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THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State baseball team is scheduled to host Northern State and Dakota State for the first home games of the 2015 season at Newman Outdoor Field. The Bison are slated to welcome the Wolves of Northern State Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. for the home opener, before facing the Dakota State Trojans Wednesday, April 8, at 5 p.m.
 
THE SERIES:  Northern State - Tuesday's contest against Northern State will be the 32nd meeting in the all-time series. The Bison hold a 20-11 advantage in the series. NDSU and NSU last met in 2013, with the Bison sweeping a doubleheader against the Wolves at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, 5-2 and 16-2. ... Dakota State - Wednesday's showdown with the Trojans will be the third meeting in the all-time series and the first since 1996. NDSU is a perfect 2-0 against Dakota State. The Bison swept a doubleheader against the Trojans, 11-0 and 16-0, on April 2, 1996 in Madison, S.D.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Northern State - Northern State, a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in NCAA Division II, enters Tuesday's game with an 11-14 overall record and a conference mark of 5-9. Through 25 contests, Riley Shintaffer is hitting a team-best .333 with 24 hits in 72 at bats. Shintaffer has five doubles, one homer and has driven in a team-high 20 runs. He also has a team-best 14 walks. Lucas Lorenz, Mark Abrahamson and Alex Cornwell lead the Wolves in home runs with three each, while Abrahamson has a team-high 10 doubles and Lorenz has a team-best three triples. On the mound, eight different NSU pitchers have started at least one game this season. Northern State is under the direction of fifth season head coach Dean Berry. ... Dakota State - The Trojans are 9-25 overall entering the week after splitting a four-game series against Dickinson State (N.D.) last weekend. DSU is scheduled to host two games against Winnipeg Tuesday before facing the Bison Wednesday.  Through 34 contests, Dakota State is led offensively by Jake Harris, who is hitting .396 with 36 hits in 91 at bats. Harris leads the team in doubles (8) RBIs (20) and slugging percentage (.549). Jamie Jorgensen leads the team in home runs with three, while Nathan Wieneke has drawn a team-best 14 walks and is second on the team in runs batted in with 19. Mitch Bouchard (2-3) leads the Dakota State starting rotation with a 4.14 ERA in 37 innings pitched. Bouchard has allowed 17 earned runs on 40 hits with 25 strikeouts and nine walks. The Trojans are under the direction of fifth season head coach Scott Hortness.
 
CATCHING UP WITH THE BISON: The Bison enter Tuesday with an overall record of 7-18 and a Summit League tally of 3-9 after winning the series finale at Fort Wayne on Sunday, April 5, 18-7. The 18 runs scored were the most since the Bison defeated Winnipeg at home last season, 18-2. Through 25 contests, Taylor Sanders is hitting a team-high .343 with 24 hits in 70 at bats. Sanders has five doubles and one homer to go along with nine RBI and a .457 slugging percentage. Ben Petersen leads the Bison in total hits with 27 and is hitting .333, while John Skrbec has a team-best 19 RBI and seven doubles. Skrbec is second on the team in home runs with three and leads the team in slugging percentage at .488. Juan Gamez paces NDSU in homers with four in 25 games. As a team, the Bison are hitting .250, while their opponents are hitting .292. On the mound, right-hander Jay Flaa leads the Bison with a 2.70 ERA and three saves in 26.2 innings pitched. Flaa has allowed only eight earned runs on 15 hits while striking out a team-high 42 batters and walking just nine. The Bison have a team ERA of 5.57 in 211.2 innings pitched, compared to a 3.70 ERA in 226 innings of work for their opponents.
 
SKRBEC SWINGING FOR THE FENCES: Bison third baseman John Skrbec is hitting .308 in his last six games, going 8-for-26 at the plate with three home runs, one double and seven RBI. He has recorded at least one hit in his last seven games. In the series finale at Fort Wayne Sunday, the Grand Rapids, Minn., native smashed a three-run round-tripper to left field that gave the Bison an 8-0 lead over the Mastodons in the fifth inning.
 
CONSISTENT AT BATS: Redshirt sophomore JT Core hit .636 in NDSU's three games at Fort Wayne last weekend, going 7-for-11 at the plate. The Leavenworth, Kan., native tallied four RBI, two runs scored and seven total bases to go along with a .714 on base percentage and a .636 slugging percentage.
 
SANDERS SURGING: NDSU outfielder Taylor Sanders has hit safely in four of his last six games. The junior leads the Bison and ranks sixth in The Summit League in batting.
 
KEEFER'S GREAT STARTS: Bison southpaw Trent Keefer has a 3.09 ERA and is a perfect 2-0 in his last two starts. In his last start Sunday at Fort Wayne, the Mesa, Ariz., native allowed two earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven and issuing no walks, helping the Bison to an 18-7 triumph.            
           
GOING, GOING, GAMEZ:  NDSU junior catcher Juan Gamez has hit two grand slams so far this season. The Tucson, Ariz., native recorded his first grand slam against Kansas on Feb. 27, before delivering what proved to be the game-winning grand slam at Northern Colorado on March 7. Gamez leads NDSU in round-trippers this season with four and ranks second on the team in RBI with 16.
 
POSITION DEPTH TO BE TESTED: The Bison have key spots to fill in the lineup after the departure of Summit League Player of the Year Tim Colwell and fellow All-Summit League performers Michael Leach, Kyle Kleinendorst and Wes Satzinger. Senior third baseman John Skrbec, junior shortstop Aiden Hook and junior left fielder Jon Hechtner are the lone returning position starters for the Bison. 
           
NEW FACES: Seven freshmen and seven transfers make up the 14 total newcomers joining the Bison this season. New freshmen include Brayden Resch (C/UTIL), Drew Fearing (INF), Mason Pierzchalski (INF), Jayse McLean (OF), Joe Vacinek (RHP), Colin Baumgard (RHP) and Blake Stockert (RHP). The new transfers are Danny Regan (INF/OF), Juan Gamez (C/UTIL), JT Core (C/UTIL), JD Larimer (INF), Taylor Sanders (C/OF), Riley Horn (LHP) and Nick Salentine (RHP/INF).
 
FIVE CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS: North Dakota State has reached the 20-win mark five straight seasons. The Bison have qualified for four straight Summit League tournaments, winning the tournament championship last season and reaching the championship game each of the past three seasons. This is NDSU's eighth season in The Summit League after three seasons as a Division I independent.
 
PRESEASON PICKS:  Defending Summit League tournament champion North Dakota State was picked to finish fourth in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's six head coaches. For the second consecutive season, Omaha was tabbed to claim its third straight Summit League regular season baseball title. The Mavs received three of six first-place votes and a total of 23 points. Oral Roberts placed second with the other three first-place votes and 21 points. South Dakota State came in third with 17 points followed by the Bison with 15 points. Western Illinois (8 points) and Fort Wayne (6 points) rounded out the poll.
 
THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: This is North Dakota State's eighth year in The Summit League, which has six baseball teams for 2015 – NDSU, Fort Wayne, Omaha, Oral Roberts, South Dakota State and Western Illinois – after losing Oakland to the Horizon League. Denver, IUPUI and South Dakota do not have baseball. Oral Roberts, which won 15 straight league championships from 1998-2012, returns to the league this season after competing in the Southland Conference the past two years.
 
THE COACH:  North Dakota State head coach Tod Brown (Arizona, 1994) is in his eighth season with a 173-212 record.  Brown previously was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for eight seasons at Bowling Green, where he was part of two division titles and a regular-season title in the Mid-American Conference.  Brown began his collegiate coaching career in 1999 as a volunteer assistant at Arizona.  He was a left-handed pitcher for the Wildcats under Hall of Fame coach Jerry Kindall and a member of the 1992 Pac-10 champs.
 
THE TOD BROWN FILE:

• 2014 Summit League tournament champions
• 2014 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Corvallis Regional qualifiers                      
• Won school-record 40 games in 2012
• Three straight Summit League championship game appearances
• Four consecutive Summit League tournament appearances
• Winning percentage of .518 the past four seasons
• 16 All-Summit League honorees, six first team selections
• 14 players who signed professional contracts
• Coached three NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients: Wes Satzinger (2014), John Straka (2013) and Kole Zimmerman (2008)