MINOT, N.D. – It's been a long wait – more than two months and 30 games – but the Beaver baseball team is set to make its home debut.

Minot State hits the field at the friendly confines of Corbett Field this Saturday and Sunday to host Northern State in a three-game NSIC series with first pitch at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday for a doubleheader, and the series finale Sunday starting at noon.

With the wild winter weather, it has been a long wait filled with long road trips for the Beavers (19-11 overall, 10-8 NSIC) who now play eight straight at home and 13 of their next 15 at Corbett.

The road-warrior Beavers have proven successful no matter where they play, in part to an offense that is crushing opposing pitching as Minot State is No. 2 in the NSIC with a .319 team batting average and leads the league with 56 home runs – four shy of tying the single-season school record of 60 set in 2016.

Leading that offensive onslaught are seven Beaver batters hitting .300-plus – Derek Kay (.381), Mark Ossanna (.372), Gunnar Kozlowitz (.369), Brent Riddle (.360), Matt Malone (.348), Martin Rodriguez (.324), and Javier Gutierrez (.305).

Along with hitting for average, Minot State hitters also have been hitting for power up and down the lineup as those 56 homers have come from a balanced bashing attack as Gutierrez has 11 home runs, Ossanna 10, and Kay and Kozlowitz 9 each.

All that offense benefits a pitching staff that has been solid in giving the Beavers a chance to let the offense work, as Minot State is sixth in the NSIC in ERA at 5.81 and fourth in strikeouts with 251.

Bryant Bagshaw, Trevyn Badger, and Craig Schmich have been the leading starters for Minot State on the mound, combing for 10 wins and striking out 36 batters, each, in their combined 18 starts. Austin Loeb has helped out with a win and four saves coming out of the bullpen 11 times for the Beavers.

They take on a Northern State team (10-17, 5-11) that hits .275 and has 31 homers, and has a 7.22 ERA with 227 Ks, numbers that rank the Wolves in the middle of the pack offensively and on the mound in the NSIC.

But Northern State has been building momentum of late, winning three of its last four games, and the Wolves have won their last three meetings with the Beavers, as well.

Of course, while the weekend will be the home debut for the Beavers, it will also be a reunion, as well, as Minot State's first-year head coach Sam Boisner will be taking on his former team in Northern State, where he spent the past five years as a top assistant with the Wolves.