SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (19-17 (17-11 RMAC)) will head to Lakewood, Colorado to face the RMAC-leading Colorado Christian Cougars (28-10 (24-4 RMAC). The series has been moved back to Sunday and Monday due to weather concerns. The Yellow Jackets are looking to bounce back after having lost two straight RMAC series and falling to sixth in the RMAC. They will be doing so against a team they have not had a lot of success against.

GAME DETAILS
•    Location: Lakewood, Colo. (All-Star Park)
•    First Pitch Sunday: 12 PM and 2 PM MST
•    First Pitch Monday: 11 AM and 1 PM MST

BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES
•    Black Hills State enters the series versus Colorado Christian sitting in sixth in the RMAC with a 17-11 conference record. They are also only one game above .500 this season after losing seven of their last eight games versus MSU Denver and Colorado School of Mines. They were able to snap a six-game losing streak with a win in game three versus Mines but ultimately fell 1-3 against the Orediggers in the series.
•    The Yellow Jackets ran into some trouble against the top of lineup for the Orediggers. The top four in the lineups for Mines had 24 of the 39 hits in the series and had 15 of 28 RBIs. 20 of those 28 runs came in inning three or later, with the other seven coming in the first two innings of game two. BHSU was able to string some offense together in the middle games with them coming back from a 7-0 deficit in game two and putting up seven runs in the first three innings of game three. 
•    BHSU is currently one of the top 40 teams in the country in multiple categories. They are fifth in doubles (75), seventh in doubles per game (2.08),  20th in sacrifice flies (15), 22nd in on-base percentage (.413), 22nd in hits (332), 39th in walks (108), 26th in batting average (.333), 30th in slugging percentage (.486), 37th in walks (120), 37th in sacrifice bunts (28), and 39th in RBIs (194), 
•    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 sixth after winning 17 of their first 28 conference matchups.  They have already broken the single-season win record with 19 wins, they set the record for most road wins with 15. The other records broken include most RMAC wins in a season, and most runs in a game with 21 against Regis
•    Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn enters her second season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets, she has a record of 34-49 with BHSU and a career 54-98 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 seventh in the RMAC and first on the team with a .421 batting average, while also ranking third in the conference and 31st in the country with 39 RBIs. She also ranks sixth in the RMAC in RBIs per game (1.08), and third in total bases (90). She ranks 44th and 24th in the country in each respective stat. She is also fourth in the RMAC and 41st in the country in home runs (9), and second in hits (51) 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). She is quickly approaching multiple other single season and career record. In the series versus CSM, she hit 6-14 (.428) with two RBIs and three doubles.
•    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 .417, which is ninth in the conference. She is third on the team in runs with 25, while leading the team in on base percentage with a .489 clip, which ranks seventh in the RMAC. She is currently second on the team and seventh in the conference in RBIs with 35, which leads all Freshman, while being second on the team and ninth in the conference in RBIs per game with a 0.97 clip. She is also leading the RMAC in hit by pitches with nine and is 19th in the country in runners caught stealing with seven. Hernandez played hero in the Mines series when she hit the game-winning home run in the sixth inning of game three to give BHSU a 8-7 win. She hit 8-16 (.500) with four RBIs, three runs scored, three doubles, a home run, an .875 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage. She had her third 4-for-4 game of the season in game three versus the Orediggers.
•    Tyler Whitlock has jumped up to third in batting average with a .370 clip. She leads the team in runs with 35, which is fourth in the RMAC. She has a perfect stolen base percentage going 16-16 on stolen bases this year. She is second in the RMAC with 16 steals and is also second in steals per game (.44). She leads the RMAC in doubles with 13 and is third triples with four. She is officially the new BHSU program leader in runs scored in a career with 88 and she is also approaching a few other single season and career records. She went 5-15 (.333) in the series versus Mines. Whitlock had two RBIs, four runs scored, two doubles, a walk, and two stolen bases. 
•    Alyssa Wong has had a great start to the season. The former All-RMAC Honorable Mention has a .312 batting average, is second on the team in on-base percentage with .465 and has 20 walks and 15 RBIs. She is fifth in the RMAC with .63 walks per game. She is coming off a series versus Colorado School of Mines, where she only had four at bats and had one hit and one run scored. 
•    Sophomore Pitcher Laci Peskey has been one of the best pitchers in the country this season. She is currently fourth in NCAA D2 in strikeouts with 158 and is ranked 12th in victories (13), ninth in complete games with 16, sixth in innings pitched (132.0), 29th in games started (18), 31st in strikeouts per seven innings pitched (8.4), 25th in pitching appearances (24), and 33rd in strikeout/walk ratio (4.94). She is also third in the RMAC in WHIP (1.13) and is fourth in ERA (2.49). 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 is already a three-time pitcher of the week this season (2-3-2025, 2-18-2025, 3-4-2025). On the offensive side of the ball, she has been dominant since becoming a daily hitter recently. Peskey is hitting .400 with 11 RBIs, two home runs, four doubles, nine runs scored, and five walks. She has a 1.162 OPS with a .686 slugging and a .476 on-base percentage. She is coming off a series versus Colorado School of Mines where she went 1-1 with three appearances and allowed 11 earned runs in 14.2 innings, while striking out 22. On the offensive side of the ball, she went 7-14 (.500) with four RBIs, two runs scored with a home run and a double. 

COLORADO CHRISTIAN STORYLINES
•    Colorado Christian enters this series having the best record in the RMAC at 24-4. They are coming off a series split versus MSU Denver, who swept BHSU earlier this season. They won every other game versus MSUD and have only lost two other RMAC games this season. Winning 22 of their first 24 RMAC games. 
•    The Cougars only allowed 14 runs to the potent MSU Denver offense in the four game series, while scoring 21. They did have two games, where they only scored two and one runs each, both were against the MSU Denver ace. Christian has seemed to have struggled this season versus good pitching, only scoring nine runs in the first three games versus Chadron. 
•    Christian is ranked top 30 in the country in a lot of categories as well. They are ranked fifth in hits (373), tenth in RBIs (234), 13th in fielding percentage (.973), 14th in total runs (246), 16th in batting average (.341), 16th in hit by pitch (33), 16th in RBIs per game (6.16), 16th in sacrifice flies (16), 18th in WHIP (1.14), 20th in triples (14), 21st in shutouts (8), 23rd in scoring (6.47), 23rd in win/loss percentage (.737), and 24th in ERA (2.28). 
•    Head coach Larry Hays is in his seventh season as head coach of the Cougars and is in his eighth-year total as a head coach. He spent one season as the head coach of Lubbock Christian before moving over. He has a career 323-78 record and has a 269-72 record as coach of Christian. Before he moved to softball, he spent 22 years as the Head Coach of Texas Tech in baseball and won over 1500 games. He was inducted into the NCAA Baseball Hall of Fame. He has been named RMAC Coach of the Year twice, won three RMAC titles, and has made it to NCAA Regionals three times. He won an NAIA National Championship at Lubbock in 2010. He is one of only four baseball coaches to compile 1500 career wins. 
•    Leah Garcia, who was named Second Team All-RMAC last season, leads the team with a .397 batting average and has 31 RBIs, 37 runs scored, which is second in the RMAC, eight doubles, two triples, and four homers in 52 hits, which is 35th in the country. She leads the team with a .580 slugging percentage and is one of two people with a 1.000 OPS or higher (1.000). She is coming off a series versus MSUD where she went 7-10 (.700) with three runs, a triple, and two RBIs.
•    Senior Catcher Rachel Williams has also played in all 28 games and is the second player to have over a 1.000 OPS. She is second on the team in batting average (.374), slugging percentage (.522), RBIs (32), runs scored (32), and leads the team in walks (25), and on-base percentage (.479). During the series versus the Roadrunners, she went 5-10 (.500) with three runs scored and three RBIs.
•    The reigning RMAC Freshman of the Year, Elyse McMullin, is the two-way star for the Cougars. She is hitting .355 with a .504 slugging percentage while having 52 hits which ranks fourth in the RMAC, ten doubles, three home runs, and a team-leading 36 RBIs. She also has a 2.78 ERA with a 10-5 record in the circle and has 46 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched. Her 1.22 WHIP ranks fifth in the RMAC. She took both losses in the series versus MSU Denver going seven innings, with 13 hits and seven earned runs allowed in her two starts. On the offensive side, she went 7-14 (.500), and had two doubles, a home run, four runs scored, and four RBIs, including a three RBI game in game two. 
•    Cheyenne Stark is the other top hitter for Colorado Christian. She has a .340 batting average and a .910 OPS. She had a .505 slugging percentage and a .405 on-base percentage. She has 28 runs scored, 35 hits, and 15 RBIs with three home runs. She leads the RMAC with ten hit by pitches. Versus MSUD, she went 4-11 with two runs scored, a double, and one RBI.
•    Emma Duncan is the ace of the pitching staff for Colorado Christian. She is second in the RMAC with a 1.78 ERA and leads the RMAC with a 1.10 WHIP. She is also second in the RMAC with 11 wins and an 11-2 record only behind Laci Peskey. In 90.1 innings, she has five complete games, 58 strikeouts, and a shutout. In her first game versus MSU Denver, she went 6 innings, only allowed four hits and had two earned runs in the win. However, in her second start, she was pulled after just 1.2 innings after giving up five earned runs, Christian was still able to come back and win, but Duncan did not get credited for the win. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    BHSU is 3-37 against the Cougars in their career series, and the Yellow Jackets have lost the last 26 games in a row in the matchup. Their last win came in 2015 in a 7-2 victory. Christian has won 34 of the last 35 matchups.
•     Last year, BHSU went 0-4 getting run ruled twice in games two and three and only putting up 12 runs in the four games, but giving up 38.