SIOUX FALLS -- Riding a four-game winning streak, The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (8-18, 8-8 NSIC) will host Minnesota State (18-7, 13-3 NSIC) at the Birdcage (Sioux Falls Stadium) on Thursday, April 12 at 1:30/3:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 11 but due to the snowstorm that hit Sioux Falls on Sunday, the two teams agreed to move the contest to Thursday. Both games will be available by live video and live stats.

The Cougars have won 5-of-8 as the Mavericks, winners of 10 straight, come to town, including a 3-1, 7-3 sweep of Minnesota Crookston on April 7. The USF-UMC series was scheduled to be four games but a snowstorm forced cancellation of the doubleheader on April 8.
 
USF has four straight wins for first time since April 2-7, 2017 when the Coo defeated Bemidji State, 13-6, 10-9; Dakota Wesleyan, 14-2; and Winona State, 3-2.  The four-game winning streak is the longest since winning eight straight games from March 29 to April 4 with 5-3 and 18-7 decisions over Bemidji State; 8-7 and 21-17 verdicts over Minnesota Crookston and 4-2, 4-2, 8-3 and 9-2 conquests at U-Mary. USF's last four-game winning streak in the NSIC was May 1-4, 2016 when the Cougars defeated Concordia St. Paul, 6-5; 1-0; and Augustana, 5-4, and 8-7, all in walk-off variety.
 
Stars of the week
Junior Josh Rehwaldt hit .429 (3-of-7) with two doubles, and two RBI against the Golden Eagles. Also contributing on offense against UMC was a pair of freshman in Grant Lung, who had two hits in four at bats with three runs and three RBI and a stolen base while catcher Alex Elizondo hit .429 with three hits in seven at bats. Senior Dylan Gavin, who helped his own cause with an RBI single in the first inning of game one 3-1 victory over UMC, improved to 3-3 by allowing just five hits and a run with two strikeouts in six innings of work.
 
Opponent Review -  Minnesota State
MSU comes into the matchup winner of 10 straight games, including a pair over Minnesota Duluth (3-1, 12-0) on April 9, with its last setback to Minot State, 7-1 on March 23. Directed by veteran head coach Matt Magers,  the Mavericks are one of two NSIC teams with 20 wins at 20-7. With a 15-3 league mark, they are third in the NSIC. The Mavericks rank third in the league in hitting with a .313 batting average and have a .394 on-base percentage, which ranks second in the NSIC. MSU has six home runs, 147 RBIs and have scored 167 runs. On the mound, they have a 3.28 earned run average which is third in the NISC. In 214 innings, they have allowed 192 hits, 78 earned runs and recorded 245 strikeouts while teams are hitting .239. Ty Buck leads MSU in hitting at .383, which is ninth in the league. He has a .438 on-base percentage and 16 RBIs. Josh Wenzel is hitting .382 with .423 on-base percentage and 18 RBI while Noah Bluth is hitting. 345, Tommy McDonald, .344 and Luke Waldek, .309. MSU has four starters with sub-2.70 ERA, including Dalton Roach, who is 6-0 with a 2.61 ERA. In six starts, Aaron Rozek has a 4-1 mark and 1.58 ERA while Quinn Ahern s 3-1 and 2.00 earned run average and Trevor Divinski, 3-0 and 2.25 ERA.
 
Quick take on Cougars
Weather has been an issue thus far this spring. The Cougars opened the NSIC with a 2-2 mark against Bemidji State by playing at two high school fields in Omaha and Plattsmouth, Nebraska. In cold conditions on March 22-23, USF defeated Winona State, 14-0 but lost 3-1, 5-1 and 4-3 in 13 innings. In its only win in Winona, USF rolled up a season-high 14 runs with 15 hits in a 14-0 decision. USF, which totaled 19 runs on 38 hits with 17 RBI in the series, dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Winona State in 13 innings in the season final game of the series. Among the bright spots during the series was 15 2/3 innings of relief pitching in which the Cougars allowed just two runs and 10 hits in the four games against the Warriors. Also sophomore Brandon Roesler threw his second straight complete game in the win and Josh Rehwaldt hammered a grand slam. In splitting a double header with SMSU, Brent Jarvis hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give USF a 2-1 win. The Cougars lost game two, 8-7.  USF and SCSU split a pair of doubleheaders on March 29-30 with the Cougars taking 3-1 and 10-9 (10 innings) decisions on day two. The Cougars then defeated Minnesota Crookston, 3-1 and 7-3, with timely hitting  and stellar bullpen work.
 
How USF stands overall
USF ranks 14th in the league with a .247 batting average and has hit 14 home runs, which ranks tied for seventh in the NSIC, in 26 games. USF has a .317 on-base percentage and is slugging at .344. On the mound, the Cougars have a 5.42 ERA, which ranks seventh in the NSIC. The Cougars have allowed 232 hits, 125 earned runs with 125 strikeouts and a .287batting average in throwing 207 2/3 innings.
 
USF, which was picked 11th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll, is led by head coach Grant Hieb, who is 27-49 in his second season with the program.
 
Rehwaldt ranks second in the NSIC in hitting at .439
Junior first baseman Josh Rehwaldt ranks second in NSIC in hitting at .439, and slugging pct., at .673 while sitting third in on-base percentage at .486 and fourth with 43 hits. He continues to rake for the Cougars as he ranks 12th in NCAA DII in batting average. He hit .429 (3-of-7) with two doubles, and two RBI against UMC. Rehwaldt, who has 13 multi-hit games this season, has 23 RBIs, 66 total bases and six stolen bases.  He had five base knocks in six trips on March 13 against Colorado School of Mines. He has an RBI in 11 different games and multi-RBIs in five contests. He has registered RBIs in five straight games and has a season best five RBI against Winona State on March 22 on the road. 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.
 
Rehwaldt, a business major at USF, has 15 career HRs, 113 RBI, 189 hits, and 104 runs in making 124 career starts. Rehwaldt has a career slugging mark of .583 with an on-base mark of .424 and 23 steals. He also has 27 multi RBI games and 60 multi-hit games. He has 59 games with two or more hits, 22 games with three or more hits and three with four hits or more, including twice recording five hits in a game. 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.
 
Dylan Gavin doing double duty
Senior Dylan Gavin is handling double duty for USF. On the season he is hitting .287 with 27 hits, nine RBI and 10 runs scored. Gavin is slugging .330 with a .337 slugging mark. He has hits in 15 of his last 17 games. Eight times, he has multi-hit games. In seven starts on the mound this season, Gavin has a 3-3 record and 2.61 earned run averaged as he has allowed 28 hits and 12 earned runs in 41 1/3 innings. He has gone at last 5 1/3 innings in all six of seven starts and not allowed more than three runs in any of the starts. He has 24 strikeouts, including a career-best eight against Rogers State on March 2. He threw a complete game two-hitter in 3-1 victory over SCSU on March 30, going seven innings with two strikeouts with four walks and throwing 88 pitches. He started but was not involved in decision in USF's 2-1 11-inning win over SMSU on March 26, allowing just two hits and one run in three innings with four strikeouts among his 40 pitches.  In a 3-1 win over Minnesota Crookston on April 7, he allowed just five hits and one earned run in six innings as he picked up his third win of the season. Five times, he has worked at least six innings.
 
Since Metro State opening weekend, USF starters and BP rock solid
Since the opening series against Metro State, freshman Anthony Reese and junior Spencer Dokken has been rock solid out of the bullpen.  Reese has a 1.62 ERA in seven appearances, allowing just three earned runs in 16 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts. Dokken has made nine appearances and put together a 2.04 ERA in 17 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts and just four earned runs allowed. During that time span, senior Dylan Gavin has a 2.31 ERA and 3-2 record with 22 strikeouts in 35 innings of work.  Freshman Brandon Roesler has a 2-1 record with a 3.09 earned run average with 22 strikeouts in 35 innings and just 12 earned runs allowed. Overall, the Cougars have a 4.56 ERA in 183 2/3 innings with just 93 earned runs allowed. The staff has a 112-to-88 strikeout to walk ratio.

Numbers game - USF's DII era
In a review of the best totals in USF's DII era, senior right fielder Matthew Minnick, who is averaging .314 with a .373 OBP in his four years at USF, is the leader in home runs with 19, RBIs with 124, hits with 197, and total bases with 298. Junior first baseman Josh Rehwaldt, who has the best average in the DII era at USF at .386, is second in home runs with 15, second in RBIs with 113, second in total bases with 281 and third in hits with 189. Rehwaldt also has the most intentional walks with nine. Senior outfielder/infielder Brent Jarvis, who has played second base, third base, left field, and center field this season, has the second most runs scored at the DII level with 121. He also leads with 75 walks and 25 hit by pitches.