WINONA, Minn. – No. 8 Winona State University's weekend schedule has been moved up and the Warriors will play four games in Sioux Falls, S.D. against a pair of conference foes. All games will be played at Sherman Park.
The Warriors take on the Sioux Falls Cougars (15-8, 0-0 NSIC) on Thursday in a doubleheader scheduled for 2/4 p.m. and conclude the trip on Friday with ballgames at 2/4 p.m. against Southwest Minnesota State (5-10, 0-0 NSIC). The Cougars and Mustangs face off on Wednesday to open their NSIC schedule.
Live stats will be available for all four games with a video stream also scheduled to air for the Sioux Falls doubleheader.
Winona State (23-3, 2-0 NSIC) opened its conference slate on Tuesday with a home sweep of Upper Iowa.
McKenna Larsen (8-2) and Jordyn Kleman (8-1) each posted complete game victories over the Peacocks on Tuesday. Kleman tossed her third shutout of the season in the nightcap while striking out a season-high nine batters.
Winona State's collective 1.88 ERA leads the NSIC and ranks 13th in all of Division II softball.
Lani Van Zyl leads the Warriors in batting average (.414), runs (27), doubles (7), homers (7) and slugging (.759). Freshman Rylee Stout has rounded the bases with six homers this season. Katie Schlegel is the only other Warrior with a long ball this year, having connected on a pinch-hit bomb against Urbana on March 7th.
Katelyn Kolb combined to go 5-for-8 with two walks, two RBI and four runs scored against Upper Iowa. Kolb is hitting .364 with a .457 OBP this season.
Larsen (.397), Samantha McLean (.328), Mariah Schultz (.327), Alison Nowak (.316) and Jamee Schleis (.314) have all contributed to Winona State's balanced lineup.
As a team, the Warriors are batting .337 (84-for-249) with two outs and have recorded 66 two-out RBI this year.
Scouting Sioux Falls
The Cougars lead the league in fielding percentage (.977) and rank fifth in the NSIC in team ERA (2.86). Lindsey Mossman leads the conference in doubles (11). Breanna Black (7-3) leads the Cougars in wins and Kerrigan Hoshaw ranks sixth in the NSIC in opponents' batting average (.213).
Sioux Falls has won 12 straight games entering play on Wednesday against SMSU. Winona State leads the all-time series against USF, 13-1, having won four straight.
Scouting SMSU
The Mustangs rank last in the NSIC in team batting against (.247) and are 13th with a 5.31 team ERA. Kali Tomlinson and Emma Grote lead SMSU with matching .348 batting averages. Tomlin has homered twice for the Mustangs and has a team-best 10 RBI. Shelby Crank (3-4) leads the team with a 3.64 ERA in the circle.
The Mustangs have lost six of their last seven games entering play Wednesday against Sioux Falls. Winona State leads the all-time series against SMSU, 68-45, having won 20 straight.
