THIS WEEK: After spending the previous 50 seasons as members of the North Central Conference, the Fighting Sioux (0-0) will embark on their first season as a Division I Independent team with a trip to New Mexico State (0-0) this weekend. The Fighting Sioux and Aggies will both open their, respective, seasons on Friday with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m. CT at Presley Askew Field. The teams will wrap up the three-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 3:05 p.m., as well.

MEDIA INFORMATION: Live stats of the UND-New Mexico State series will be available on www.nmstatesports.com

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: This will be the first meeting between the two schools that are separated by 1,644 miles. In fact, the Sioux have never played a team from the ?Land of Enchantment' State.

TRANSITION YEAR: The Fighting Sioux will be playing their first full season of Division I baseball in 2009 under the guidance of first-year head coach Jeff Dodson. All of UND's sports are in a reclassifying season, transitioning from the Division II to Division I level, except for hockey, which has been in the WCHA and at the Division I level since 1947. The Sioux has 45 games on its 2009 slate and 35 of those will be played against teams in Division I.

ABOUT NEW MEXICO STATE: The Aggies finished the 2008 campaign with a 28-33 record and a 15-17 mark in WAC play, which was good for fifth place in the seven-team league. At the 2008 WAC Championship, NMSU fell to second-seeded Hawaii before being eliminated by sixth-seeded Sacremento State in the double-elimination tournament.

Entering the 2009 season, the seven WAC coaches picked the Aggies to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll, which was released just over a week ago. NMSU did have three selections named to the all-WAC preseason team. Senior pitchers Tyler Sturdevant, who led the club with six wins and 69 strikeouts, and reliever Erik Nyquist, who registered a team-high six saves, were both honored along with outfielder Richard Stout.

Sturdevant was a first-team all-WAC selection as a junior, while Stout, who played shortstop a year ago and batted .340, was named to the all-WAC second team in 2008. Stout will take his top-end speed to the outfield this season. He led the Aggies with 20 steals and also boasted a .451 on-base percentage.

NEW MEXICO STATE COACHING STAFF: Rocky Ward enters his 10th season as the head coach in Las Cruces and 12th overall with the program. Ward was the co-head coach for two seasons before taking over full reigns of the program. He played collegiately at Oklahoma State where his 1987 Cowboys team was the national runner-up.

Ward has collected the second most wins of any head coach in NMSU program history, entering the 2009 campaign with 254 career wins.

Ward is assisted by Chase Tidwell and his father Gary Ward. The elder Ward is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame, earning most of his stripes as the skipper at Oklahoma State from 1978-96. Gary Ward led the Cowboys to 16 conference championships and 10 appearances in the College World Series.

SENIOR STANDOUTS: The Fighting Sioux have only two seniors on the 2009 roster, but both pitcher Mike Lueck (Victoria, Minn.) and leftfielder Andrew Marek (East Grand Forks, N.D.) will play key roles during the campaign and be counted on for their veteran leadership.

Lueck led the Sioux in nearly all of the pitching categories as a junior. The righthander posted a 4-4 record with a team-best 4.24 ERA. He also registered the most complete games (six), pitched a team-best 63.2 innings and fanned a team-high 59 opposing batters.

Lueck has started 16 games in the previous two seasons and pitched 112.1 innings. He is closing in on the top ten of a couple of career lists at UND. Lueck is one complete game shy of cracking the top 10 in that category, currently sharing 11th with NBA coaching legend and former two-sport star Phil Jackson. He needs 18 punchouts to reach the top 10 in that category (see charts below on page 2).

Marek became an immediate fixture in the Sioux line-up a year ago after transferring from Iowa Central Community College. He started all 37 games for in left field and held down the No. 3 spot on interim coach Timm Pint's line-up card every game.

Marek was one of four Sioux regulars to hit better than .300 as he finished the campaign with a .304 batting average, three home runs and 26 RBI. His RBI total was second on the team and his 13 two-baggers were a team-best.

BAKHIT UP: Junior 2B Jabby Bakhit (Omaha, Neb.) waited two long years to make a name for himself, but he did just that in 2008. He is the lone returner on the Sioux roster that earned all-NCC honors a year ago after redshirting in 2006 and only getting five at-bats as a redshirt freshman in 2007. He was the first Sioux recognized by a national publication this season, earning preseason all-Independent team honors from Baseball America.

Last year, Bakhit was inserted into the line-up and served as the team's primary leadoff hitter, batting .340 with two doubles and 14 RBI. He was also swift of foot, tying for the team-lead with five stolen bases. He started 34 games.

JUST PLAIN GOOD: Junior 3B Andrew Gudmunson (Minot, N.D.) has the most experience of any returning Sioux player on the 2009 roster. In two seasons on the diamond for UND, Gudmunson has started 72 games, is a career .300 hitter and has 10 home runs and 66 RBI. His power numbers are tops among any returner on the squad as he also has accounted for 15 doubles.

Last season, Gudmunson led the Sioux with five home runs and 33 RBI, which were identical numbers to what he put up as a redshirt freshman in 2007.

Gudmunson transferred to UND from Nebraska where he redshirted during the 2006 baseball campaign. He also was a member of the UND football team in 2006-07 before giving up his gridiron playing days to concentrate on baseball full-time.

MAGNERIFFIC: An arm injury limited sophomore Jake Magner (Grand Rapids, Minn.) from playing a lot as a freshman, but he showed his hitting prowess when he was in the line-up. In nine games, which included seven starts, Magner batted .524 (11-for-21) with a home run, two doubles and 11 RBI.

DODSON'S SIDEKICKS: Entering his first season as the head coach at UND, Jeff Dodson has put together a coaching staff that features a pair of young coaches along with a name that is quite familiar with Grand Forks and the UND community.

Dodson brought in J.C. Field (Missouri, ?06) to coach third base and assist with the Sioux catchers and hitters. Field was a standout catcher for the Tigers on their back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams in 2005 and 2006.

The first-year coach retained Brian DeVillers (North Dakota, ?03) from the previous coaching staff to work with UND's infielders and hitters. DeVillers, a Grand Forks native, is in his second season as an assistant coach after earning all-NCC honors as a third basemen for the Sioux in 2001 and 2003.

Fresh out of college, Eric Hoffmann rounds out Dodson's first UND staff as the volunteer assistant. Hoffmann graduated from Northern Iowa in 2008 after playing two seasons for the Panthers.

EXPERIENCE COUNTS: It may not be at the Division I level, but first-year head coach Jeff Dodson inherited a team that is full of experience. Of the 333 possible starts between the eight position players and designated hitter in 37 games a year ago, players with 270 of those return and are at Dodson's dispersal this season.

Marek and Gudmunson were the only two players to start every game a year ago, but five others made at least 30 starts (see the chart above on page 2 for a complete breakdown of the returning starters).

Dodson also has a pitching staff that returns plenty of experienced arms in 2009. Returning players accounted for 27 of the 37 starts made on the mound by Sioux pitchers last season. Lueck made eight of those, while sophomre Brandon Baumgartner made seven. Both of those pitchers are slated to make starts in the opening weekend of play in Las Cruces.

BROTHERLY COMPETITION: As with any family, sibling rivalries are the norm. The UND baseball team takes that notion to the next level as brothers Anthony (Jr.) and Nicholas (RFr.) Brenner will be competing for playing time at first base and designated hitter this year for the Sioux.

Anthony is the veteran of the duo and likely has the leg up on Nicholas, but that will not stop a little brother from doing what they do best - giving it his best shot.

Nicholas redshirted a year ago, while Anthony made 30 starts for the Sioux, primarily as the team's DH, and batted .280. Head coach Jeff Dodson believes both will bring something different to the table, especially in situational hitting since Anthony is left-handed and his younger sibling is a right-hander.

JUNGLE FEVER: Catcher Ryne Jungling (Mandan, N.D.) returns for his junior season to bring some experience behind the dish for the team. He has made 44 starts in his two-year career and has collected 27 hits in each of those campaigns. As a redshirt freshman, he batted .429 (27-for-63) and last year as a sophomore batted .281 (27-for-96).

INDEPENDENCE FOR NOW: The Sioux will spend their first season in Division I as an independent, but there will be a conference for them to call home in 2010. UND will join seven other current Division I independents in forming the Great West Conference. The first Great West Championship will be held May 26-29, 2010 at Texas Pan-American.