CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball program will head to Dickinson, N.D. to take on Dickinson State University Sat., Feb. 5 and Sun., Feb. 6 at Astoria Field at South Side Ball Park. The game will be played at 12 and 2:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 5 and 12 and 2:30 p.m., Sun., Feb. 6.

The Golden Eagles enter the weekend with a 0-4 mark, despite playing Missouri University of Science Technology tough in Rolla, Mo., last weekend. The Golden Eagles had a 7-6 lead in the ninth inning over the Miners in game two of the series and were down just 3-1 in the eighth inning of game four. Missouri S&T is currently 8-0 on the season.

Minnesota Crookston is hitting .274 as a team coming into Saturday. The Golden Eagles have been led at the plate by Ethan Mushitz (So., IF, East Grand Forks, Minn.), who is hitting .429 with four runs scored and two RBI's. Reed Hjelle (Fr., 1B/OF, East Grand Forks, Minn.) had a strong collegiate debut last weekend, hitting .385, including a three-run home run. Ryan Haggstrom (Sr., 1B/RHP, Apple Valley, Minn.) comes into Saturday hitting .357 with five runs scored and four RBI's,  He hit his first career home run last weekend.

On the mount, UMC was led by Jarad Nelson (Sr., RHP, Karlstad, Minn.), who is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA, giving up just two earned runs in his first start, which lasted six innings. In addition, the Golden Eagles got strong performances on the bump from Luke Thoma (Sr., RHP, Little Falls, Minn.), who gave up one earned run in two innings on one hit, and Trevor Buttermore (Sr., RHP, North St. Paul, Minn.), who went 5.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits. Thoma held batters to a .1657 batting average in his appearance out of the bullpen.

Dickinson State is 5-5 on the season after playing 10 games during the Fall. NAIA teams can play a split-schedule, with games in the Fall and Spring. The Blue Hawks have yet to hit the ball field for the Spring. Saturday will be their opener. Dickinson State has been led at the plate by Sagan Osborne, who is hitting .476 with four runs scored and seven RBI's. In addition to Osborne, Matt Smith comes in batting .289 with eight runs scored, one home run and seven RBI's. The Blue Hawks are hitting just .244 as a team.

Dickinson State comes in with a 4.45 team ERA. The Blue Hawks have been led by Josh Schuller, who has a 3.81 ERA with a 2-2 mark in 28.1 innings pitched with a team-leading 27 strikeouts. Travis Rowe is 1-2 with a 4.11 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched.

UMC played the Blue Hawks last season in a five-game series played in Miles City, Mont. UMC took two games in the series.