May 4—DICKINSON — It's always nice to get a good-night's sleep, especially when you're the fifth-seeded Dickinson State University Blue Hawks and getting ready to host the North Star Athletic Association's Postseason Tournament at Astoria Field on Friday with an early noon start time. The game and entire tournament will be played at Dakota Community Bank and Trust Ballpark throughout the next few days and should offer some compelling action for college-hardball enthusiasts from around Southwest North Dakota and the region.

The tournament also should mean an infusion of money from folks visiting the area in support of their various teams, which in the 2023 NSAA postseason tourney will include DSU's Friday opponents and 4th-seeded Mayville (ND) State, along with South Dakota's Presentation College (#8) and top-ranked Bellevue (Neb.) — who kick off the tournament at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 5 — Game 3 opponents Valley City (ND) State (#7) and number-two seed Dakota State (SD) — who square off at 5 p.m. and #6 Viterbo (Wis.) playing #3 Waldorf (Iowa) at 8 p.m. in the nightcap.

DSU finished the season with an overall record of 20-26 while going 12-15 in the NSAA, while Mayville State was 20-22 and 14-13 in the NSAA. That said, the Blue Hawks still finished with a slight 3-2 advantage in the head-to-head record between the two teams, including a 2-1 series win away over the Comets from April 7-8 at Watford City, ND.

DSU holds a series of advantages over MSU, including a .304 to .267 lead in overall batting average and .397 to .361 in on-base percentage. The Blue Hawks also posted nearly a 60-hit advantage in extra-base hits and a massive, 58-21 lead in dingers and an advantage of 6.97 to 5.52 runs-per-game. Mayville holds a slight lead in earned-run average, but the Blue Hawks pitching staff has put up 339 overall Ks this season as-opposed to 252 strikeouts for the Comets' hurlers.

Anybody who wants to watch the games live online can see them at

www.youtube.com/@bluehawkathletics4241/featured

With the live stat-feed available at:

www.dsubluehawks.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/boxscores/20230505_sz32.xml

For more information, please keep reading The Dickinson Press and visit

https://www.dsubluehawks.com/sports/bsb/index

.

The official schedule for the NSAA Tournament at Astoria Field will be:

Friday's Games — NSAA Postseason Tournament Opening Round — Dickinson, N.D.

Game 1: No. 8 seed Presentation (S.D.) vs. No. 1 seed Bellevue (Neb.) — 10 a.m. (CT)/9 a.m. (MT)

Game 2: No. 5 seed Dickinson State (N.D.) vs. No. 4 seed Mayville State (N.D.) — 1 p.m. (CT)/12 p.m. (MT)

Game 3: No. 7 seed Valley City State (N.D.) vs. No. 2 seed Dakota State (S.D.) — 5 p.m. (CT)/4 p.m. (MT)

Game 4: No. 6 seed Viterbo (Wis.) vs. No. 3 seed Waldorf (Iowa) — 8 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (MT)

Saturday's Games — NSAA Postseason Tournament Day 2 — Dickinson, N.D.

Game 5 (Loser's Out): Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser — 10 a.m. (CT)/9 a.m. (MT)

Game 6 (Loser's Out): Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser — 1 p.m. (CT)/12 p.m. (MT)

Game 7 (Winner's Bracket): Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner — 5 p.m. (CT)/4 p.m. (MT)

Game 8 (Winner's Bracket): Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner — 8 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (MT)

Sunday's Games — NSAA Postseason Tournament Day 3 — Dickinson, N.D.

Game 9 (Loser's Out): Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser — 10 a.m. (CT)/9 a.m. (MT)

Game 10 (Loser's Out): Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser — 1 p.m. (CT)/12 p.m. (MT)

Game 11 (Winner's Bracket): Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner — 5 p.m. (CT)/4 p.m. (MT)

Game 12 (Loser's Out): Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner — 8 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (MT)

Monday's Games — NSAA Postseason Tournament Day 4 — Dickinson, N.D.

Game 13 (Loser's Out): Game 12 winner vs. Game 11 loser — 12 p.m. (CT)/11 a.m. (MT)

Game 14 (Championship Game): Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner — 3:30 p.m. (CT)/2:30 p.m. (MT)

Tuesday's Game — NSAA Postseason Tournament If Necessary — Dickinson, N.D.

Game 15 (If necessary if Game 11 winner lose first game): Game 14 winner vs. Game 14 loser — 1 p.m. (CT)/12 p.m. (MT)