NSIC Tournament is held May 2-4 at the Rochester Youth Fastpitch Softball Complex in Rochester, Minn.

WE'RE TALKING PLAYOFFS!: UMD is looking to get back into the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons. Last season, the Bulldogs made to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in program history after winning the sub-regional championship at Winona State.

CENTRAL REGIONAL RANKINGS: The first installment of NCAA Central Region Rankings was released this past weekend with UMD slotted seventh. The champions of the NSIC, MIAA and the GAC postseason tournaments get automatic bids to the NCAA tournament, leaving five at-large bids. The NCAA softball selection show will be streamed online on Monday, May 6 at 9:00 a.m. on NCAA.com.

2018 ACCOLADES: UMD was bestowed with three All-Americans last season. Hannah Schmoll (D2CCA second team), Becky Smith (NFCA third team) and Natalie Wright (D2CCA second team) all ended their careers with All-American honors. In addition, all three were selected to the NFCA all-region team and the NSIC all-conference honors. Schmoll was selected to the NSIC first team while Smith and Wright each collared second team selections. Jordyn Thomas received NFCA All-Region second team honors as well.

THE GOLD STANDARD: Junior Lauren Oberle, Hannah Schmoll, Becky Smith, and Natalie Wright were all named to the 2018 NSIC Gold Glove Team at their respective positions. Oberle, who nabbed her first gold glove, is the only returning gold glover for the Bulldogs.

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: On March 14, 2018, the Bulldogs received the program's first National Fastpitch Coaches Association National Player of the Week. Jessica Bren captured the prestigious distinction after going 12-for-18 (.667) with seven home runs and a triple. She knocked in 15 RBI and scored 11 times to go along with five stolen bases. Bren posted a .684 on-base percentage and a 1.944 slugging percentage. 

BREN BOMBER: Sophomore Jessica Bren made an impact right away at the plate as she set the single-season program record with 16 home runs in 2018. She had the eighth most homers in Division II last season.

THAT WILL LEAVE A MARK: Senior first baseman Kalynn Tilton was plunked into the UMD record books after she was hit by a pitch 15 times last season. She tied the single-season record held by Sammie Gardner (2010). 

INJECTING YOUTH: A new batch of Bulldogs join the roster for the 2019 roster. Six true freshmen and a sophomore make up 39 percent of the roster, along with 11 returnees from last season. The seven newcomers is the most since 2014 when the Bulldogs also brought in seven freshmen.

GETTING THE CALL UP: UMD continues its tradition of  local prep standouts joining the Bulldogs with the addition of Erin Thompson from Superior, Wis. The Bulldogs welcome Sam Pederson (North Branch, Minn.) and Malorie Stone (Blaine, Minn.) to bolster their pitching staff. They also started a new pipeline as they grabbed Bre Bresnahan and Ali Schak from Faribault, Minn. UMD also likes the hopes of a couple of infield sluggers in Zoey Brooks (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Emma Frost (Farmington, Minn.). 

ON DECK: The Bulldogs travels to Minnesota State University Moorhead in a NSIC doubleheader on Wednesday (April 24) at 2:00 p.m.