Photo by Jake McNeill Southwest Minnesota State catcher Brady Petron slides into home plate during a baseball game on Saturday against Winona State at Legion Field in Marshall. The Mustangs won two out of three games in the series, sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader 2-1 and 11-7 before falling 11-8 on Sunday.

BISMARCK, N.D. — After dropping each of their first two games to get a quick elimination in last year’s Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament, the Southwest Minnesota State baseball team returns to the postseason for the second year in a row with hopes of further advancement. This time around, the sixth-seeded Mustangs will match up against No. 6 Minnesota Crookston today at 6 p.m. in the first round of the double-elimination bracket.

Last year, SMSU entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed. They lost 10-3 to fourth-seeded St. Cloud State — the eventual tournament champions — and had their season come to an end with a 7-6 loss in 15 innings against No. 8 Wayne State.

The Mustangs went 19-13 in conference last year and 20-19 this season, finishing with a 26-22 overall record in head coach Jeremy Ische’s first season taking over for Paul Blanchard, who had coached the team for 27 years. 

Opposite the Mustangs in the first round, Minnesota Crookston has compiled a 28-10 conference record and a 34-14 overall record. When the two teams met in Crookston earlier this year, the Eagles claimed two out of three games, defeating SMSU 8-0 and 18-11 with a 12-2 Mustang victory in between.

The Golden Eagles have dominated when they’ve had their top pitchers competing. Jake Osowski, Brody Sorenson and Nate Benning have combined for just two losses in 32 starts for Crookston, with Osowski owning a perfect 9-0 record and Sorenson 7-1. 

Osowski’s 3.68 ERA ranks seventh in the NSIC while Sorenson is right behind him at No. 11 at 4.39. The duo also rank seventh and ninth in strikeouts respectively with 65 for Osowski and 63 for Sorenson.

Fortunately for SMSU, the Mustangs have an elite 1-2 punch of their own on the mound. Kolby Kiser has been dominant this season, ranking second in the league with a 2.84 ERA and sixth in the NSIC with 76 strikeouts while Carter Petron has compiled a 4.11 ERA to rank ninth in the conference. Petron and Ryan Chmielewski also rank eighth and ninth in strikeouts respectively with 64 and 63. 

When SMSU last faced Sorenson, they scored nine runs in his six innings on the mound, but the UMC offense still led him to a victory on the hill as they defeated SMSU 18-11. Osowski, however, held the Mustangs scoreless in his last start, going the distance to shut out SMSU in an 8-0 win for the Eagles.

Carter pitched the lone SMSU win over UMC this year, going seven innings and holding UMC to two runs with 11 strikeouts. Kiser was tagged for six earned runs and five unearned runs in his start, a loss when facing off against Osowski.

At the plate, Chase McDaniel has led SMSU with a .424 batting average and a 1.130 OPS on the season. He also finished the year as the NSIC hits leader, recording 86 hits to beat out Minnesota State’s Aidan Byrne by three, and set the SMSU record for single-season and career hits.

Isaac Nett and Owen Latendresse also had sensational seasons for the Mustangs, raking for a 1.091 and 1.036 OPS respectively. Nett, McDaniel and Kiser were each named First Team All-NSIC for SMSU on Tuesday while Latendresse earned second-team honors.

For the Golden Eagles, Osowski and Sorenson each earned second-team selections, as did pitcher/utility man Josh Dykhoff and outfielder Caden Headlee, while first baseman Teddy Giefer and outfielder Jake Hjelle earned first-team nods.

Hjelle and Giefer each drove in 50 RBIs on the season to tie for 10th in the NSIC. Hjelle also put together a 1.043 OPS to lead the team while Gieffer’s .366 batting average was a team-high and his 1.026 OPS was second on the team. Josh Dykoff was right behind the two with a .993 OPS. 

SMSU is seeking its first NSIC tournament win since 2014 when they defeated Northern State in the elimination bracket before falling to Winona State in the next round. The last time they won multiple games was in 2010 when they advanced to the conference championship before losing 6-5 to Minnesota State.

Today’s game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark. The Mustangs’ second game will be played on Thursday, slated for 3:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Ballpark in Mandan if they advance to the winner’s bracket or noon at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark again if they fall to the elimination bracket.

A radio broadcast of today’s game is available on 107.5 The Fan and on MarshallRadio.net. Live video of the games is available for pay-per-view on the NSIC Network.