SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (22-25 (19-17 RMAC)) are continuing their stretch of crucial RMAC series as we are nearing the end of the season. This weekend is was the final home weekend for the Yellow Jackets, but will now be a neutral site series in Fort Collins. The Green and Gold are sitting right on the bubble of RMAC Tournament play needing a good series here. BHSU will host the Fort Lewis Skyhawks (11-35 (10-26 RMAC)) in what will be senior weekend for BHSU. The Yellow Jackets will look to get their first series win in three weeks this weekend.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Date/Time/Location (All Times MT): Friday, April 24 at 12 and 2 PM at TC Colorado Field at the Triple Crown Sports Complex in Fort Collins, Colo.
Saturday, April 25 at 11 AM and 1 PM at Yellow Jacket Field in Spearfish, S.D TC Colorado Field at the Triple Crown Sports Complex in Fort Collins, Colo.
Live Streaming: Beginning in the 2025-26 season the RMAC Network will now move to Pay-Per-View. Fans can purchase a single game pass ($10), monthly ($25) or annual subscription ($130). Individuals with bhsu.edu or yellowjackets.bhsu.edu email address can still take advantage of the Peak Pricing Promotion by using the code Y26-RMACEDU.
StatBroadcast: Live Stat links for all games can all be found at the links above
 
BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES

• Black Hills State currently sits at 22-25 and 19-17 in RMAC play after splitting the regular season series with UCCS for the second year in a row. The Yellow Jackets took the first two games from the Mountain Lions, but ended up splitting the series 2-2 after falling in close games in both of the final two games of the series. The Yellow Jackets have now split or won six of the nine series this year with the wins coming versus Chadron, Regis, New Mexico Highlands, and MSU Denver.
• The Yellow Jackets were pretty even with the Mountain Lions over the course of the series. BHSU outscored them 17-15 and outhit them 30-29. BHSU also had six homers to UCCS's five. The Yellow Jackets were able to score seven runs in both games one and two, with BHSU going wire-to-wire in game one. In game two, BHSU came back from a 5-1 deficit in the sixth inning to score six runs in the final two innings and take the win. The Yellow Jackets looked like they were going to win three in a row on Sunday being up 5-0 in the fifth inning, but a grand slam in the fifth and back-to-back home runs in the seventh gave UCCS the comeback victory. Game four was a true pitcher's duel with the game being 1-1 for a majority before UCCS took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. They added another run in the sixth and BHSU got a solo home run in the seventh, but couldn't add another as they lost 3-2.
• Outside of BHSU's Oklahoma trip, ten of the Green and Gold's 19 other losses have come by less than two runs including both of the losses to UCCS and the only loss to MSU Denver. 12 of BHSU's wins have also come by that same margin including all three wins versus MSU Denver.
• The Yellow Jackets are currently top 30 in the country in four different stats. They are 11^th in hit by pitches (42), 22^nd in home runs (41), 24^th in walks (158), and 27^th in doubles (78). The Yellow Jackets just set the program record for home runs in the season with Delaney Milanowski's three-run homer in the sixth inning of game two versus UCCS.
• The team took BHSU to their first ever RMAC tournament last season after leading BHSU to a 27-27 (25-19 RMAC) record, which finished sixth in the conference. They had five All-RMAC players, one RMAC Pitcher of the Year, and one All-Region player last year.
• Last year, the Yellow Jackets set 20 separate team records. They were single-season doubles (102), single-season triples (12), single-season walks (177), single-season wins (27), single-season road wins (20), single season RMAC wins (25), single-season hits (468), single-season RBIs (272), single-season runs (290), single-season total bases (699), single-season at-bats (1487), single-season games played (52), single-season pitcher strikeouts (295), single-season sacrifice flies (20), single-season sacrifice bunts (43), single-season hit by pitches (39), single-season batting average (.315), single-season on-base percentage (.397), and single-season slugging percentage (.470).
• BHSU landed at seventh in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 64 points. It is the highest ranking BHSU has received in a preseason coaches' poll in their RMAC history. They are currently in a tie for sixth at 19-17.
• The Yellow Jackets won two games this series via walk-off with seniors hitting both walk-offs. Audrey Fouras hit a walk-off double in game one and Lily Simmons hit a walk-off single in game four. This brings BHSU's total walk-offs to five this season with Reyes Mims having two in back-to-back games versus Highlands and Sammie Kaufman-Warner having a walk-off inside-the-park home run versus Adams State.
• BHSU's series victory over MSU Denver stopped a lot of long streaks versus the Roadrunners. It snapped a 15-game losing streak, it was the first time in program history BHSU had won back-to-back games versus MSUD, and it was also the first series win versus MSUD in program history. Not only that, but the three wins got BHSU to 9-3 at Yellow Jacket Field which tied the program record for home wins in a season.
• BHSU broke the D2 era record for home runs in a series with 11 against Chadron, which broke a record that had held since 2018 versus Highlands when they had ten. BHSU also set the single series record for runs scored in a series with 49 beating the previous record of 45 from that Adams Series last year. BHSU had seven different players with batting averages over .400 and five with batting averages over .500. Seven different girls hit a home run and four girls had two.
• The three wins in the first weekend at the Bubble was the most wins in the first weekend in the D2 era. It is also the second time BHSU has entered the second weekend at .500.
• Kaitlyn Geschwill, a newcomer for the Yellow Jackets, made probably the biggest impact a newcomer can make in her first weekend with her new team: she won RMAC Pitcher of the Week. She has a 5.08 ERA in 121.1 innings and has appeared in 30 games this season. She has 111 strikeouts, which ranks first in the RMAC and sixth in BHSU program history, compared to only 88 earned runs and sits second in team history in single season wins with 12 compared to ten losses. She is only the ninth pitcher in BHSU history to reach 100 strikeouts in a season. She has only allowed 48 extra base hits. Besides strikeouts, she is second in the conference in strikeouts per seven innings (6.4), is second in pitching appearances (30), and is third in innings pitched (121.1). The Central Lakes College transfer had a huge weekend out of the bullpen for BHSU in her RMAC POTW weekend. She pitched in five of the six games, threw 15 innings with a 2-1 record, only allowing two earned runs and seven hits on a .93 ERA and 22 strikeouts. She bounced back after a rough outing in Oklahoma, where she had a 3.15 ERA, 17 strikeouts and only six earned runs in 13.1 innings, including a complete game shutout in game four versus Adams. She then dominated in her home debut versus NMHU pitching two complete games and winning both in pitcher's duels only allowing four earned runs in those two games and in game two she went seven innings with only three hits allowed and one earned run in the 2-1 win. After an ugly game one, Kaitlyn Geschwill bounced back in a big way in game three of the series where she went 7 innings pitched with zero earned runs, only one walk and four strikeouts. She got two wins versus MSU Denver in games one and four. Against Mines, she went 1-1, but had 10 strikeouts in her one loss. In game three, she pitched four innings, gave up three earned runs, and took the win. In game one versus UCCS, she had a complete game with only four hits and three earned runs allowed.
• Sophia Honse was finally able to make her mark in a big way in the series versus Regis. After only making one start and pitching 18.2 innings, she earned RMAC Pitcher of the Week for her performance versus the Rangers. She now sits second on the team with a  5.10 ERA and a 2.02 WHIP. Honse has allowed only 44 earned runs in 60.1 innings pitched while striking out 29 and walking 33 with seven of those walks coming in her first two appearances. Since those rough first two starts, she had only had three games where she's allowed an earned run before the last two series. Against Regis when she won RMAC Pitcher of the Week, she pitched 14 innings, went 2-0, didn't give up an earned run, and struck out eight while only walking three batters. Honse received the loss in game four versus UCCS, but pitched a complete game, only giving up three earned runs in that start.
• Brooklyn Theiler has been on absolute fire as of late. The freshman of Buckeye, Arizona has started 24 of the last 47 games. She leads the entire team in batting average sitting at a .379 clip, while having a .448 slugging percentage, a .471 on-base percentage and recording 22 hits, 23 runs, 11 RBIs, two doubles, a triple, and eight stolen bases. She lost a nine-game hit streak in game one of the series, but still is riding a 13-game on-base streak. Theiler had a major weekend versus New Mexico Highlands in her first full series of the year, where she hit .583 with five RBIs and three runs scored. She then continued that momentum this past weekend versus Chadron, where she had a .600 batting average with four RBIs, five runs scored, and a .600 slugging percentage. She had a pretty solid weekend versus Regis going 5-11 (.455) with three runs scored, a double, and an RBI. Against MSUD, she went 2-for-3 with a run scored in game three of the series.
• Carly Reyes Mims is also coming off a major freshman season and was also named All-RMAC Honorable Mention last season. She is in the record book once for being tied for fifth in single-season doubles (11). Reyes Mims started the season off very hot. She is hitting .366 with an insane OPS of 1.074 with a .585 slugging percentage and a .489 on-base percentage. She has 52 hits and 41 runs in 45 games with 24 walks, 23 RBIs, six home runs, two triples, and nine doubles. She is third in hit by pitches (10), and sixth in on-base percentage (.484). She has a hit in 35 out of 45 games and has made it on base in 40 out of 45. In Edmond, she went 3-3 versus Oklahoma Baptist and 1-3 versus Central Oklahoma. In game one versus Adams, she went 1-for-2 with two runs scored. She had four hits and three runs scored in Pueblo with a hit in each of the last three games. She just had the best weekend of her career last year by going 6-for-14 (.429) with six RBIs, five runs, two doubles, a triple, and two home runs with a 1.143 OPS slugging percentage and a .556 on-base percentage. She had two walk-offs in games one and two, including a two-run walk-off home run in game one. She had another huge weekend in Chadron with a 2.286 OPS, a .625 batting average, a 1.500 slugging percentage, and a .786 OPS with five hits, one double, two home runs, four RBIs, and five walks. Against MSUD, she had a .750 on-base percentage with six runs scored. She went 7-for-16 with four RBIs, a three-run home runs, a double, and three runs scored versus the Mountain Lions.
• Sammie Kaufman-Warner, a freshman, is absolutely dominating for BHSU and is continuing to make a big impact early. She has a .358 batting average, a .570 slugging percentage, a .419 on-base percentage, and has 54 hits, 38 RBIs, and 32 runs scored, 12 stolen bases with 14 doubles and six home runs. This includes a walk-off inside-the-park home run versus Adams in game three. She has a hit in 36 of 47, including 26 of the last 30 an RBI iand has reached base in 37 of 47. She earned her first RMAC Player of the Week nod earlier this year in Broomfield, Colorado against Adams State with a .636 batting average, a 1.071 slugging percentage, nine RBIs, five runs scored, three doubles, and a walk-off, inside the park home run. After a couple of slow weeks, Kaufman-Warner made a massive impact in last weekend's series where she hit .467 with seven hits, seven RBIs, seven runs scored, and two home runs. She had a dominant week versus Regis going  6-11 (.545) with four doubles, a home run, three runs scored, but only two RBIs. She hit .400 in this past weekend series versus MSUD with five RBIs and five runs scored. She had a 2-for-4 game in game three and also had a double and a run scored in game two against CCU. She had a great weekend versus UCCS, where she went 6-12 (.500) with two RBIs, two doubles, and a run scored.
• Desi Hernandez is coming off an excellent freshman season where she was named All-RMAC honorable mention. Hernandez is hitting second on the team with a .328 average with 34 RBIs, nine doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 18 runs scored, and 76 total bases. She has a .594 slugging percentage and a .401 on-base percentage. On the fielding side, she has 13 caught stealing, which leads the RMAC and is 11^th in the country. She had a career-high four hits three going 4-4 in both games against New Mexico Highlands and Colorado School of Mines while going 4-5 in BHSU's game two versus NMHU this year. She has hit 30 of 38 games this year and has reached base in 34 of 38 games including a six-game hitting streak at this point. In Edmond, Hernandez had five hits and went 2-for-4 against Cameron. She made her way back to the lineup in Pueblo and went 4-for-9 (.444) with a double and an RBI. She had a dominant performance versus the Cowgirls going 6-for-14 (.429) with five RBIs, five runs, two doubles, and a two-run home run in game two. She had a massive weekend versus Chadron, where she went 5-for-12 (.417), with a .917 slugging percentage, two home runs, seven RBIs, and four runs scored. She went 3-for-5 on day one versus MSUD with five RBIs, a home run, a triple, and two runs scored. She went 2-for-2 with two doubles and three RBIs in game three of the series, while adding another RBI double in game four. She had a massive series versus CCU, where 5-11 (.455) with three runs scored, two home runs in each of the first two games and three RBIs with one runner caught stealing.
• Alyssa Wong was named to All-RMAC Gold Glove team and started this year with a .288 batting average, .456 on-base percentage with 24 walks, 30 hits, five doubles, a triple, nine RBIs and 23 runs scored. She has reached base in all but seven games and against Pueblo, she went 3-for-8 with four walks and four runs scored. She had two runs scored in Pueblo. This past weekend versus Regis, Wong went 6-for-8 (.750) with two walks, an RBI, and a stolen base. Against MSUD, she had three walks an RBI and a triple. In game three versus Christian, she went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. She had three hits with four runs scored, two doubles, and an RBI versus UCCS.
• Caylee Mann was the top player for BHSU early and was another transfer who made an immediate impact. She has a .286 batting average with an .821 OPS, a .471 slugging percentage, and has 30 RBIs with 15 runs scored, 11 doubles and five home runs. She had an RBI in five of the six games in the Bubble and she has two games with three RBIs while having three hits in both of those games. She had two RBIs in Broomfield and in game two, she went 2-4 with an RBI. In game one versus CSUP, she went 2-for-3 with a home run. She had a massive weekend versus Highlands, where she went 7-for-13 (.538), with four doubles, two RBIs, and an .846 slugging percentage. Against Chadron, she hit .300 with four runs, two doubles, an RBI, and three walks. Mann had a massive Grand Slam versus MSUD in game four to help BHSU come back and win and finished with seven RBIs in the series. She was one of the few with a great series versus CSM, where she had a hit in all four games, an RBI in each of the last three games, and a double in game four. She had a home run in game one of the series versus Christian. She added her sixth home run in game four versus UCCS.
• Lily Simmons has been on a heater as of late. The senior from Frederick, Colorado has hit .286 this season and has an .805 OPS with a .437 slugging and a .368 on-base percentage. She has 34 hits with 25 RBIs, 27 runs scored, three doubles, and five home runs with 16 walks. The senior is in the record books already with being the BHSU program leader in walks with 82 and now just broke the games played record with 180 in this past series. She also is second in program history in runs scored with 96. She is third all-time in program history in at-bats (467). In single season records, she is the program record holder for walks in a season with 31 last year. Her 33 runs scored last season was tied for fifth in program history, and her 29 from the year prior is tied for tenth. She is also top ten in at bats from 2024 with 141. Simmons has a hit in 21 conference games this year and has four home runs in conference play this year. She had BHSU's first grand slam of the season against Chadron and was one of two players last week to have two home runs in the series versus CCU along with two RBIs and five hits.
• Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn is the first Jacket head coach to win Coach of the Year since Amy Gurney did it in the DAC in 2008. She is entering her third season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets and has a overall record of 84-133, a BHSU record of 64-84, and a RMAC record of 58-64. She led BHSU to first RMAC Tournament berth in program history in 2025 after being picked to finish ninth in preseason coaches poll. Helped the Green & Gold finish with their first winning record in program history since 2009. In her first two seasons as head coach, she has won nine RMAC series, with six being this year. In the previous 12 seasons, BHSU had won a total of eight RMAC series. She also helped BHSU break their program wins record, program road wins record, and program RMAC wins record, along with multiple other program statistical records.

 
FORT LEWIS STORYLINES

• Fort Lewis is coming into this series sitting at 11-35 and 10-26 in RMAC play. The Skyhawks are coming off their second series win of the season, where they just beat Chadron State 3-1 in last weekend's series. The Skyhawks started off the year with a massive bang upsetting #14 Cal State San Marcos 3-2 in eight innings. Outside of that win, they lost their first 19 of their first 20 games and after winning their first two games versus UCCS, they lost seven of the next eight before winning the series versus Adams and then lost both the CMU and NMHU series prior to last week.
• The Skyhawks pitchers absolutely dominated Chadron this past weekend. CSC only put up four runs all series, but FLC was unable to pull away despite these low scoring affairs. FLC only put up eight runs all weekend including a 1-0 win in game two, and two 3-1 wins in games one and three. Their sole loss was a 1-2 loss in the final game.
• Fort Lewis only has two batters that are hitting above a .300 batting average, but all seven qualified hitters are hitting above .200. As for their pitchers, they only have one under a 6.00 ERA and they have two pitchers who have over 100 innings pitched this year.
• Fort Lewis heavily relies on their defense to keep them in games. The Skyhawks are ranked 22^nd in the country in double plays (18), 34^th in double plays per game (.39), and are ranked 73^rd in fielding percentage (.965). They are also ranked 71^st in doubles (64).
• FLC was projected tenth in the RMAC Preseason Poll with 32 points. They ranked just ahead of Chadron State and just behind New Mexico Highlands in the preseason rankings. They currently sit in tenth place with a 10-26 record and are only two games back of Regis for ninth.
• Izzy Cueva has been the best hitter for the Skyhawks so far, she is hitting .313 with a  .717 OPS and a .384 slugging percentage. She has 31 hits, 10 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, 15 RBIs, and 38 total bases. She has two walks to 18 strikeouts. She has also pitched in eight games this year including one game in each of the past five series. She has an 8.14 ERA with 38 earned runs in 32.2 innings with 11 strikeouts and 19 extra base hits allowed. The freshman from Vacaville, California has a 13-game hitting streak and went 4-for-11 in her last series versus Chadron. On the pitching side, she pitched seven innings only allowing one earned run in her matchup versus the Eagles.
• Carmen Alexander has also been a top hitter for the Skyhawks. She leads the team in RBIs with 32, home runs with seven, and also has six doubles, 30 hits, 14 runs scored, and 11 walks to 31 strikeouts. She has a team leading .837 OPS with a .268 batting average, a .509 slugging percentage, and a .328 on-base percentage. Alexander's best game of the season came in game four versus Adams State, where she went 3-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBIs including a grand slam.
• Hailie Mann, a redshirt senior from Tuscon, Arizona, has been the best pitcher for Fort Lewis this year. She has a 4.69 ERA with a 6-10 record and a 1.77 WHIP. She has appeared in 21 games and made 17 starts while pitching a team leading 118.0 innings. Mann has allowed 79 earned runs and 102 total runs while striking out 55 and walked 40 and has also allowed 42 extra base hits. After a really rough start in her second appearance versus Mesa, Mann held Chadron to one earned run in seven innings while striking out seven batters.
• Head coach Paige Rhodes is currently in her third season as head coach for the Skyhawks. She has a current head coaching record of 38-103 as the skipper for FLC. She had 17 wins in her first season as head coach, before winning 10 last year and currently sits at 11 this year.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• The Green and Gold is 10-38 all time versus the Skyhawks. Fort Lewis had won 17 straight games versus BHSU going into last season, and had never lost a series.
• Last season, BHSU defeated both of those streaks by taking three out of four from the Skyhawks in the penultimate series, which clinched the Yellow Jackets a spot in the RMAC Tournament for the first time in team history. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Skyhawks 26-5 in the first three games winning 8-0, 8-4, and 10-1 (5 innings), before falling in the season finale.