On Tap: Sixth-ranked Minnesota State, winners of 17 straight, will pursue its third-consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament title and fifth in the last six years this weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. The top-seeded Mavericks will battle eighth-seeded Wayne State at Augustana's Ronken Field with first pitch slated for 11 a.m.
 
NSIC Tournament First Round Schedule
No. 1 Minnesota State vs. No. 8 Wayne State             11 a.m.            Ronken Field
No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul vs. No. 5 Winona State         11 a.m.            SF Stadium
No. 2 Augustana vs. No. 7 Southwest Minn. State        2 p.m.             Ronken Field
No. 3 St. Cloud State vs. No. 6 Northern State             2 p.m.             SF Stadium
 
Last Time on the Diamond:  The Purple and Gold played two significantly different doubleheaders last week against Wayne State thumping the Wildcats 14-4 and 14-3 last Friday before winning a pair of two-run contest last Saturday, 4-2 and 3-1. Senior Jason Hoppe (Rice, Minn.) moved to 10-1 on the year and matched the program's career wins record (28) in game one, before senior Bryce Bellin (Kimberly, Wis.) improved to 4-1 with a team-best 2.08 ERA in game two's victory. Junior Nolan Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) went five-for-five in the initial affair, while senior Stetson Olson (Renton, Wash.) collected six RBI. Game two saw senior Todd Standish (Brookings, S.D.) carry the load offensively drilling two three-run homers and earning seven total RBI. Sophomore Kevin Kramer (Watkins, Minn.) belted a three-run double to secure MSU's game three triumph, before Olson registered two more RBI in the game four victory.
 
A Look at the Wildcats: Wayne State owns a 25-22 overall record and a 18-15 mark in league play after being swept over four games by the Mavericks this past weekend. The Wildcats are hitting .278 and averaging 4.7 runs per game. Junior Michael Herman (INF, 6-0, 200, Omaha, Neb.) is batting .348 with two home runs, 15 doubles, 20 runs and team-high 34 RBI to date. The WSC pitching staff holds a 4.33 team ERA and a .266 opponent batting average. Sophomore Eric Browning (RHP, 6-1, 190, Lyons, Neb.) stands 7-3 with a 2.04 ERA, three complete games, three shutouts and 73 strikeouts over 57.1 innings pitched.
 
Inside the MSU-WSC Series:  MSU boasts a 22-6 all-time record against Wayne State and swept all four matches with the Wildcats less than a week ago.
 
The Rest of the Field:  Second-seeded Augustana (36-14, 25-8 NSIC) enters the tournament winners of four straight and owns a .341 team batting average with a 3.82 earned run average. Seventh-seeded Southwest Minnesota State (26-21, 17-14 NSIC) has won three in a row and is led on offense by junior Patrick Rients (1B, 6-1, 195, Jackson, Minn.) who is batting .373 with 18 home runs and 55 RBI to date.
 
Third-seeded St. Cloud State (35-12, 24-9 NSIC) is coming off a four-game weekend sweep of U-Mary and holds a .334 team batting average with a 2.90 team ERA this season. Sixth-seed, Northern State (28-17, 21-13 NSIC), has dropped three of its last four contests and is led on offense by Matt Stubbs (3B, 5-11, 200, Rochester, Minn.) who is batting .389 with five home runs and 37 RBI.
 
Fourth-seed, Concordia-St. Paul (28-12, 20-10) has won nine of its last 10, while junior Kyle Dalton (UTL, 6-0, 175, Minnetonka, Minn.) led the league with a .442 batting average in the regular season. Fifth-seeded Winona State (23-20, 20-11 NSIC) has claimed three of its last four games and has been carried at the plate by sophomore Tyler Nehring (C, De Pere, Wis.) who is hitting .405 with seven home runs and 40 RBI.
 
Minnesota State History: The 2014 season marks the 74th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,620-820-7 (.664) all-time record in 2,447 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 four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crowns (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013). 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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