SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (2-7, 0-0 NSIC) will open its home and NSIC season against St. Cloud State (9-3, 1-0 NSIC) with doubleheaders on Sunday and Monday.

Due to a recent snowstorm and wet field conditions, the games with SCSU have been moved from Saturday/Sunday to Sunday/Monday. In addition, the USF/SCSU doubleheader on Sunday has been moved to Ronken Field on the Augustana campus, starting at 5 p.m. On Monday, the USF-SCSU doubleheader is scheduled to be held at the Cougars' home field at Sioux Falls Stadium (Birdcage) at noon.

Huskies on roll as they face USF
In SCSU, USF faces a red-hot SCSU team that has won eight straight games following a 1-3 start. The Huskies, led by five starters hitting better than .400, average .381 at the plate with 136 runs and 157 hits in 12 games. The Huskies, which has 48 extra base hits, have scored double digit runs in eight straight games. Cooper Maas is hitting .486 with 18 hits and 16 runs while Jackson Goplen has a .485 average and 16 hits. On the mound SCSU has a 3.66 ERA in 91 innings with 89 strikeouts and just 27 walks. Austin Casperson 2-0, two starts, 1.08 ERA) and Cal Giese (2-1, three starts, 1.29 ERA) lead the way. SCSU has done its heaviest damage early with a 61-21 edge in the first three innings.

Breaking down USF offensive attack
Sioux Falls, led by first year head coach Grant Hieb, will look to improve on a 2-7 start in which the Cougars have plenty of offense pitching is showing improvement.  In its most recent action, USF defeated Nebraska-Kearney, 11-7 in Kearney, Neb., before dropping a doubleheader to Colorado Mines, 15-4 and 2-1 in Golden, Colo., on March 14.

USF recorded its first win of season, rallying for a 7-4 victory on Metro State in 11 innings as Austin Richey and Brent-Griffing-Jarvis had triples for USF in the victory over Metro State. The win was the first in career for head coach Grant Hieb in his first season at USF.
 
As a team, the Cougars are hitting .299 with a .469 slugging percentage and .402 OBP. The Cougars have converted 20-of-25 steals, .949 fielding percentage and 29 total extra base hits. The Cougars have produced 52 RBI, led by 10 from Josh Rehwaldt and nine by Trevor Crow and Connor Merriam. Crow has a team high 25 total bases.

USF is .hitting .273 (30-of-110) with runners in scoring position and have converted at a .629 rate (22-of-35) with runners on third and less than two outs. In advancing runners, the Cougars have been successful in 78-of-169 occasions for .462.  USF is batting .276 (42-of-152) with runners on and 6-of-19 for .316 with bases loaded. USF is hitting .244 (11-of-45 against left handers and .309 (77-of-249) against right handed pitchers.

Johnson has .630 OBP – In seven games junior centerfielder Rob Johnson is hitting .500  with 10 hits in 20 at bats and six walks. He has a home run and four doubles among his hits and an OBP of .667. He owns a team-best .850 slugging pct.  

Crow hitting .364- Senior outfielder Trevor Crow is hitting .364 with 12 hits, slugging percentage of .758, OBP of .417, three HRs and nine RBI.  He has a team-best 25 total bases.

Merriam hitting .367 with 3 HR - Junior catcher Connor Merriam, who is hitting .367, has 11 hits, three HR and nine RBI (2nd on team) with a slugging percentage of .767.  He has produced with runners on base, hitting .294 (5-of-17) in those situations. With runners in scoring position Merriam is hitting .400 (4-of-10).

Jarvis records career-best six hits against UNK –  In a career-best  performance, Brent Jarvis led the Cougars to its second win of the season, 11-7, over Nebraska-Kearney by rapping six hits in six at bats. He had two doubles, three runs scored and three RBI. The six-hit game was part of an 11-of-15 performance in which Jarvis raised his batting average to .467 with a team-high 14 hits in 30 at bats. He has six RBI, .700 slugging percentage and an OBP of .600.

Peterson raises average to .375 – Senior shortstop Gunner Peterson has moved his batting average to .375 with 12 hits in 32 at bats. He has a .438 slugging percentage and .444 slugging percentage. He has a .957 fielding percentage.

Josh Rehwaldt leads team with 10 RBI – A sophomore first baseman, Rehwaldt is hitting .270 and after a four-RBI day vs. Nebraska-Kearney, he leaves USF with 10 RBI.

Mound Assessment: USF has recorded 40 strikeouts
After a rocky start to the season, the Cougars staff has stabilized.  As a result through nine games, USF has a 9.99 ERA in 66 2/3 innings with 40 strikeouts but 57 walks.

Sophomore Dan Johnson has a team-best 3.68 ERA among the starters. He has a 1-1 mark, tossed 7 1/3 innings in two starts with four strikeouts and seven walks. He has allowed three earned runs. Senior Zach Miller (0-2, 2 starts, 6 2/3 innings, 14 hits, 13 runs, six strikeouts, 17.55 ERA). He had a solid relief outing against Nebraska-Kearney.

Senior Zak Wallner (0-0, two starts, 6.175 ERA, 9 2/3 innings, eight earned runs and eight strikeouts). The bullpen is led by sophomore Mitchell Lyall (0-0, 3.60 ERA, five appearances, five innings, two strikeouts),

Also for USF, Stuart Maes (4.50 ERA, eight innings) sits 1-0 after earning his first career win in the 7-4 victory over Metro State. In that game, he worked four innings and allowed four hits and two runs with two strikeouts. He also had a no decision in the win over UNK. Freshman Keenahn Coyle (0-1, 5.87 ERA, four appearances, 7 2/3 innings, five earned runs, two strikeouts) also had an effective performance against Metro State, working four innings and allowing just three hits and one run in a 6-4 loss. Cody Blackwell (0-0, 5.79, three appearances, 4 2/3 innings, three strikeouts) had a solid outing against Colorado Mines, working three innings and allowing two runs and four hits.

USF's best pitching effort came against Colorado Mines in a 2-1 loss. USF started Chris Thompson, who in his first start of the season, had his best outing. He worked three innings and allowed just one run on one hit with two strikeouts and two walks. Wallner entered the game in the fourth inning and tossed two innings of scoreless relief. Jackson Olson took the loss after allowing one run on two hits in one inning of work with two strikeouts.