Just because the calendar says it’s spring, that doesn’t mean there is spring weather in Grand Forks — as the UND baseball team found out this weekend.

The weekend conference series against New Mexico State was canceled due to the massive snow storm the Grand Forks area received the week before. As a result of the cancellation, four games were put on hold with no makeup games scheduled at this time.

As disappointing as the cancellations are, there are reasons for fans to be happy about this team.

Even though the Green and White have had a hard time in non-conference games this year (0-12), they are winning the games that matter in the Western Athletic Conference games.

In WAC games, UND is 6-3, with a series win over Utah Valley and a UND record first-time series sweep over Northern Colorado in late March.

The team’s winning ways in the WAC have put it in a far better position than previously predicted.

At the beginning of the season, UND was projected to be the No. 9 seed in the WAC.

As of now, UND sits in second place in the WAC Conference, right behind the 10-1 Sacramento State Hornets.

While this team always has things it can do better, there have been some bright spots that have led this team to its surprising place in the standings.

Ryan Reese has been UND’s most consistent hitter this season. Reese leads the team in batting average at .353, is tied for second on the team with 10 RBI’s and has an on-base percentage of .476.

While Reese is the consistent hitter on the team, Jeff Campbell is the power hitter.

Campbell’s batting average may be nothing special (.244), but the man still delivers in the batter’s box. Campbell is fourth on the team in runs with nine, and leads the team with four home runs and 13 RBI’s.

Batting isn’t the only factor that has set up UND for success.

Pitching has been key this season, and while some pitchers have disappointed, there are signs for encouragement.

Zach Muckenhirn has been a consistent force on the mound this season. Of the team’s starting pitchers, Muckenhirn has the lowest ERA at 3.51. The freshman also leads all pitchers with 33 strikeouts. He also has given up 13 earned runs in the six games he has appeared in this season.

After the recent cancellations, UND will look to continue what has been a successful season so far.

After a quick stop in South Dakota to play a nonconference game against South Dakota State on April 15, UND will play two straight weekends of conference games. On April 18-20, the Green and White will be in Chicago to take on Chicago State, which currently sits at 0-8 in conference play.

On April 25-27, the team will come back home to Grand Forks to hopefully play its first home series of the season against Seattle. This will be an important series because Seattle is only a game behind UND for the No. 2 spot in the conference.

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer at The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].