SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (23-21 (21-15 RMAC)) are headed on one final regular season road trip. The Green & Gold are headed to Durango, Colorado to face the Fort Lewis Skyhawks (9-31 (8-27 RMAC)). The Skyhawks are currently ranked 10th in the conference and BHSU is still ranked fifth after splitting the series versus UCCS this past weekend.  

GAME DETAILS
•    Location: Durango, Colo. (Aspen Field)
•    First Pitch Thursday: 10 AM and 12 PM MST
•    First Pitch Friday: 10 AM and 12 PM MST

BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES
•    Black Hills State enters the series versus Fort Lewis ranked fifth in the RMAC with a conference record of 21-15. The Yellow Jackets are coming off back-to-back series splits with Colorado Christian and UCCS. They just split with UCCS at home this past weekend on Senior Day. They were only half a game up on UCCS in the RMAC standings and remain there. They are also 4.5 games up on Colorado School of Mines, who are in seventh, with only six spots open in the RMAC tournament. 
•    The Yellow Jackets were able to take games one and three because of spectacular pitching again and a few very clutch hits. Both Ashlynn Pauwels and Tyler Whitlock hit crucial home runs in games one and three in front of big crowds celebrating senior weekend, with games one and two producing record attendance numbers. The Yellow Jackets held UCCS to four total runs in their two victories but allowed 14 runs in their two losses. The Yellow Jackets also struggled with errors on day one of the series committing 11 in games one and two combined, with seven occurring during the game one win. Seven of the ten runs scored on day one was unearned runs.
•    BHSU is currently one of the top 40 teams in the country in multiple categories. They are ninth in doubles (83), 11th in doubles per game (1.89), 29th in sacrifice flies (15), 36th in on-base percentage (.399), 29th in hits (385), 39th in batting average (.319), 34th in walks (144), and 34th in team strikeouts per seven innings (6.21) 
•    Black Hills State entered 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 fifth after winning 21 of their first 36 conference matchups.  
•    They have already broken the single season win record with 21 wins; they set the record for most road wins with 17. The other records broken include most RMAC wins in a season with 19, and most runs in a game with 21 against Regis. They also currently hold the team record for doubles in a single season, walks in a single season, hits in a single season, RBIs in a single season, and team strikeouts in a single season.
•    Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn enters her second season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets, she has a record of 38-53 with BHSU and a career 58-102 record as a head coach after spending two years with Crown College. Her 50th win came in game 3 versus Chadron State. 
•    Senior first baseman Ashlynn Pauwels is one of the top players in the entire RMAC. She is fifth in the RMAC and first on the team with a .422 batting average, while also ranking third in the conference and 29th in the country with 47 RBIs. She also ranks sixth in the RMAC in RBIs per game (1.07), and third in total bases (113). She ranks 42nd and 16th in the country in each respective stat. She is also fourth in the RMAC and 24th in the country in home runs (12) and is leading the RMAC and is 33rd in the country in hits (62) 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 is also BHSU all-time leader in home runs (23) and single season RBIs (46). She is tied for the single season lead in home runs and the career doubles record. She is quickly approaching multiple other single seasons and career record. In the most recent series versus UCCS, Pauwels had one of her quiet series, she went 3-for-13 (.231) but had a home run and a double in the game one win. She scored two runs and had seven total bases with a .538 slugging percentage.
•    Freshman catcher Desi Hernandez is in the midst of one of the best freshman seasons in the RMAC and program history this year. She is second on the team in batting average with a mark of .383. She is third on the team in runs with 31, while leading the team in on base percentage with a .458 clip. She is currently second on the team and seventh in the conference in RBIs with 40, which leads all Freshman, while being second on the team and ninth in the conference in RBIs per game with a 0.91 clip. She is 15th in the country in runners caught stealing with 12. Hernandez had a better series versus the Mountain Lions going 3-11 (.273) with a three-run home run and six total bases.
•    Tyler Whitlock has jumped up to third in batting average with a .359 clip. She leads the team in runs with 42, which is third in the RMAC. She has a perfect stolen base percentage going 18-18 on stolen bases this year. She is third in the RMAC with 18 steals and is also third in steals per game (.41). She leads the RMAC and is 12th in the country in doubles with 16 and is fifth in triples with four. She is officially the new BHSU program leader in runs scored in a career with 88, doubles hit in a season (15), is the new BHSU all-time hit leader with 150, and is the single season runs scored record holder. She is also approaching a few other single season and career records. She went 4-12 (.333), with her first home run of the season (a three-run home run), which gave BHSU the win in game three. She had four total RBIs, a double, three runs scored, and eight total bases.
•    Sophomore Pitcher Laci Peskey has been one of the best pitchers in the country this season. She is currently third in NCAA D2 in strikeouts with 209 and is ranked 10th in victories (19), sixth in complete games with 20, fifth in innings pitched (168.0), 25th in games started (22), 22nd in strikeouts per seven innings pitched (8.7), 14th in pitching appearances (30), and 21st in strikeout/walk ratio (5.36). She is also third in the RMAC in WHIP (1.11) and is fourth in ERA (2.29). She is putting up historic numbers as she already set the BHSU record for wins in a season and has destroyed the record for most strikeouts in a single season. She just passed the career wins record as a sophomore. She is only the tenth pitcher in RMAC history to reach 200 Ks in a season. She is already a four-time pitcher of the week this season (2-3-2025, 2-18-2025, 3-4-2025, 4-8-2025). On the offensive side of the ball, she has been dominant since becoming a daily hitter recently. Peskey is hitting .379 with 14 RBIs, two home runs, five doubles, 11 runs scored, and six walks. She has a 1,008 OPS with a .569 slugging and a .439 on-base percentage. She is coming off a series where she made three more pitching appearances. She had 18 innings pitched, only four earned runs and two walks, while having another 21 strikeouts. She went 2-0 in her appearances with a 1.56 ERA. On the hitting side, she led the team with a .500 batting average going 5-10 with a double, two RBIs, a run scored, a walk, and six total bases. She had a .600 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.

FORT LEWIS STORYLINES
•    Fort Lewis enters this series sitting 10th in the RMAC with an 8-27 record. They are coming off losing three of four to Chadron State and have now lost eight of their last ten games. They only have one series win this year and that was in a sweep of Adams State. They also have a series split with New Mexico Highlands, and the other two conference wins have come against Chadron and Mines.
•    The Skyhawks have really struggled both hitting and pitching. They only have three players over the .300 mark and have one pitcher with an under four ERA. The Skyhawks have been outscored 228-130 this year and a combined .253 batting average. 
•    Fort Lewis is not ranked in the top 40 in any stat this season and are currently sitting at 43rd in double plays per game and 47th in double plays. Those are also the only two stats they are in the top five in the conference . They are also last in the RMAC in every key offensive stat, including, runs, rbis, hits, on-base percentage, and walks.
•    Head coach Paige Adair is in her second year as head coach of the Fort Lewis Skyhawks. She finished 17-30 last season, making her career record 26-61. FLC was projected to finish eighth in this year's coaches' poll and currently sit in tenth.
•    Briana Jorgensen, the senior utility player, has been one of the few bright spots for Fort Lewis. She currently has a .345-batting average with a 1.003 OPS. She leads the team in runs (40), doubles (11), home runs (5), RBIs (26), and total bases (70). She also has a .603 slugging percentage. In the series versus Chadron, Jorgenson hit 3-12 (.250) with four RBIs, a two-run home run, a double, and two runs scored.
•    Redshirt Freshman Makenna Milliman has been the other bright spot of this offense leading the team with a .383 batting average. She has 36 hits, four doubles, two home runs, and ten runs scored in 31 games played. She leads the team with a .420 on-base percentage. She did not play in the series versus CSC.
•    Chloe Padilla has been the high point of the pitching staff, currently sitting at a 3.82 ERA through 47.2 innings. In nine appearances, she has a 3-5 record, a 1.66 WHIP, and 47 strikeouts. She has allowed 53 hits, 26 walks, and 26 earned runs. She also has five complete games this season. For the first time this season, the Freshman made two starts in a series, going 1-1 in 11 innings, only giving up one earned run, allowing ten hits and six walks, while striking out 17.

SERIES HISTORY
•    BHSU is 7-37 all-time versus the Skyhawks and has lost the last 17 games to them dating back to 2020. BHSU split series with them in 2019 and 2016 but has never won a series versus FLC.
•     Last year, BHSU lost all four games by a score of 8-24. They were run-ruled in the last game of the series.