SPEARFISH, S.D. – BHSU Softball heads to Billings, Montana to face MSU Billings as the Yellow Jackets are coming off their fourth straight RMAC series win. The Yellow Jackets (15-7 (13-3 RMAC)) will play a one day, two-game series versus MSUB on Wednesday.

GAME DETAILS
•    Location: Billings, Mont. (Avitus Group Stadium)
•    First Pitch: Wednesday: 1 PM and 3 PM MST

BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES
•    Black Hills State enters the non-conference series versus Billings 15-7 (13-3 RMAC) after winning four straight conference series including their true home opener versus Chadron State. The Yellow Jackets took three of four for the third series in a row versus the Eagles after winning the first three games before dropping the last. The Yellow Jackets currently sit at 13-3 in the RMAC, which puts them in a solo second in the conference behind Colorado Christian. 
•    The Yellow Jackets were incredibly solid from the plate in the four games versus Chadron hitting .317 (31-104), with 55 total bases and six home runs including four homers in game 3. BHSU also earned ten walks this series. They scored 19 runs overall this series with a .385 on-base percentage and a .529 slugging.
•    BHSU is currently one of the top teams in the country in multiple categories. They are 18th in doubles per game (1.95), 21st in total doubles (43), 23rd in sacrifice flies (10), 35th in on-base percentage (.406), 36th in team strikeouts per seven innings (6.57), and 39th in sacrifice bunts (16), and batting average (.328). 
•    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 solo second after winning 13 of their first 16 conference matchups.  
•    Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn enters her second season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets, she has a record of 30-39 with BHSU and a career 50-88 record as a head coach after spending two years with Crown College. 
•    Freshman catcher Desi Hernandez is leading the team in batting average with a mark of .426, which is seventh in the conference. She is third in runs with 17, while being leading the team in on base percentage with a .506 clip, which ranks eighth in the RMAC. She is currently second on the team and fourth in the conference in RBIs with 25, while being second on the team and third in the conference in RBIs per game with a 1.14 clip. She is coming off a series versus CSC where she went 4-12 from the plate but had one two-run homer and three more RBIs, while scoring three runs.
•    Senior first baseman Ashlynn Pauwels is one of the top players in the entire RMAC. She is 9th in the RMAC with a .425 batting average, while also ranking first in the conference and 14th in the country with seven home runs. She also ranks first in the RMAC in RBIs per game (1.23), and total bases (59). She ranks 42nd and 18th in the country in each respective stat. She is also second in the RMAC in home runs per game (.32), RBIs (27), third in slugging percentage (.808), and fifth in hits (31) Pauwels is a one-time RMAC Player of the Week (2-18-25). She tied the BHSU D2 record for RBIs in a game with 5 against Adams State. She officially made it to her 100th career hit as a Yellow Jacket in game two versus CSC, and her second home run versus CSC in game 3 made her the program's all-time leader in career RBIs. She hit .615 against Chadron, while hitting three home runs, scoring five runs, batting six runners in, and reaching 17 total bases. She is currently on an 11-game hit streak.
•    Tyler Whitlock has jumped up to third in batting average with a .365 clip. She leads the team in runs with 23. She is one of only two players in D2 that have 70 or more at bats and has not struck out once. She is the only qualified player in the RMAC with 0 strikeouts this season. She is also the only qualified player in the RMAC who has a perfect stealing percentage, having gone 12-12 on stolen bases this year and is 1 of 16 players in D2 who have 12 or more stolen bases and haven't been caught stealing. She is second in the RMAC with 12 steals and is also second in steals per game (.55). She hit 6-14 (.429) against the Eagles, while having five runs scored, seven total bases, and three stolen bases.
•    Junior Infield Audrey Fouras has a .323 batting average for the Yellow Jackets, with a .548 slugging, and a .411 on-base percentage. Fouras currently leads the RMAC in doubles with 8 and doubles per game with .36. She is also ranked 42 in the country in total doubles. She is coming off a quiet weekend versus CSC where she went 1-9 with one double.
•    Alyssa Wong has had a great start to the season. She has a .319 batting average, is second on the team in on-base percentage with .475 and has 13 walks and 11 RBIs. She is third in the RMAC with .68 walks per game. She is coming off a series versus CSC where she went 3-8 from the plate with one RBI and two walks. She had a .500 OPB.
•    Sophomore Pitcher Laci Peskey has been one of the best pitchers in the country this season. She is currently leading of NCAA D2 in strikeouts with 112 and is ranked third in victories (11), fourth in complete games with 11, fourth in innings pitched (86.1), 19th in saves (2), 22nd in games started (12),  27th in strikeouts per seven innings pitched (9.1), 29th in shutouts (2), 30th in pitching appearances (15), and 37th in strikeout/walk ratio (5.89). She is also leading the RMAC in WHIP (1.00) and is second in ERA (1.70). She is putting up historic numbers as she already set the BHSU record for wins in a season and is quickly approaching the BHSU record for most strikeouts in a single season. She is already a three-time pitcher of the week this season (2-3-2025, 2-18-2025, 3-4-2025). She is one of only two pitchers across all levels over 110 strikeouts this season.

MSU BILLINGS STORYLINES
•    MSU Billings enters this game at 3-13 and second to last in the GNAC. They have currently lost 5 out of the last 6 and have only reached a complete game twice in the last eight games. 
•    MSUB has been run ruled 10 times this season out of 16 games. They got swept in their opening series versus RMAC's MSU Denver getting run ruled in all four of the games. Northwest Nazaren and Southern Oregon each played two games versus them and run ruled them in both games, before they lost 6-8 in their most recent game versus Cal Poly Humboldt after being run ruled to them in game 1. 
•    MSUB has been outscored by opponents 67-152 in 16 games, and they have allowed 61 runs in their past five games. They do not have a qualified pitcher under a 6 ERA; however, they have not been shutout yet this season and have only been held to under two runs four times this year. They have scored three or more runs in six of the last seven games. 
•    MSU Billings Head Coach Joe Yegge is in the middle of his first season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets and is 3-13 so far. He spent three seasons before MSUB with Missouri Western, going 98-62, which makes his career record 101-75. He did not have a losing season with Missouri Western.
•    Bryn Lucht is the star for MSUB. She has a .405 batting average, but a .714 slugging and a .510 on base percentage, which both lead the team. She has eight runs scored, 13 RBIs, four doubles, and three home runs. She also nine walks and nine strikeouts in 42 at bats this season. In the series versus CPH, she went 3-6 with two runs scored, four RBIs, two doubles, and two walks.  
•    Wynster Hurst is second on the team with a .410 batting average, while having a .641 slugging percentage and .477 on base percentage. She has 11 runs and 10 RBIs this season, while having three doubles, and three triples. She is tied for second with 25 total bases, while having two steals in two attempts. She has also pitched three times for 5.1 innings giving up 4 ERs in those innings, with four walks and one strikeout. Versus Cal Poly Humboldt, she went 1-5 with one double, one run, and one RBI.
•    Marliegh Nieto is the team leader in batting average with a .425 clip. She has a .625 slugging percentage and a .415 batting average. She has started all 12 games she's played in and has 17 hits and 6 doubles. She went 2-8 with a double and a run versus Cal Poly Humboldt in the two-game series.  

SERIES HISTORY
•    BHSU and MSUB have only met one time. This will be the second ever Yellow Jacket battle and BHSU is currently 0-1 in the series losing the only matchup in 2014 11-8 in Billings.