SPEARFISH, S.D. – BHSU Softball heads home for the first time this season after sweeping Adams State in Alamosa this past weekend. In Alamosa, the Yellow Jackets made history, with runs scored, wins in an opening series, and weekly award winners. The Yellow Jackets (6-4 (4-0 RMAC)) will face the ThunderWolves of CSU Pueblo (4-7 (3-1 RMAC)) Saturday and Sunday at Yellow Jacket Field in Spearfish.

GAME DETAILS
•    Location: Spearfish, S.D. (Yellow Jacket Field)
•    First Pitch Saturday: 3 PM and 5 PM MST
•    First Pitch Sunday: 11 AM and 1 PM MST

BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES
•    Black Hills State enters their first home series of the year 6-4 (4-0 RMAC) after sweeping the Adams State Grizzlies for their first opening RMAC series win in the team's D2 history. BHSU is currently tied for first in the RMAC with their 4-0 conference record, a spot BHSU has never been in.  
•    The Yellow Jackets combined for 45 runs in the four games versus Adams State including tying a team record of 20 runs in Game 2. The 37 runs combined in that game was the most in team history.
•    Black Hills State enters this season ranked ninth in the preseason coaches' poll and is coming off the best season in the program's D2 history after going 15-32 (14-28 RMAC) last season. They are currently in a three-way tie for first in the RMAC after winning their first four conference games. 
•    Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn enters her second season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets, she has a record of 21-36 with BHSU and a career 41-85 record as a head coach after spending two years with Crown College. 
•    Senior first baseman Ashlynn Pauwels leads the team in batting average with .395 clip, while also leading the team in OPS (1.094), slugging percentage (.684), hits (15), RBIs (11), and total bases (26). Pauwels is the reigning RMAC Player of the Week for her performance against Adams State where she had multiple hits in each game, five extra base hits with two doubles, one triple, and two home runs. She tied BHSU's D2 record for RBIs in a game with five in the 20-17 game, and it was only the second time in her career that she has had back-to-back games with a home run. 
•    Freshman catcher Desi Hernandez is second on the team in batting average with a mark of .387. She is tied for the team lead in runs with eight, while leading the team in on base percentage with a .475 clip. She also is second on the team in hits with 12. She is coming off a weekend where she went 6-13 with six runs and five RBIs. She tied BHSU's D2 record for runs in a game with four against Adams State in the 20-17 win. 
•    Taylor Dowden is the #3 for BHSU, she is third in batting average (.360), second in OPS (.993), second in slugging percentage (.560), and second in on-base percentage (.433). She is also second in RBIs with 10, including five in the 14-4 win over Adams State that joins her with Ashlynn Pauwels in a tie for the BHSU D2 record for RBIs in a game. She went 5-11 this past weekend with nine RBIs, five runs, a double, a home run, and four walks.
•    Junior Infield Audrey Fouras had a bounceback weekend versus the Grizzlies, now sitting at a .333 batting average. She is third on the team in OPS (.940), hits (11), and slugging percentage (.545). She is also tied for the team lead in runs scored with 4. She went 7-17 this weekend, while adding seven runs, four doubles, one homer, and three RBIs. 
•    Sophomore Pitcher Laci Peskey -was named RMAC Pitcher of the Week for the second playing week in a row, which was the first time since 2007 that BHSU had an weekly award winner twice in the same season. It is the first time in BHSU's D2 history that we have had a pitcher of the week and player of the week in the same week, and it's the first time in BHSU's RMAC history that we have had a pitcher win the award in back-to-back weeks. She went 4-0 to increase her record to 6-1. She made her first relief appearance of the season, where she pitched 1.2 runnerless innings, and had her second complete game shutout of the year. She combined for 23 strikeouts, including 11 in game 3, her third double-digit strikeout game of the year and has only given up six walks all year. She is currently one of the top pitchers in the country with a 1.86 ERA in 41.1 innings   

CSU PUEBLO STORYLINES
•    CSU Pueblo is entering this series versus BHSU with a 4-7 (3-1 RMAC) record. CSU Pueblo lost six of their seven out of conference games by a combined score of 15-46, before bouncing back with a 3-1 series versus Chadron State that included a 16-2 win. 
•    Pueblo was mercy ruled three times in their first seven games, but in the series against Chadron State, their pitching stepped up only allowing six runs in four games. Even in their loss they only allowed three runs and lost 3-2. In the 16-2 win every single starter had a hit for the ThunderWolves in only five innings. 
•    CSU Pueblo was picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, so far, they are fourth with a 3-1 conference record. 
•    ThunderWolves Head Coach is in the midst of her fourth season, and she has a record of 68-96. She started her head coaching career at Louisiana Tech, where she went 22-30 in one season. She has a total record of 90-126.
•    Junior Outfielder Taylor Brower leads the ThunderWolves with a .471 average in nine games. She ranks second on the team in OPS (1.094), runs (7), slugging percentage (.529), and leads the team in on-base percentage (.565). She is coming off a series versus the Eagles where she went 4-8 from the plate with four runs and four runs batted in.
•    Caitlyn Cole is the star for CSUP. After being named to the RMAC First-Team last season, Cole is averaging .448, while leading the team in OPS (1.228), hits (13), extra base hits (6), RBIs (6), and slugging percentage (.759). She also is second on the team in on-base percentage (.469). In the series versus Chadron State, Cole went 7-10 with three runs, a double, and two RBIs. She has had a hit in every game but one this year and has only struck out six times. 
•    Senior third basemen Raelynn Rogers is the only other player with a batting average above .300. She has a .333 batting average, leads the team in runs with nine, while ranking second in hits (11), and third in OPS (.686), and slugging percentage (.333). She went 6-11 in the series versus Chadron and scored five runs but had no extra base hits or RBIs. 
•    McKenna James is the top pitcher for the ThunderWolves. James enters this series with a 2.80 ERA in 30 innings pitched. She has a 1.27 WHIP and 24 strikeouts but has a 1-4 record. James pitched in two of the four games versus Chadron going 12 innings, which the first five were in a relief appearance, and only allowed 1 ER and 12 hits with ten strikeouts. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    BHSU is 13-25 all time versus the ThunderWolves but won the final three games of a four-game series last year outscoring CSUP 27-15, which included an 11-3 mercy rule in the fifth inning and a 7-0 shutout.