SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (7-12, 5-5 NSIC), which has won five-of-eight games, will continue a six-game road trip when the Cougars head to Bemidji State (7-13, 4-4 NSIC) with doubleheaders set to begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2 at the BSU Baseball Field. After splitting a doubleheader with Southwest Minnesota State on Wednesday afternoon. USF, which has won 5-of-8 games, is 7-12 overall and tied for fifth in the NSIC with a 5-5 mark.

Bemidji State tied for eighth in NSIC
Bemidji State, which is 7-13 overall and 4-4 (tied for eighth) in the NSIC, 13th in the league in pitching with a 6.92 ERA and 14th in hitting with a .242 batting average. Head Coach Tim Bellow, who was the 2013 NSIC Coach of the Year and the all-time wins leader at Bemidji State, has compiled a 190-356 all—time record since taking over the program in 2005. BSU is led on offense by Noah Boser who is hitting .378 in 13 games with a .514 slugging percentage and .410 OBP. Ben Boser is hitting .293 while Scott Litchy has a team high three home runs in eight games while hitting .357.

USF has gone 5-3 over past eight games
Sioux Falls, led by first year head coach Grant Hieb, will look to build on a 7-12 start including 5-5 in 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 his career. Also against UMC, the Cougars lost 9-4 and 2-0 when the Golden Eagles scored just one earned run.  On Wednesday, USF won, 2-0 and lost 5-2 in first NSIC road series.
 
As a team, USF is hitting .295, which ranks seventh in the NSIC. The Cougars have 178 hits (5th, NSIC) and 104 runs, which ranks seventh in the league. Through 19 games, USF has a .421 slugging percentage (5th, NSIC) and .384 OBP (6th NSIC). The Cougars have pilfered 37 bases, which ranks second in the league and have done it in 47 attempts for .787 success rate.  

USF ranks 14th in the NSIC with a 7.35 ERA, which is down 2.13 runs from a week ago. USF is seventh in fielding with a .964 fielding percentage and have turned 12 double plays.

USF hitting .284 with runners in scoring position
USF is .hitting .284 (61-of-215) with runners in scoring position and have converted at a .609 rate (39-of-64) with runners on third and less than two outs. In advancing runners, the Cougars have been successful in 166-of-343 occasions for .484.  USF, which has 19 two-out RBI, is batting .289 (88-of-305) with runners on and 9-of-34 for .265 with bases loaded. USF is hitting .290 (36-of-124) against left handers and .296 (142-of-479) against right handed pitchers.
 
Numbers to Ponder
USF has been outscored, 139-to-104 this year, but held its own down the stretch of games. USF has a 19-to-17 scoring advantage combined in eighth, ninth and extra innings. USF's best inning has been the fifth where they have scored 24 total runs. When USF leads after sixth inning, they are 5-1 but 0-10 when trailing after six innings. When USF scores first, they are 6-5 but 1-6 when the opponent scores first. The Cougars are 7-1 when they outhit their opponent.
 
Breaking down USF hitters individually
Johnson hitting .357 has league high 10 steals – In 17 games junior centerfielder Rob Johnson is hitting .357 with 20 hits in 56 at bats and 10 walks (10th, NSIC). He has two home runs and five doubles among his hits. He owns a .554 slugging pct., and .449 OBP.  Johnson is tied with Josh Rehwaldt for a team-high eight multi-hit games.

Jarvis hitting .319 – Brent Jarvis is off to a fast start for the Cougars. He is batting average at .319, with a .434 OBP, .464 slugging percentage. He has four games with three or more hits, including a career best 6-of-6 vs. Nebraska-Kearney, in 19 games played. 
 
Crow's average sits at .345 - Senior outfielder Trevor Crow is hitting .345 with 20 hits, and a slugging percentage of .603. 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 .635 slugging percentage. He has 13 RBIs and a .366 OBP while owning a .968 fielding percentage. Merriam, who caught all 54 games a year ago, has started all 19 games this season, a run of 73 straight games.  
 
Josh Rehwaldt leads team with 16 RBI – A sophomore first baseman, Josh is hitting .333 with a team-high 16 RBI. In a pair of walk off wins vs SCSU on March 20, he scored the winning run.   Rehwaldt has three multi RBI games and tied with Rob Johnson for a team-high eight multi-hit games. He is hitting .395 over the past 10 games.

Minnick has .414 surge over past eight games – Matthew Minnick, who came into the season with a career .358 batting average, started the season slow but has hit a stride over the past eight games, hitting a team-high .414 with a .448 slugging mark and .471 OBP As a result, he has raised his batting average to .234. Over the past 10 games, he is hitting .371. He has eight RBI and 13 hits in that frame of games. In addition, Minnick has reached base a team-high nine straight games.

Durkin hitting .360 over last eight games – Like Minnick, senior outfielder Noah Durkin has caught fire of late, hitting .360 over the last eight games. He has had a .433 OBP, two steals and nine hits in that span. On the season, Durkin has raised his average to .258.
 
Mound Assessment: USF's pitching has had 5.13 ERA over past 10 games
After a rough start to the season, the USF Baseball pitching staff has stabilized and has been effective of late. After nine games, USF had an ERA of 9.99 since that time, a span of 10 games, the Cougars have a 5.13 ERA or an improvement of 4.86 runs per game.  USF has turned around its strikeout and walk ratio, moving from 40 strikeouts and 57 walks to 52 strikeouts and 43 walks. In fact over the past six games, USF has a 2.68 ERA with 35 hits and 14 earned runs allowed in the past 47 innings. In addition, USF has had 34 strikeouts to 21 walks and held opponents to a .213 batting average. In the last six games, USF has had five quality starts and allowed more than three earned runs just once. Over the past four games, the Cougars have four straight quality starts and a 0.58 ERA. They have allowed just 22 hits in 31 innings with 25 strikeouts and only eight walks.

Two starters – Zak Wallner, Zachary Miller - tossed complete games (seven innings) in picking up their first wins of the year against Minnesota-Crookston last week. In addition, Dylan Gavin made his first start of the season and had five strikeouts and allowed just two hits. Wallner (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, tossing 79 pitches over seven innings of four-hit ball. He recorded a career-high eight strikeouts and did not walk a batter over seven innings in a 6-1 win over UMC. 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. Stuart Maes (1-2) 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 vs UMC. In a six-inning start against SMSU, he allowed just one earned runs but took the loss in a 5-2 setback. With his effort this week, Maes dropped his ERA to 5.31 overall in six appearances and 20 1/3 innings. 

Sophomores Dan Johnson and Mitchell Lyall combined on a seven-inning four-hit shutout as USF defeated SMSU, 2-0 in game one Wednesday. Johnson, who moved to 2-1 on the season, allowed just three hits over five innings with five strikeouts and two walks. He was also USF's last starting pitcher to throw a shutout, a 1-0 nine-inning four-hitter against Concordia St. Paul on May 1, 2016. Lyall, who registered his first save of the season, worked two innings of shutdown relief pitching as he gave up just one hit on 22 pitches and had a strikeout as he retired six of the seven hitters he faced, including three on ground outs.  .