On Tap: No. 4 Minnesota State embarks on its second full weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this weekend when it tangles with Minnesota Duluth at the Woodside Sports Complex in Mauston, Wis. The four-game series will begin Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and conclude Monday beginning at 12:00 p.m.
 
Last Time on the Diamond:  The Purple and Gold won three of four contests against Southwest Minnesota State in both programs' NSIC opener last weekend.
 
MSU scored three runs in the first two innings and used a complete-game victory with nine strikeouts from senior Jason Hoppe (Rice, Minn.) to claim a 3-1 victory in game one last Friday. The Mavericks jumped out to a 4-0 lead after six innings in the second affair as senior Bryce Bellin (Kimberly, Wis.) struck out eight across 7.0 innings. However, SMSU rallied for seven runs in the final three innings - including four in the top of the ninth - to walk away with a 7-4 win.
 
The Mavericks once again claimed a 3-1 win in game one last Sunday. Seniors Stetson Olson (Renton, Wash.) and Mike Andries (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) each tallied RBI singles in the top of the seventh to secure the win, while senior T.J. Larson struck out eight across 5.2 innings in a no decision and senior Chris Williams (Omaha, Neb.) earned his third save of the season. The second contest saw MSU record a 10-4 triumph in six innings due to darkness. Senior Taylor Nawrocki (Fairmont, Minn.) improved to 4-0 after fanning five in five innings on the mound, while Andries collected a game-high three RBI and junior Nolan Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) added two of his own for MSU in the sweep.
 
A Look at the Bulldogs: Minnesota Duluth sits 4-8 overall and 0-2 in conference competition after dropping a doubleheader at Wayne State by margins of 2-0 and 5-3 last Sunday. Prior to that, UMD opened its season with a 4-6 mark at the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational. Through 12 games, the Bulldogs are batting .320 as a team and are averaging 5.4 runs per game. The UMD pitching staff holds a 5.17 team earned run average and has surrendered a .277 opponent batting average thus far.
 
UMD currently has seven starters full or part-time starters batting over .300 this season led by sophomore Bo Hellquist (OF, 6-3, 170, L/L, Savage, Minn.) who is hitting .625 in six starts and seven games.  Senior Cody Aasen (OF, 6-1, 190, Savage, Minn.) leads the team with nine runs and his nine RBI tie for the team lead to go along with a .415 batting average to date. Freshman Skyler Wenninger (INF, 6-0, 160, R/R, Luverne, Minn.) is currently hitting .379, while reigning NSIC Offensive Player of the year, sophomore Alex Wojciechowski (1B, 6-5, 230, R/R/, Coon Rapids, Minn.), is batting .316 with team-highs in triples (2) and doubles (5) in addition to eight runs and nine RBI.
 
On the mound, junior Wes Mleziva (RHP, 6-0, 170, Green Bay, Wis.) holds a 2.63 ERA over two starts in three appearances with 11 strikeouts across 13.2 innings. Hellquist has started in all three of his appearances and holds an 0-2 ledger and 4.85 ERA with 14 punchouts over 13.0 innings of work.
 
Inside the MSU-UMD Series:  The Mavericks stand 34-9 all-time against the Bulldogs despite not playing UMD in the regular season last year. However, MSU did knock off UMD, 5-0, in the first round of the NSIC tournament.
 
Minnesota State History: The 2014 season marks the 74th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,599-817-7 (.661) all-time record in 2,423 total games. Minnesota State has five Northern Intercollegiate Conference titles (1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1981), 19 North Central Conference championships (1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007) and three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crowns (2010, 2011, 2012). The program has 32 appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and seven in the NCAA Division II World Series (1971, 1979, 1980, 1986, 2010, 2012, 2013) including a third-place finish in 2012 and national runner-up performance in 2013.
 
Additionally, seven Mavericks have been selected All-Americans.

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