Yellow Jackets Stay Home To Face Roadrunners In Top RMAC Battle

The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (16-15 (13-7 RMAC)) are coming off a massive series win over the Regis Rangers as BHSU was able to take the last three games of the series to keep their three-series win streak alive. The Yellow Jackets got incredible pitching performances in their last three games and will need them again, as they stay at home to face the MSU Denver Roadrunners (23-7 (16-4 RMAC)). BHSU will look to finally get over the hump versus MSUD and take their fourth straight series win.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Date/Time/Location (All Times MT): Saturday, March 28 at 12 and 2 PM at Yellow Jacket Field in Spearfish, S.D.
Sunday, March 29 at 11 AM and 1 PM at Yellow Jacket Field in Spearfish, S.D.

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.

Linear TV: Due to connectivity issues for the time being, softball games will not be on linear TV

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 16-15 and 13-7 in RMAC play after pulling off a 3-1 series victory over the Regis Rangers where BHSU gave up seven earned runs in game one and then didn’t give up an earned run the rest of the way, outscoring Regis 15-5 in the final three games of the series as Kaitlyn Geschwill and Sophia Honse posted 0.00 ERA’s in the final three games. The Yellow Jackets have now won three straight series after sweeping the Chadron State Eagles and winning three out of four versus New Mexico Highlands two weeks ago. The Yellow Jackets will now host MSU Denver for the first time since 2022.
• Outside of BHSU’s Oklahoma trip, five of the Green and Gold’s nine other losses have come by less than two runs including both of the losses to Adams State. Eight of BHSU’s wins have also come by that same margin.
• The Yellow Jackets are currently top 50 in the country in 13 different stats. They are 20th in doubles (54), 31st in hit by pitches (21), 33rd in home runs (24), 34 in doubles per game (1.74), 34th in RBIs (169), 35th in walks (103), 39th in hits (261), 42nd in total runs (178), 46th in team strikeouts per seven innings (5.63), 46th in RBIs per game (5.45), 48th in on-base percentage (0.401), 49th in home runs per game (0.77), and 50th in slugging percentage (.481).
• 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 fifth at 13-7.
• 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.
• Sophia Honse was finally able to make her mark in a big way this past weekend 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 at a team-low 2.57 ERA with a 1.59 WHIP. Honse has allowed only 12 earned runs in 32.2 innings pitched while striking out 22 and walking 21 with seven of those walks coming in her first two appearances. Honse currently sits fourth in the RMAC in ERA (2.57), and fifth in hits allowed per seven innings (6.32). Since those rough first two starts, she has only had one game where she’s allowed an earned run. Outside of those three games allowing earned runs, Honse has pitched 28 innings with no earned runs and 18 strikeouts. This past weekend, she pitched 14 innings, went 2-0, didn’t give up an earned run, and struck out eight while only walking three batters.
• 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 4.35 ERA in 74.0 innings and has appeared in 21 of the 31 games this season. She has 78 strikeouts, which ranks second in the RMAC compared to only 46 earned runs. She has only allowed 22 extra base hits. Besides strikeouts, she leads the conference in strikeouts per seven innings (7.3) and is second in pitching appearances (21). 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.
• Brooklyn Theiler has been on absolute fire as of late. The freshman of Buckeye, Arizona has started each of the last 13 games. She leads the entire team in batting average sitting at a .444 clip, while having a .533 slugging percentage, a .500 on-base percentage and recording 20 hits, 18 runs, 11 RBIs, two doubles, a triple, and six stolen bases. 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.
• Desi Hernandez is coming off an excellent freshman season where she was named All-RMAC honorable mention. Hernandez is hitting in a tie for second on the team with a .375 with 21 RBIs, five doubles, a triple, four home runs, 12 runs scored, and 49 total bases. She has a .613 slugging percentage and a .420 on-base percentage. On the fielding side, she has eight caught stealing, which is second in the RMAC and 20th 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 19 of 23 games this year and has reached base in 21 of 23 games. 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 Cowgilrs 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 3-8 this weekend with a triple and two RBIs in game two.
• Sammie Kaufman-Warner, a freshman, is absolutely dominating for BHSU and is continuing to make a big impact early. She has a .356 batting average, a .613 slugging percentage, a .420 on-base percentage, and has 36 hits, 30 RBIs, and 23 runs scored, eight stolen bases with ten doubles and six home runs. This includes a walk-off inside-the-park home run versus Adams in game three. She ranks third in the RMAC in doubles (10), fifth in doubles per game (0.33), fifth in home runs (6), sixth in RBIs (30), sixth in RBIs per game (1.00), eighth in home runs per game (0.20). She has a run in 19 of 31 games, a hit in 22 of 31, an RBI in 19 of 31, and has reached base in 24 of 31. She earned her first RMAC Player of the Week nod two weekends ago for going off in Broomfield 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.
• 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 .351 with an insane OPS of 1.120 with a .628 slugging percentage and a .492 on-base percentage. She has 33 hits and 32 runs in 31 games with 20 walks, 17 RBIs, five home runs, two triples, and seven doubles. She is fifth in walks per game (0.63), fifth in runs per game (1.07), seventh in runs (32), fifth in home runs (5), 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. This past weekend, she had three hits with two RBIs, two doubles, and two runs scored.
• Caylee Mann was the top player for BHSU early and was another transfer who made an immediate impact. She has a .311 batting average with an .833 OPS, a .467 slugging percentage, and has 17 RBIs with ten runs scored, eight doubles and two 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.
• Alyssa Wong was named to All-RMAC Gold Glove team and started this year with a .307 batting average, .488 on-base percentage with 18 walks, 18 hits, three doubles, five RBIs and 11 runs scored. She sits at third in the RMAC in walks per game (.68). She has reached base in all but five 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.
• Freshman Jessica Melendez is having a great freshman season with a .297 batting average with 22 runs scored, 14 RBIs, a triple, and six doubles. She saw her seven game hit streak end on Sunday versus Pueblo, but she had a really strong Adams State series where she hit .429 with a .500 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage. She had four runs scored and two RBIs. In game two, she went 3-for-4 with a run scored and then had two RBIs in game three. She had two hits and two runs versus CSUP. In game two versus Highlands, she went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, and three runs scored. The four hits was a career-high for her. Melendez had six RBIs in the series versus CSC with four runs scored and two doubles. She had her first triple versus Regis and is now sitting on an eight-game runs scored streak.
• 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 78-127, a BHSU record of 58-78, and a RMAC record of 52-58. 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.

MSU DENVER STORYLINES

• MSU Denver is currently sitting at 23-7 and 16-4 in the RMAC after taking a shocking three from Chadron State. Them losing a game versus Chadron was quite an upset as the Eagles took down the Roadrunners in game one won 3-0 in eight innings. It was their first home loss of the season. The Roadrunners only other conference losses up to that point was at Colorado Mesa in the opening weekend when Mesa took three out of four from them.
• The Roadrunners are 5-3 on the road in conference games and are 6-6 away from Assembly Athletic Complex this season. The Roadrunners opened up their season in Mansfield, Texas, were they played a four game tournament and went 1-3 losing in rough fashion to Southern Arkansas, Missouri Western State, and Lewis with their only win coming over Southern Nazarene. Also in non-conference, they won three home double-headers versus Montana State Billings, Colorado School of Mines, and Nebraska Kearney.
• MSU Denver has actually had some battles as of late. They have not won a game by run-rule since taking three out of four versus Adams by those margins. They only outscored Chadron 14-11 in their four-game series with Chadron only losing by two and one in games two and three. Each of their last six conference games have had margins of three runs or less.
• MSUD has nine players with batting averages in the .300s or higher and has two pitchers with less than a 4.00 ERA with all four of their pitchers having ERA’s less than five.
• MSUD is ranked top 30 in seven stats. They are 15th in batting average (.345), 18th in on-base percentage (.427), 19th in hits (282), 23rd in slugging percentage (.514), 24th in walks (109), 27th in fielding percentage (.972), and 30th in double plays (12).
• MSUD was projected 3rd in the RMAC Preseason Poll with 102 points with two first place votes, two second place votes, and five third place voles. They were seven points behind Mesa for second place before there was a gap between them and fourth place. Currently, they are sitting in a tie for second with Mesa, who holds the season series at 26-4 in RMAC play.
• Cheyenne Prieto has been one of the best players in the entire country and a constant top player in the RMAC turning in an unbelievable .544 batting average with an .861 slugging percentage, a .621 on-base percentage, a 1.482 OPS, with 43 hits, 31 RBIs, eight doubles, five home runs, and 16 walks with 21 runs scored. She has been an almost impossible out all year. Prieto is fourth in the nation in batting average (.544), fourth in on-base percentage (.621), 22nd in slugging percentage (.861), while also being ranked third in the RMAC in RBIs per game (1.11), fifth in RBIs (31), fifth in hits (43), fifth in total bases (68), and seventh in walks per game (0.57). Prieto saw her 23-game on-base streak end at the hands of CSC’s Brynn Trujillo who held her off base for the first time all season in game one of the series. It was also her first start of the season without a hit and only her third game without a hit all year. She followed that up by going 3-for-4 in game two and then hitting a two-run homer in game three, with four RBIs total on the weekend going 5-for-12.
• Neila Lucero is having a great freshman season out of Brighton, Colo. Lucero is hitting an impressive .397 with a .932 OPS. She has 27 hits, 14 runs scored six doubles, and 15 RBIs in 26 games played and 68 at bats. Lucero also has a .485 slugging percentage and a .447 on-base percentage. She had a solid non-conference doubleheader versus Kearney where she went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, two doubles, and an RBI in the first game. Against Chadron last weekend, she went 6-12 (.500) with two runs scored and two RBIs.
• Victoria Pearson is also having an insane freshman season. The Broomfield, Colo. Native is hitting .396 with a 1.015 OPS with 31 runs scored, 15 RBIs, seven doubles, two triples, a home run, and 18 stolen bases in 30 games played. Pearson is fourth in the RMAC in stolen bases (18), Stolen base percentage (.857), fifth in stolen bases per game (.60), sixth in runs per game (1.03), eighth in total runs (31), and eighth in hits (38). She began the season on a ten-game hit streak and a 12-game on-base streak really dominating early in the season. After a rough series versus Mesa, she responded by going on a nine-game on-base streak and a seven-game hit streak, before she had another rough series versus Chadron. Pearson went 2-for-11 (.182) with one run scored, no RBIs, no extra base hits in the series.
• Brooklyn Enny is the other great hitter in this Roadrunner lineup. She is hitting .351 with a 1.142 OPS, a .702 slugging, with 22 runs scored, 32 RBIs, six doubles, nine home runs, and 14 walks. Enny has been an absolute power bat for MSUD this year and is leading the conference and is 22nd in the country in home runs (9), she is 36th in home runs per game (0.30), 51s in RBIs (32), fourth in the RMAC in RBIs per game (1.07), sixth in slugging percentage (0.702), and sixth in total bases (66). Seven of her home runs have come in an eight game stretch from March 1 to Match 13. She got her ninth last weekend in what was her only hit of the series versus Chadron in game two. She went 1-for-11 (.091) with that one hit.
• The top pitcher for MSU Denver is last year’s Second Team All-RMAC Natalie Romero. She put together an insane season with a 1.98 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, however, she is not having as good of season this year, but is still having a great year with a 9-4 record, a 3.30 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP and 36 earned runs in 76 innings pitched. However, she has also given up 32 walks and 16 extra base hits. She was named RMAC Pitcher of the Week for her performance against CSM, where she went 15 innings pitched in three appearances giving up only three earned runs and striking out seven. She is fourth in the RMAC in games started (13), fourth in shutouts (2), fifth in innings pitched (76.1), sixth in complete game (6), and seventh in WHIP (1.38). Besides two shutouts earlier this season, Romero as been vulnerable to some runs giving up runs in all but those two games. She had a rough series versus Chadron, where she took a loss in game one after pitching seven scoreless innings before giving up three in the eighth with seven hits allowed. She then gave up five earned runs in five innings pitched versus Chadron in game three in a game MSUD won 6-5. She walked four batters and gave up six hits.
• Kianna Butler also deserves a lot of praise for this rotation’s success. She has a 3.62 ERA in 65.2 innings pitched while striking out 55 giving up 34 earned runs and only walking 25 in a 7-1 season so far. Butler is ranked ninth in the conference in WHIP (1.45). She had a great start to the season only giving up four earned runs in her first five starts before having a blowup outing versus Fort Lewis. She then had an ugly series versus Mesa and CSM, but had a pretty good series versus Chadron going 13.1 innings pitched with 13 hits allowed and only three earned runs allowed including a seven-inning shutout in game four. She also struck out nine and only walked two.
• Head Coach Annie Van Wetzinga is in her 13th season at MSU Denver and her 19th season overall. Van Wetzinga has a 597-381 (.610) record overall and a 439-226 (.660) record at MSU Denver. The Roadrunners NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025 was the fourth of her career and first since 2016. She is a 1x RMAC Coach of the Year (2015), 2x RMAC Tournament champion (2014,2016), and a 1x RMAC regular season champion (2015). She has recorded 30 win season in every year besides the shortened Covid-season and 2020-2021. She is coming off back-to-back 40 win season which were only the second and third of her career.

SERIES HISTORY

• MSUD is currently leading the series 40-4 and have won 15 straight games versus the Yellow Jackets dating back to 2022 where BHSU also got their last win in game two of that series in 2022.
• Last season, MSU Denver was the only team BHSU was unable to win against all season as the Roadrunners beat BHSU all five times they faced including in BHSU’s first ever RMAC Tournament game where MSUD won 8-2. Overall BHSU lost to the Roardrunners by a combined sore of 45-18 last year with two run-rules.