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MARSHALL – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team officially started preparations for the 2019 season on Monday as the squad opened practice for the upcoming season. The Mustangs will conduct more than a month of practice in the PE Gym and R/A Facility before opening the season on March 2.
Paul Blanchard, the program’s all-time wins leader with 518, begins his 23rd season as the Mustang head coach and has 33 players on the 2019 roster. This season’s squad features 20 returning letter winners from last season’s team that finished 17-23 overall, including 12-18 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
SMSU returns four of its top five hitters from last season, including junior outfielder Ben Heichel, who was one of three players to start every game a season ago. He led the squad with a .349 batting average, while also recording 19 doubles, which is the second highest total in team single-season history. Heichel also led the team with 17 multi-hit games, belted five home runs and finished second on the team with 31 RBIs.
Senior second baseman Jayden Fleck is another returning infielders who started all 40 games last season and batted .315 with nine doubles, a team-high six home runs and a team-high 33 RBIs. He led the team with eight multi-RBI games and had 16 multi-hit games. Junior shortstop Nathan Kuhn started every game last season and led the team with 36 runs scored, while batting .309 with seven doubles.
Sophomore third baseman Jake Hendricks played in 36 games with 31 starts and finished with a .316 batting average with eight doubles, five home runs and 22 RBIs. He had 12 multi-hit games and added six multi-RBI games.
Also returning in the infield is junior first baseman Brady Lanoue, who played in 27 games with 17 starts and recorded three home runs and 14 RBIs, while hitting .266. Sophomore first baseman Matt Bezdicek batted .245 in 15 starts with one home run and one double during his rookie season.
A pair of junior catchers return in Derek Smith and Spencer Rudnik. Smith started 19 games and batted .242 with eight RBIs, while Rudnik started 21 games and finished batting .265 with eight RBIs. Rudnik is also expected to see time as pitcher after seeing limited action on the mound the past two seasons.
In the outfield, senior Connor Johnson and junior Tanner Strommen, both return after combining to start 60 games a season ago. Johnson batted .239 with four home runs, eight doubles and finished with 26 RBIs. Strommen hit .228 and added three doubles, one home run and 10 RBIs. Sophomore Christopher Berg is another returning outfielder, having appeared in 13 games last season.
The pitching staff returns 10 hurlers, including five who combined to start 35 of 40 games last season. Senior left-hander Cole Petersen and senior right-hander Justin Clark will help anchor the starting staff. Petersen finished 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 40 innings with eight starts. Clark tossed a team-high 54.1 innings and finished 3-4 with a 4.80 ERA with two complete games and 61 strikeouts. He recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts in a two-hit shutout at Minnesota Crookston last season.
Sophomore left-hander John Bezdicek also recorded 61 strikeouts last season and recorded a 2-4 mark with a 4.32 ERA in 50 innings. He had double-digit strikeouts in two games.
Junior right-hander Jeremy Stouffer finished with a 4.98 ERA in eight games and seven starts last season. He finished 1-3, while recording 23 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.
Veteran senior right-hander reliever Alex Jorgensen also returns after appearing in a team-high 14 games and compiling a 2-3 record with one save. He finished with a 3.54 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 28 innings. Another returner is sophomore left-hander, Teddy Broxterman, who appeared in 10 games, despite missing a month with an injury. He had eight strikeouts in eight innings and recorded one save.
Senior right-hander Jared Tschetter returns after missing the last month of the season due to injury. In the first month of the season, he picked up one victory and one save in five relief appearances with six strikeouts in five innings.
Sophomore lefty Wes Sarsland and sophomore right-hander Spencer Schroeder also return after seeing limited action last season.
SMSU opens the season on March 2 with a doubleheader at Northwestern College (Iowa). The team will then head to Tucson, Ariz., for a week of games from March 7-13. SMSU will open its 36-game NSIC schedule on March 16-17 with a three-game series at Concordia-St. Paul. SMSU will open its 18-game home schedule on March 30.
New this season, all NSIC weekend series will be three-game sets. The teams will play one nine and one seven-inning game the first day and will close the series with a nine-inning game the following day. All weekday match-ups will be doubleheaders with one nine-inning game and one seven-inning game.
Content courtesy
of SMSU Athletic
Communications