SIOUX FALLS. -- The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (0-7) will look to crack into the win column when the Cougars play three nonconference games against Colorado School of Mines State (7-4) at Jim Darden Field in Golden, Colo., March 13-14.

USF will open with a doubleheader against CSM at 3 pm and 5:30 pm on Tuesday, March 13 and then play a single game on Wednesday, March 14 at 4 p.m. Later next week, the Cougars are scheduled to open the NSIC season at home March 16-18 against Bemidji State at Sioux Falls Stadium.

Live Stats and live video will be available for the USF-CSM games.

 The Cougars opened the season with three losses to Metro State, 5-2, 14-3 and 17-8 before falling to Rogers State, 2-0 and 3-0; and Drury, 5-0, 4-1, USF fell to Rogers State, 2-0 and 3-0 and Drury, 5-0 and 4-1 March 2-4.

Inside look – Colorado Mines

Colorado Mines is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Conference in NCAA DII and located in Golden, Colo. The Orediggers have split their last four games but won a series with New Mexico Highlands, 2-1. He tossed 7.0 innings of one-run, five-hit baseball in the Orediggers' 8-1 win over NMH. The Wyoming native struck out a career-high nine batters as he improved to 3-0 on the season. Burman's 1.06 earn-run average ranks second among RMAC starters this season.
 
As a team, Mines (7-4, 3-1 RMAC) is in a four-way tie for first place in the RMAC standings with Colorado Mesa (11-5, 3-1), UCCS (9-7, 3-1 RMAC) and MSU Denver (7-9, 3-1 RMAC). The pitching staff has struck out 70 batters in 91.0 innings of work. The Orediggers' offense is hitting .324 with 93 runs in 11 games.
  
Rehwaldt earns POW honors for first time

Junior first baseman Josh Rehwaldt hit .727 in the opening weekend of play (Metro State, Feb. 16-18) and picked up his first-ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Player of the Week honor on Feb. 20. Rehwaldt, a 6-6, 240 pound standout from Burnsville, Minn., registered eight hits in 11 at bats (.727) against Metro State. He also had two home runs, six RBIs and two runs scored. Rehwaldt was named by NSIC coaches as "Player to Watch" in the preseason. He hit .364 in the last four games against Rogers State and Drury and now has a .520 batting average, which ranks fourth in the NSIC. With a .567 on-base percentage he is sixth in the NSIC.

Rehwaldt, a business major at USF, has 12 career HRs, 96 RBI, 159 hits, and 88 runs in making 105 career starts. He also has 23 multi RBI games and 51 multi-hit games. A year ago Rehwaldt was named to the All-NSIC first team after ranking in top 10 in eight NSIC hitting categories. He also became USF's first-ever NCAA DII all-region player with his selection to the 2017 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) DII squad.

 USF, which was picked 11th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll, is led by head coach Grant Hieb, who is 19-38 in his second season with the program. The Cougars opened the season with three straight losses to Metro State when they were outscored 36-to-13. In a four-game series in Springfield, Mo., the Cougars' offense struggled at .172 over four games and no extra base hits as Rogers State and Drury won four straight games to send USF to 0-7 on the season. This weekend, the Cougars had issues generating offense but the pitching staff was solid. Over the past four games, the Cougars recorded a 3.27 earned run average with 14 strikeouts in 33 innings. However, USF hit just .172 over the four-game span and were unable to come up with an extra base hit. In the four games in Missouri, freshman shortstop Grant Lung hit .364 while Rehwaldt had a .357 average.

As a unit, the Cougars are hitting .204 with 46 hits in 226 at bats with 14 RBI, three home runs, two doubles and a triple. The Cougars own a .282 on-base percentage and are slugging .261.  Lung is hitting .261 with a .346 on-base percentage and .391 slugging mark.

Gavin, Maes leads USF pitching staff
On the mound, seniors Dylan Gavin and Stuart Maes turned in standout performances against Rogers State last weekend. As a result, the Cougars dropped their earned run average by nearly half. USF entered the Drury/Rogers State series with a 12.00 era and after it ended, the Cougars had a 6.95 earned run average.  

Gavin, who was also named by the NSIC as a preseason "Player to Watch" on USF, stands 0-2 but registered a second straight solid start. In two starts, Gavin owns a 3.21 earned run average as he has allowed nine hits and five earned runs in 14 innings of work. In addition, he has a team-high 10 strikeouts, including a career-best eight (7 2/3 innings) in his last start, a 2-0 setback to Rogers State.

Senior Stuart Maes tossed his first career complete game in a 3-0 setback to Rogers State on March 3 in Springfield, Mo.  In his first start of the season and fourth in his career, Maes (0-1) allowed just four hits and one earned run (three total runs) in eight innings while registering a strikeout and two walks. Unfortunately for Maes, the Cougars were unable to push across a run as they were held to six hits.

Freshman starters Alex Loosbrock (8.53 ERA) and Brandon Roesler (9.72) also had solid outings last weekend. In his second start of the season, Roesler allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 4-1 setback to Drury on March 4. In his first career career, Loosbrock worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs against Drury on March 3.

In the bullpen, Christian Lazar and Anthony Reese have had outstanding starts to the season. Lazar has a 0.00 earned run average in four appearances. He has allowed two hits in 2 2/3 innings with a strikeout. Reese has worked two innings in two appearances and also stands with a 0.00 earned run average. Spencer Dokken is another pitcher with a solid start to the season out of the bullpen. He has a 5.79 earned run average, allowing three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings. However he is coming off a performance on March 4 against Drury when he allowed just one hit and recorded a strikeout in 2 1/3 innings.