ON TAP
North Dakota opens Western Athletic Conference play this weekend when it heads to former Great West Conference foe Utah Valley for a three-game set starting Friday. UND is looking to garner its first win of the season after three games in the early going decided by two runs or less.

GETTING TRYGGY WITH IT
Senior Zak Trygstad hit his 10th triple of his career last week, moving him into second place all-time at North Dakota. He is just one shy of the career mark held by Josh Ray (11).

PETE AND REPEAT
Senior Taylor Petersen has four hits on the season, all of them doubles. He leads the team in that category and also has a team-best four runs scored in the early going.

MUCKENHIRN'S DEBUT
Freshman Zach Muckenhirn had a college debut to remember, twirling 6.2 innings without allowing an earned run in a no-decision against Central Arkansas on Mar. 1. He left with a 3-1 lead in the seventh, settling in after two base hits to start the game, squandering just four total hits for the game.

MUCKEN-HIRNING HIS WAY INTO THE ROTATION
Muckenhirn has earned his way into the three-man rotation by virtue of his strong start to his rookie season. After a 6.2 IP start in his debut without an earned run, he squandered just three over five innings in his next start, giving him a 2.31 ERA to lead all UND starters this season.

ALL-GREAT WEST PERFORMERS LAST SEASON
Four UND athletes took home All-Great West Conference honors at last season' pre-tournament banquet. Headlining the group was first team catcher Taylor Petersen who was part of a first team that had 10 new honorees from a season ago. Three UND players were second team members led by SP Andrew Thome, who was the only repeat all-conference member on the second team. He was joined by SP Alex Twenge and 3B Ryan Reese.

TWENGE TWIRLING
North Dakota got a nice lift from sophomore Alex Twenge last season, who  settled into his role in the starting rotation. After filling in behind the plate as a freshman and out of the bullpen, Twenge inked his name into the rotation with a 6-1 mark (4-0 in conference) and a 2.52 earned run average in 2013. UND won eight of the 11 games he started. His six wins tied him for seventh in UND's single-season record books.
 
OFF TO THE WAC
North Dakota joins fellow former-Great West Conference members Chicago State, Northern Colorado, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley as additions to the WAC this season.

UND already has a relationship with the WAC as the women's and men's swimming teams are affiliate members in the league. The addition will give the WAC a total of 10 teams for baseball as North Dakota will join CSU Bakersfield, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, Seattle U, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley in 2014.