SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (6-11, 2-2 NSIC), which has won four of its last six games, will begin a six-game road trip beginning with Southwest Minnesota State (6-8, 1-3 NSIC) at Alumni Field in Marshall, Minn. on Wednesday afternoon. USF and SMSU will play a mid-week double header at 1:30 p.m.  At 4-4 in league play USF is tied for fifth in the NSIC.

Breaking down the Mustangs
In their only NSIC series of the season SMSU, which is 6-8 overall, dropped 3-of-4 to Concordia St. Paul in Minnetonka, Minn. The Mustangs lost 7-3, 11-1, and 6-1 and recorded a 2-0 win. As a team, SMSU is hitting .251 while opponents bat .337.  Tanner Strommen leads the way with a .326 batting average while Jayden Fleck is hitting .295. They have a .391 team slugging mark with a .329 OBP. Opponents are reaching base at a .412 percentage. On the hill, SMSU has a 6.90 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 44 walks. The Mustangs are led on the mound by Cole Petersen, who is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 12 innings and three appearances with one start.
  
USF coming off 4-4 home stand
Sioux Falls, led by first year head coach Grant Hieb, will look to build on a 6-11 start including 4-4 on league play. After a 4-3 win over Minnesota Crookston Saturday, the Cougars recorded a third straight walk off win and now has seven walk off victories in the past two seasons. The three-game winning streak is a season best. USF was 2-2 against UMC with a 6-1 win on Sunday as Zak Wallner threw a complete game four-hitter.  It was the longest and most effective pitching performance of Wallner's career. Also against UMC, the Cougars lost 9-4 and 2-0 in the series finale when the Golden Eagles scored just one earned run.

As a team, USF is hitting .303, which ranks fifth in the NSIC. The Cougars have 165 hits and 100 runs, which ranks seventh in the league. Through 17 games, USF has a .442 slugging percentage (4th, NSIC) and .389 OBP (5th NSIC). The Cougars have pilfered 33 bases, which ranks second in the league and have done it in 42 attempts for  a.786 success rate.  

USF pitching  ranks 15th in the NSIC with an 8.13 ERA, which is down 1.45 runs from a week ago. USF is eighth in fielding with a .965 fielding percentage and has turned 11 double plays.

USF's pitchers had a big day on Sunday led by Wallner, who allowed just four hits in seven innings. Dylan Gavin didn't allow any runs in five innings while Stuart Maes was the tough luck loser, allowing one earned run in a 2-0 loss. Overall, the Cougars' pitching staff recorded a 0.56 ERA with just eight hits allowed in 16 innings in two games Sunday. That total is a season-best by USF's staff. They gave up just one earned run and three overall tallies on the day. In addition, the Cougars combined for 15 strikeouts and had just two walks, also a season-best over a two-game stretch.
 
USF is hitting .292 with runners in scoring position
USF is .hitting .292 (57-of-195) with runners in scoring position and have converted at a .642 rate (57-of-195) with runners on third and less than two outs. In advancing runners, the Cougars have been successful in 150-of-311 occasions for .482.  USF, which has 17 two-out RBI, is batting .292 (81-of-277) with runners on and 9-of-29 for .310 with bases loaded. USF is hitting .304 (28-of-92) against left handers and .302 (137-of-453) against right handed pitchers.
 
Numbers to Ponder
USF has been outscored, 134-to-100 this year, but held its own down the stretch of games. USF has a 19-to-16 scoring advantage combined in eighth, ninth and extra innings. USF's best inning has been the fifth where they have scored 21 total runs. When USF leads after six inning, they are 4-1 but 0-9 when trailing after six innings. When USF scores first, they are 5-4 but 1-6 when the opponent plates a runner first. The Cougars are 6-1 when they outhit their opponent.
 
USF hitters off to fast start - several among NSIC leaders
Johnson ranks 7th in NSIC top 10 in hitting – In 15 games junior centerfielder Rob Johnson is hitting .408 (first on the team, seventh in the NSIC) with 20 hits in 49 at bats and eight walks. He has two home run and five doubles among his hits. He owns a .633 slugging pct., which ranks 10th in the league.

Jarvis hitting .350– Brent Jarvis is off to a fast start for the Cougars. He has his batting average at .350, ranks first on the team with on-base pct. of 473, and has 21 hits for a slugging percentage of .517. He has four games with three or more hits, including a career best 6-of-6 vs. Nebraska-Kearney, in 17 games played.   
 
Crow is hitting .345 - Senior outfielder Trevor Crow is hitting .345 with 20 hits, and a slugging percentage of .603, which ranks seventh in the NSIC. Crow, who has three home runs and 11 RBI, had a walk off single in a 7-6 win over St. Cloud State March 20. Crow has an OBP of .397 and a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000 on 28 chances.
 
Merriam ranks third in NSIC in HRs with 5 - Junior catcher Connor Merriam, who is hitting .310, five home runs this season which ranks third in the league. He hit two in a 15-13 loss to SCSU on March 19. Merriam has a .655 slugging percentage which ranks 10th in the league. He has 13 RBIs and a .354 OBP while owning a .968 fielding percentage. Merriam, who caught all 54 games a year ago, has started all 17 games this season, a run of 71 straight games.  
 
Josh Rehwaldt leads team with 14 RBI – A sophomore first baseman, Josh Rehwaldt, who has a five-game hitting streak, has pushed his average to .353 after going 13-of-28 in the last seven games. In a pair of walk off wins vs SCSU on March 20, he scored the winning run. He has a team-best 14 RBI.  Rehwaldt has three multi RBI games and six multiple hit games.
 
Mound Assessment: USF's pitching staff coming off best four-game stretch of season
The Cougars staff has stabilized and comes off its best pitching performance of the season. In through of four games against Minnesota Crookston, USF allowed three runs or less. Two starters - Wallner, Zach Miller - tossed complete games (seven innings) in picking up their first wins of the year. As a result through 17 games, USF has an 8.13 ERA in 130 2/3 innings with 72 strikeouts but 94 walks. In the four-game series with UMC, the Cougars had a 3.66 ERA with 24 strikeouts and 15 walks. Those totals are the best for a four game span this year.  

Wallner (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, tossing 79 pitches over seven innings of four-hit ball. Wallner recorded a career-high eight strikeouts and did not walk a batter over seven innings. The senior right hander was dominant all game as he allowed just an unearned run in the second inning. The victory was his second career win as he is 2-2 in his career. He had his second straight quality start and stands 1-0 with a 4.38 ERA in five appearances and four starts in 2017. He has 20 strikeouts and 11 walks.

Dylan Gavin, who was 8-1 with a 4.80 ERA in 2016, made his initial start of the season. Gavin (0-0, one start, 0.00 ERA) allowed one hit on 51 pitches and five strikeouts over five innings. He had five strikeouts and hit a batter in his stellar outing.

Stuart Maes (1-1) was the hard luck loser in the 2-0 loss to UMC, falling for the first time this season. Maes allowed just three hits and two runs, only one that was earned, in four innings of work. He had two strikeouts and two walks in throwing 41 pitches. He dropped his ERA to 7.53.

In addition, Zachary Miller is now 1-3 after a seven inning stint in which he allowed just three runs as the Cougars won, 4-3. He now has a 10.42 ERA and coming off back-back solid starts (5 1/3 vs SCSU, seven innings vs. UMC).