Grand Forks, N.D. - Next up for the UND baseball team is the Great West opener at Houston Baptist, which will be the first action for the Sioux after taking an unexpected 18 days off. Mother Nature was the culprit behind the extended layoff as weekend series against Creighton (March 26-27) and North Dakota State (April 1-3) were both lost due to inclement weather and unplayable field conditions.
MEDIA
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IN THE DUGOUT
• The Sioux were 4-3 in games played in the Lone Star State a season ago, taking three of four from Texas-Pan American in a Great West series, then going 1-2 at the GWC Tournament hosted by the Broncs in Edinburg.
• One of those setbacks was to HBU after the Huskies defeated UND, 9-3, in the opening game of the GWC Tournament.
• Senior centerfielder Andy Sadler leads the team with nine RBI and a .359 batting average. Six of Sadler's RBI have come with two outs.
• Senior designated hitter Jake Magner has hit safely in his last six games, raising his batting average to .296 on the season. Magner is 10-for-26 (.385) at the plate during that stretch and needs five more hits to move into the top 10 list on the UND career charts.
• There may not be anyone more excited to see league play start than Magner, who hit .407 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI in 28 GWC games last season. He earned first team all-league honors for those efforts.
• In five games against HBU, Magner hit .391 (9-for-23) with two HRs and three RBI.
• Magner brings a six-game hitting streak into the HBU series and has only been topped by Sadler this season, who had a seven-game streak earlier in the campaign.
• Sadler leads the team with seven multiple-hit games, including a trio of three-hit contests.
• Senior Josh Ray is hitting just .241 on the season, but with runners in scoring postion, the Sioux rightfielder holds a .375 average. That clip is tops on the team, which should not be a surprise considering he led the Sioux in that category as a junior with a .463 average.
• Ray is the club's top returning hitter after batting .347 with five homers and 37 RBI in his first season with the Sioux.
• Senior Craig Dolmage usually finds himself in the No. 5 hole in head coach Jeff Dodson's lineup, but when he leads off an inning, the outfielder/designated hitter is batting .583 on the season (7-for-12).
• Sadler saw his seven-game hitting streak come to an end in Sunday's series finale at Southeast Missouri State (March 13). Sadler had six multiple-hit games during that stretch, hitting at a .563 clip (18-for-32).
• Sadler also had UND's lone game-winning hit of the season during that streak. The Grand Forks native stroked a RBI-single in the ninth inning of the series opener at Missouri State to put the Sioux ahead 7-6. The club would add one more run to finish off an 8-6 victory.
• For his efforts that week, Sadler earned the Great West Player of the Week honors on March 17. He hit at a .471 clip (8-for-17) in four games.
• Dolmage posted a career-high four RBI in the 8-6 victory over the Redhawks. Dolmage doubled and belted his first home run of the season (second career) in the win.
• Ray also had his best game of the young season in the triumph, going 4-for-5 with three run-scoring singles in the victory over SEMO.
• Sophomore Kris Kwak hit his first collegiate home run in the 5-3 loss to Kansas (March 9). The Sioux second baseman leads the team with four extra-base hits this season.
• Lefthander Brandon Baumgartner picked up the lone win of the season for the Sioux in relief. The senior tossed three innings, surrendering only one unearned run in the win over the Redhawks.
• Baumgartner has made seven appearances and the senior needs only four more to become the career lead in games pitched at UND.
• After two relief appearances, junior Cory Baker moved into the starting rotation for head coach Jeff Dodson and the righthander was effective in what turned about to the team's first win of the season.
• Baker tossed six innings and struck out six Redhawks in the 8-6 win (March 11). The JUCO-transfer yielded three earned runs on six hits in what was second straight six-plus inning start by a Sioux hurler. Baker will start Friday's opener against HBU.
• Senior Sam Anderson had the first of that stretch, going 6.2 innings in a 5-3 setback to Kansas. Anderson was the tough-luck loser after giving up only four earned runs on nine hits, while fanning four against the Jayhawks.
• Anderson made the start in a 4-0 setback to Northern Illinois in UND's latest action (March 16). Anderson gave up three earned runs in 4.1 innings of work before the Sioux bullpen turned in 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Senior Derek Biermaier tossed three of those without yielding a hit.
• Lefthander Zach Ransom was effective in his first career at Nebraska on March 19. The true freshman allowed only two earned runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work against the Huskers. He picked up a no decision after NU rallied for a 10-4 victory.
• Senior David Spies made his first start in the series finale at SEMO since getting six on the bump as a freshman in 2008. The lefthander gave up five earned runs in four innings of work. In two relief appearances, Spies had given up one earned in 6.2 innings of work.
• Spies earned the Great West Pitcher of the Week honor after a five-inning relief outing against Missouri State (March 4). Spies came in with his team trailing, 5-0, and kept the Bears in check, limiting a hot-offense to just one earned run his relief effort.
• The Sioux would lose the roller coaster of a game, 9-8, after exchanging leads on six different occasions with the Bears.
• Shortstop Ryan Gerber belted a two-run homer for his first collegiate hit in the contest. The two-run blast put the Sioux ahead by a run in the eighth inning.
ALL-TIME VS. HOUSTON BAPTIST: The Sioux and Huskies met for the first time during the 2010 season with HBU winning four of the five contests. The four-game series at Kraft Field was tightly contested, but the Huskies emerged victorious in three of those tilts, winning the opener 5-3, taking game two, 9-5 in extra innings (eight) and finishing off the series win with a 5-4 triumph in the finale. UND's lone win came in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader as the Sioux posted a 5-3 victory thanks to a two-run, game-winning single by shortstop Josh Nelson in the seventh.
The teams met in the opening round of pool play at the Great West Tournament in Edinburg. HBU won that contest 9-3, but junior Jake Magner tied the single-season school home run record with his 20th of the season. Magner would go on to break the record at the tournament with his 21st against Utah Valley.
THE SKINNY ON THE HUSKIES: The Huskies have struggled out of the gate in non-conference play, much like the Sioux, posting just two wins in 24 games. Both wins were against established programs, however, as HBU knocked off TCU All-American Matt Purke in Fort Worth, 7-4 (March 12) and also took a 15-13 decision from Dallas Baptist in game two of a three-game series.
Shortstop Collin Hetzler is the club's top hitter with a .310 average. Designated hitter Robbie Buller is the team's top power threat, having connected on seven of the Huskies' eight home runs this season. Buller has just 12 hits on the season that have not left the park, but he also leads the club with 16 RBI. Third baseman Jake Gonzalez, who had a great series with both his bat (7-for-11, .455) and glove against UND a season ago is second on the club with 15 RBI.
Leftfielder David Pfuntner is batting .300 on the season and had three RBI in the upset win over seventh-ranked TCU on March 12. Hetzler and Colby Arnst also had two hits a piece in the contest.
Righthander Stephen Nikonchik, who caused fits out of HBU's bullpen a season ago against the Sioux, has moved into head coach Jared Moon's rotation and will start game three against UND. Nikonchik saw the hill three times in relief against the Sioux in 2010, allowing just four hits and no earned runs in seven innings pitched. He is 1-2 on the season in four starts (nine appearances overall), picking up his win against Dallas Baptist. Lefthander Jamey Storey leads the team with 20 strikeouts in 31.2 innings pitched. Dalton Schafer, who is Friday's starter, has logged a team-high 39.2 innings this season.
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.
