Grand Forks, N.D. - After playing their first 21 games on the road and having their season-opening home games with North Dakota State postponed, the Fighting Sioux will finally get to break in the new turf at Kraft Field this weekend. 

UND will host Utah Valley this Friday-Sunday in a four-game Great West Conference series at its renovated home park. The infield at Kraft Field was removed last fall and replaced with Field Turf and the first game on the new surface was played on Tuesday night between Red River High School (Grand Forks) and West Fargo High School. 

Live Stats: www.FightingSioux.com (all four games)

Live Audio: www.FightingSioux.com (game one, game three and game four)

Live Video: www.FightingSioux.com (UNDInsider subscription required, game one, game three and game four)

IN THE DUGOUT

• The Sioux and Wolverines met for the first time on the diamond last season in what was the inaugural Great West Conference series for both teams. UVU swept that league-opening series and went on to post a league-best 26-2 GWC record.

• UVU and UND also met in the inaugural GWC Tournament and the Wolverines broke up a tight game late to post an 11-7 victory over the Sioux. 

• Senior Jake Magner moved into a tie for second on the all-time home run list at UND with his first roundtripper of the season. The blast in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Houston Baptist was the 33rd of his career, tying him with Carter Rogalla (1994-98).

• With 170 hits for his career, he is one hit shy of cracking that top 10 list as well.

• With nine total bases in  Houston, the Sioux slugger also moved into fourth on UND's all-time list in that category. With a single at SDSU, he now has 303 for his career.

• Last season, Magner pounded GWC pitching to the tune of a .407 batting average with 14 home runs and 39 RBI. He earned first team all-league honors for his efforts.

• Against UVU a year ago, the Sioux first baseman hit .409 (9-for-22) with four home runs and 13 RBI in five contests.

• Senior Josh Ray has hit safely in six straight after going 2-for-4 in the 8-2 loss at South Dakota State on Wednesday. Ray has three consecutive multiple-hit efforts and has raised his batting average to .275.

• Sophomore second baseman Kris Kwak had a pair of doubles in the contest against the Jackrabbits, pushing his team high total in extra-base hits to eight. 

• Freshman catcher Zack Trygstad saw his brief four-game hitting streak come to an end at SDSU, but he had a pair of hits in all four HBU contests. He finished with a team-best .571 average (8-for-14), adding two doubles, a triple and four RBI.

• Trygstad was one of five Sioux players to post a .300 or better average in the series. Kwak went 4-for-11 (.364) in three starts, which included his second home run (team leading) of the campaign.

• Ray and classmate Andy Sadler both hit a .333 clip and scored a team-high five runs in the series. Ray connected on his first HR of the season as well and added three RBI.

• Sadler continues to lead the team with a .354 overall average from his leadoff spot.

• Freshman shortstop Ryan Gerber went 5-for-16 at the plate to round at the .300 hitting quintet in Houston. The lefthanded hitter had a trio of RBI as well.

• Junior Daniel Ross went 2-for-5 in his first start of the season in Sunday's series finale.

• The Sioux got six-plus innings out of three of their four starters during the weekend. Righthander Cory Baker had the longest outing, going seven innings in Friday's series opener. Baker allowed five earned runs on eight hits, while fanning a season-high seven Huskies. HBU would eventually win that contest 8-7.

• Freshman Zach Ransom entered Saturday's doubleheader opener in the fourth and tossed three scoreless innings of relief. Ransom's ERA of 4.72 is tops on the team among players with five or more innings pitched this season.

• Righthander Jake Swift, who will start the series opener against UVU, surrendered five earned runs in his Saturday start as he worked 6.2 innings in a game the Sioux would end up losing, 9-6.

• Lefthander David Spies tossed six scoreless innings in Sunday's finale before the Huskies got to the southpaw for six runs in the seventh. HBU rallied to complete the four-game sweep with a 9-8 triumph.

GLANCE AT THE GREAT WEST: The Fighting Sioux will be embarking on their second season in Great West Conference play.  Utah Valley won the league's inaugural regular season and tournament titles in 2010 and the Wolverines were the preseason pick to repeat in 2011. UND, who was picked to finish fifth in the coaches' preseason poll, will host this year's conference tournament at renovated Kraft Field. The Sioux will host the double-elimination event, May 24-28. The other six members of the league are Chicago State, Houston Baptist, New York Tech, NJIT, Northern Colorado and Texas-Pan American. The Great West is the second conference affiliation for the Fighting Sioux in program history. UND spent its Division II years playing in the North Central Conference. New York Tech and Northern Colorado are associate members for baseball.