SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (4-18, 4-8 NSIC) received a pair of home runs from junior Josh Rehwaldt but lost a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games to St. Cloud State (15-6, 8-1 NSIC) on Thursday at the Birdcage (Sioux Falls Stadium).

The USF-SCSU series was originally scheduled to be played in St. Cloud on March 30-31 but due to weather and field conditions was moved to Sioux Falls on March 29-30. This was USF's first series on its home field – the Birdcage.

During the doubleheader, Rehwaldt, who came into the league ranking second in hitting, jumped his average to .452 after rapping out four hits in seven at bats with three runs scored, two RBI, two home runs and 10 total bats. He now has five home runs on the season with 19 RBI, 39 hits, a .679 slugging mark and .489 OBP. Senior infielder Dylan Gavin had a pair of hits in five at bats as he raised his average to .313 on the season.

USF and SCSU will play again on Friday with the NSIC doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at the Birdcage.

Game 1 – SCSU 10 USF 5
SCSU raced to an 8-0 lead after three innings and then held off a late rally from USF to win a slugfest, 10-5 in the opener.

SCSU jumped to an 8-0 lead with four runs in the first, including a two-run home run by Mitch Mallek. They add a run in the second inning and three more in the third frame. After USF closed within 8-5, SCSU added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to close out the scoring.

In the fourth inning, Rehwaldt connected on his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to dead center field to lead off the inning as the Cougars drew within, 8-1. In the sixth inning, USF put a four-spot on the board to close the gap with SCSU. USF had four runs on five hits, including two-run singles by both Matthew Minnick and Luke Rysavy.

Rehwaldt had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI to lead the offense. The Cougars finished with nine hits as Brent Jarvis, Dylan Gavin, Minnick, Gabe Shemwell and Rysavy had base hits for USF. Senior Stuart Maes started and took the loss for USF as he fell to 1-5. Maes allowed six hits and five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. He had two walks and a strikeout in facing 22 batters and throwing 46 pitches. Freshman Payton Livingston finished up for USF as he tossed 3 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run with a strikeout and a walk.

Aaron Hamman moved to 2-1 for SCSU by allowing eight hits and five runs with five strikeouts in six innings. Ricardo Garcia closed for SCSU as he gave up a hit but had two strikeouts in one inning of work. Caeden Harris had three hits and two RBIs while Jackson Goplen and Mallek had two RBIs each.

Game 2 – SCSU 11 USF 1
Despite Rehwaldt's second home run of the day, the Cougars dropped an 11-1 decision in a run-rule shortened game (seven innings) in the back half of the doubleheader.

After SCSU built a 1-0 lead after two innings, the Huskies put together eight straight hits and scored seven times to build an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. The Huskies added three more runs in the fourth inning and behind Trevor Koenig's strong pitching swept the doubleheader. Koenig (1-0) held USF to five hits and one run with four strikeouts in six innings. Zach Iten closed for SCSU.

The Cougars were led on offense by Rehwaldt, who hammered a home run over the right field fence in the sixth inning. USF, which was hurt by six errors, had just five hits, including hits from Rehwaldt, Gavin, Anthony Lopez, Rysavy and Alex Elizondo, who registered his first career base hit.

Redshirt freshman Matt Graham made the start and took the loss for USF to fall 0-1. He allowed six hits and six runs with two strikeouts in two innings. Three other USF pitchers worked including Mitchell Lyall (two hits, two runs), Alex Loosbrock (1 1/3 innings, two hits, three runs, two walks, and strikeout) and Keenahn Coyle (2 2/3 innings, no hits, no runs, and two strikeouts).