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THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to St. Cloud, Minn., for the Kelly Laas Memorial Invite at St. Cloud State University's Husky Dome Saturday and Sunday. The Beavers play two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes in Bemidji State and St. Cloud State and battle two former Dakota Athletic Conference teams Valley City State and Dickinson State. MISU plays BSU Saturday at 4 p.m., VCSU Saturday at 6 p.m., DiSU Sunday at Noon and SCSU Sunday at 2 p.m. The Beavers will play DiSU in exhibition play.

RECORDS: MISU is off to a 4-1 start overall and has not played an NSIC contest yet. BSU is 1-3 overall. VCSU and Dickinson open their seasons this weekend and SCSU is 4-5 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Bill Triplett is the head coach at Minot State University and has compiled a solid 158-69 record in six seasons, including three straight 30-plus win campaigns. Rick Supinski is in his second year with BSU and is 11-38 with the Beavers. He is 31-76 overall as a head coach. Chad Slyter is in his 10th season as VCSU head coach, going 196-187 overall. Kristen Fleury is DiSU's head coach and is 91-50 overall. SCSU's Paula U'Ren is just shy of 500 wins, sitting at 497-293 in her 14th season as head coach.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: MSU provides live video and live stats at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Minot State, Bemijdi State and St. Cloud State were not ranked in the latest NFCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll. VCSU and DiSU were not ranked in the preseason NAIA Coaches' Poll, but DiSU did receive votes.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State won four games in five starts at the Montana State-Billings Desert Stinger two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nev. Bemidji State ended a four-game season opener with a 9-4 win over MSU-Moorhead in nonconference play to salvage a split on the second day of its opening weekend. Both VCSU and DiSU are playing their first games of the season and SCSU defeated Washburn University 2-1 to finish with a split at the NSIC/MIAA Crossover.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Bemidji State started the season with 26 hits in its first four games, slugging .430… The Beavers pitching staff has struggled to a 5.25 ERA over the first four games, allowing 33 hits, while striking out just 16 batters… Nicole Dupay went 3 for 4 with three RBIs in the Beavers 9-4 win over MSU-Moorhead.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Valley City State's Hilary Kulczewski tied for the lead in RBIs last season for the Vikigns with 30… VCSU won 26 games last season, second highest in school history… Adrianna Boychuk was the team leader with a .381 batting average and scored 25 runs.

NOTING THE BLUE HAWKS: Dickinson State lost 3-2 to LSU Alexandria in the 2012 Association of Independent Institutions Softball Championships to end last season… Lindsey Sullivan led the team in batting average, finishing with a solid .407 and plating 51 runs… Janell LaRont smacked 17 doubles last season… Sophomore Regan Lawrence had a team-leading 3.08 ERA.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State took two games from MIAA teams in the NSIC/MIAA Crossover in Rochester, Minn., last week, defeating Northwest Missouri State and Washburn University. SCSU lost to Lindenwood and fellow NSIC team Minnesota State…. SCSU has scored over four runs just twice this season, once in a win and once in a loss… Kelly Franks pitched a complete game, five hitter to top Washburn 2-1. She had 10 strikeouts in the win… SCSU scored a season-high 11 runs in a win over Black Hills State at the Desert Stinger, scoring seven runs in the seventh inning.

NOTING THE KELLY LAAS MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT: The Husky Dome Classic is in its ninth year and is in its second year being named in honor of Kelly Laas. Lass, a former SCSU softball player, lost her battle with ovarian cancer at her home in Frankfort, Ill., in March 2011. The university renamed the annual Husky Dome Classic to the Kelly Laas Memorial Husky Dome Invite in her honor. A dollar from each admission ticket sold will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Fund – Minnesota Chapter.

MISU STRETCHES ITS LIVE COVERAGE: Minot State University, in conjunction with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live video feeds for all home contest and select away NSIC games and nonconference away games. Stretch Internet is an industry leader is live streaming video and offers live chat and On Demand replay video for select games. Log on to msubeavers.com/stayconnected for more information and to view live video. Minot State will provide live video at all home contests unless softball and baseball are playing simultaneous.

DIXON OFF AND RUNNING: Junior Jen Dixon (OF/P, Brandon, Manitoba) opened the 2013 season on fire, leading the team in nearly every offensive category. She is batting .529, collecting nine hits, nine runs, four doubles, two home runs and five runs batted in. She is more than double the next highest Beaver in slugging percentage with a gaudy 1.118 percentage. Dixon also swiped three bases. In the circle, Dixon is 1-0 with a 1.97 earned runs average in 10 2/3 innings pitched. She has appeared in three games, starting twice.

GREENBERG TOSSING ZEROS: Through 10 innings pitched at the Desert Stinger, MISU senior Mandy Greenberg (P, Winnipeg, Manitoba) has yet to give up a run. She surrendered just 10 hits as opponents hit just .250 off of her. She went 2-0 with a start and two relief appearances, striking out 17 batters of the 40 she faced in Las Vegas, Nev.

SWING AND A MISS: Minot State pitchers struck out 41 batters in 135 at bats in Las Vegas. Leading the way was Tiffany Friesen (Sr., P/3B, Morden, Manitoba) with 19 strikeouts and just two walks in 14 1/3 innings pitched. Mandy Greenberg finished with 17 Ks and five walks, while Jen Dixon added five strikeouts. The Beavers pitching staff tied a record for fewest runs allowed in the Desert Stinger with the nine its gave up.

CYGAN SOLID IN DEBUT: Minot State's Ali Cygan (So., SS, Bozeman, Mont.) transferred to the Beavers from NCAA Division I South Dakota State and has made an immediate impact on the team. She is third overall with a .333 batting average, finishing the first tournament of the year with six hits and six runs, smacking her first home run in a Beavers' uniform. She is second on the team with 10 total bases. At the key position of shortstop, she has 10 putouts and eight assists on the season.

WORK HORSE: Senior pitcher Tiffany Friesen pitched in every game in Las Vegas, logging a team-leading 14 1/3 innings pitched. She had two starts, went 1-1 with two saves in the tournament. In those five games, opponents batted just .212 off of Friesen and she allowed just one extra base hit – a double.

WE WILL TAKE A LITTLE EXTRA: Minot State finished with 12 extra base hits in five games at the MSU-Billings Desert Stinger, hitting seven doubles and smacking five home runs as a part of the Beavers 38 total hits. Minot State only allowed four extra base hits, four doubles, in 31 total hits. Minot State only allowed opponents to bat .230 as it went 4-1 in the tournament, the Beavers best showing in three trips.