Aberdeen, S.D. – With the South Dakota winter weather playing a factor once again and making the field unplayable at Fossum Field, Northern State is now set to face Winona State away from home. The Wolves are scheduled to play two games against the Warriors at Loughrey Field in Winona starting at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, followed by a single game at 12 p.m. on Monday.

GAME & FAN INFORMATION

• Links to watch the games and follow live stats are attached above

NORTHERN STATE STORYLINES

• Northern State enters the weekend with a record of 5-11 (0-5 NSIC)
• The Wolves dropped a pair of 1-run games in the mid-week doubleheader against Wayne State, falling by scores of 2-1 and 7-6
• As a team Northern has hit .253 with 125 hits, 26 doubles, one triple, 14 homeruns, 62 RBI, and 68 runs scored through 16 games played
• Niko Pezonella leads NSU with a .371 batting average, .771 slugging percentage, .511 on-base percentage, and 1.282 on-base plus slugging percentage; Pezonella ranks within the top-10 of the NSIC in on-base plus slugging percentage (5^th), slugging percentage (6^th), and on-base percentage (10^th)
• Austin Portner leads the team with 14 hits this season and is tied with Pezonella for the team lead with five doubles
• Reece Ragatz has recorded the lone triple of the season for Northern and leads the team with four homeruns; Ragatz is tied with Kai Brisk for the team lead with ten RBI
• Portner and Jack Paulson have each scored a team high of nine runs
• Jordan DeMarce and Ragatz are each riding 3-game hit streaks
• DeMarce, Paulson, and Portner all have a pair of stolen bases to lead the Wolves on the base paths
• Through 16 games played Northern State has totaled 14 homeruns, which is only four shy of last season's total of 18 through 41 games played
• The Wolves' pitching staff has recorded an ERA of 5.91, allowing 126 hits and 63 walks, while throwing 125 strikeouts; opponents have held a .265 batting average against NSU pitchers
• Michael Chevalier (2-2) and Zach Carolin (1-1) have the two lowest ERA's amongst NSU pitchers at 3.37 and 3.98 respectively
• Chevalier and Max Otto (0-3) lead Northern State with 35 and 29 strikeouts on the mound, and have also limited opponents to a .220 and .265 batting average respectively
• Otto has recorded the only save by a Wolves pitcher this season in a 3-1 win over McKendree on March 5^th
• Mitchell Tolk (1-1) has pitched 4.2 innings in four relief appearances on the mound, he has a 3.86 ERA and has yet to allow a hit while striking out eight batters

WINONA STATE STORYLINES

• Winona State enters the weekend with a record of 7-13 (3-2 NSIC)
• The Warriors split their mid-week doubleheader against Minnesota Crookston, winning game one 4-3 before falling in the second game 15-0
• As a team Winona State has hit .276 with 175 hits, 33 doubles, two triples, three homeruns, 76 RBI, and 87 runs scored through 20 games played
• The trio of Kyle Yu, Mason Trocke, and Derek Baumgartner are all hitting above .300 this season with batting averages of .383, .375, and .367 respectively
• Yu leads the team with 23 hits on the season while Baumgartner is second with 22 hits and a team best six doubles
• The Warriors three homeruns this season are the fewest hit among NSIC schools this season; Trocke, Baumgartner, and Cooper Kapanke each have one homerun
• Kapanke has totaled a team best 13 RBI this season off 21 hits, five doubles, and one homerun
• Yu's nine stolen bases is best on the team for WSU and is tied for fourth among the league leaders in the NSIC
• The Warriors' pitching staff has recorded an ERA of 7.03, allowing 196 hits and 101 walks, while throwing 122 strikeouts; opponents have held a .309 batting average against WSU pitchers
• Pierce Gritzmaker (0-2) and Justin Firpo (1-1) are Winona State's top two starting pitchers, recording ERA's of 4.96 and 5.12 respectively
• Peter Tveite (1-4) and Peyton Lee (0-2) lead the Warriors with 19 and 16 strikeouts respectively
• In 9.0 innings of relief in seven appearances on the mound, Davis Zeutzius has a 1.00 ERA, allowing only three hits and one earned run while striking out 11 batters
• Chandler Schmidt, Drew Lingen, Nevin Wall, and Easton Zempel have all recorded one save for WSU on the mound
• Seth Wing is in his first season as the head baseball coach at Winona State after having previously served the previous 11 seasons as head baseball coach at Cornell College (Iowa), Wing holds a career record of 184-236

LAST MATCH-UP

• Northern State and Winona State last met on the baseball diamond in 2021 when the Wolves swept the Warriors in Aberdeen by scores of 12-3, 6-1, and 6-1
• WSU leads the all-time series 92-27
• Northern has won 12 of the past 16 meetings in the series dating back to 2014