What’s On Tap: Eleventh-ranked Minnesota State (34-7, 14-2) continues its home schedule as it hosts Concordia-St. Paul (22-15, 7-7 NSIC) in a NSIC doubleheader Wednesday at 2 p.m.
     On Saturday, Southwest Minnesota State University (17-15, 8-8 NSIC)  heads to Mankato to face the Mavericks at the Diamond at Gage Towers for an NSIC doubleheader. Saturday's game is MSU's senior day as first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

What Just Happened: The Mavericks hit .318 on the week and compiled a 5-1 record in NSIC action to close its road schedule for NSIC play. MSU swept #22 Augustana on Tuesday (2-0 and 5-3), swept Upper Iowa Friday (7-4 and 12-4) and split with #3 Winona State Saturday (won 1-0 and lost 7-4) with all games being on the road. Senior outfielder Chelsea Erickson hit .450 (9-for-20) with two home runs and three walks on the week. Sophomore infielder Kelly Wood batted .429 (9-for-21) over last week. Lindsay Erickson batted .400 last week and has reached base in 15 consecutive games. The Mavericks are 27-0 when holding opponents to two runs or less and 29-1 when it scores first. MSU is outscoring opponents 227-75 this season and is batting .307 as a team.

Head Coach Lori Meyer: One of the most respected coaches in all of NCAA Division II softball, Lori Meyer is in her 28th year as the head coach of the Minnesota State softball team. Meyer owns a career record of 912-572-3 (.614) in 1,487 games. A seven-time NCC Coach of the Year, Meyer has guided the Mavericks to three North Central Conference titles (1987, 1989 and 2007), and guided the ‘87 Mavericks to a third-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Tournament and has made nine trips to the NCAA postseason and two trips to the NCAA Championships (1987, 2011). Meyer is the 35th coach in collegiate softball to mark 900 wins and the seventh NCAA Division II coach to accomplish the feat.

Minnesota State History: The 2012 season marks the 38th for Maverick softball. MSU owns an all-time record of 1,037-670-7 (.605) in 1,714 games, and have four North Central Conference titles (1984, 1987, 1989, 2007) and ten appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament (1984, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) to its credit.

MSU Notes: Minnesota State has scored 35 or more runs in the first (39), third (35) and fourth (42) innings this season. The Mavericks are 8-1 in games in which it has scored 0-2 runs and is 27-0 when limiting its opponents to two or fewer runs. The Mavericks are 14-1 when scoring in the first inning and 29-1 when scoring first. The Mavericks are 21-2 when not committing an error. Sophomore Lindsay Erickson leads MSU with 20 multiple-hit games and 11 multiple-RBI games. Lindsay Erickson’s 11-game hitting streak to start the season is tied for the longest as Chelsea Erickson is currently on an 11-game hitting streak. Lindsay Erickson started the season reaching base in 15 straight games earlier this season as she is currently tied with her previous streak. Minnesota State ranks first in stolen bases (82) and third in the NSIC in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.472), on base percentage (.378), runs batted in (196), doubles (55), homers (39) and walks (116).

A Peak at this Week's Opponents: Concordia is coming off a two-game skid as it was swept by Augustana on Saturday 12-10 and 14-4. The Golden Bears bat .297 as a team and have a .954 fielding percentage. Concordia is led by freshman Alicia Meiser with a .417 batting average this season in her 37 games played. Junior pitcher Ashley Kluever is 11-6 this season and has a 3.21 earned run average.
    Southwest Minnesota State is 1-5 in its last six games. The Mustangs are batting .302 this season as opponents are just .255 against them. Senior Kris Penick is leading the team from the plate with a .422 batting average. Senior Christian Borowiak is batting .387 with ten doubles, two triples and three home runs. 

Record Book: Several Mavericks are also making a dent in the record book.
      Senior pitcher Kendra Huettl is first in career strikeouts (678), second in wins (83), second in shutouts (20), tied in second in saves (8), second in games started (113), fourth in complete games (65), third in innings pitched (714.1), third in appearances (140).
      Junior pitcher Courtney McKelvogue is ninth in appearances (97), fifth in wins (57), fifth in strikeouts (422), eighth in inning pitched (464) and sixth in shutouts (14). 
      Senior outfielder Chelsea Erickson ranks third in career home runs with 27 while junior outfielder Lauryn Morris is fourth in stolen bases with 45.  Senior Melanie Upchurch sits fifth in steals with 42 and junior shortstop Abby Sonner is eighth with 26.

Nationally Speaking:  As a team, Minnesota State ranks in the top-30 in four different statistical categories.
      The Mavericks rank second in fielding percentage (0.979), tenth in earned run average (1.50) and 15th in stolen bases per game (2.00) and 10th in win/loss percentage (.829).
       Individually, seven Mavericks rank in the top-100 in the nation.  In the circle, senior pitcher Kendra Huettl ranked 22nd in strikeouts per seven innings (8.5), 29th in earned run average (1.38), 13th in hits allowed per seven innings (4.31), 26th in strikeouts (153) and 39th in shutouts (5.0).  Junior righthander Courtney McKelvogue is 42nd in earned run average (1.54), 28th in shutouts (6).
      Lindsay Ericksonare is 90th in batting average (.412), 37th doubles per game (0.36), 61st in slugging percentage (.733), 60th in hit by pitch per game (0.18) and 72 in home runs (8). Chelsea Erickson is 57th in home runs (9), 87 in homers per game (.22) and 49th in walks (0.59), junior outfielder Lauryn Morris is 25th walks (0.65). Brittani Robinson is 72nd in home runs (8) and 99th in home runs per game (0.21).

For complete weekly notes, click HERE.