SIOUX FALLS – With the ongoing challenges of weather, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team, which has won 5-of-8 games, will play both the University of Mary and Minot State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball in North Dakota this weekend. USF will face the University of Mary (2-28, 0-20 NSIC) in a two-game mid-week series at 9:30 a.m./noon on Thursday (April 19) at a neutral field in Watford City, N.D. Then, the Cougars will travel to Minot, N.D., for a four-game series with Minot State at 1:30/4 p.m. on Saturday (April 21) and noon/2:30 p.m. on Sunday (April 22) at Corbett Field.
 
The games were originally scheduled as USF home games at the Birdcage in Sioux Falls. After 14 inches of snow hit the Sioux Falls area on Saturday (April 14) and another 3-5 inches expected today, field and weather conditions forced the move away from the Birdcage to another site. The game with U-Mary was originally scheduled for today but moved to Thursday in Watford City. The weekend series will be held on the same days with only the site changed.
 
USF was 1-1 last Friday, April 13 against U-Mary, including a 5-3 win over Upper Iowa to earn a split of a doubleheader in Plattsmouth, Neb. The Cougars also lost to the Peacocks, 3-0, and Minnesota State, 3-1 and 6-0 in on Thursday, April 12 at the Birdcage. As a result, the Cougars stand 9-21 overall and 9-11 for ninth in the NSIC. U-Mary is 2-28 overall and 0-20 in the NSIC for 15th place. Minot State is 18-11 overall and 16-3 for third in the league.
 
Notable performances
Senior Dylan Gavin had a big day against Upper Iowa  with five hits in six at bats for a .833 average in the doubleheader. The senior from Pueblo, Colo., pushed his average to .318 and hit his first home run of the season and the seventh of his career. He also exhibited his utility to USF as he pitched a complete game, the second of the season, in a 3-0 game one loss as he allowed just two earned runs and had seven strikeouts. Gavin lowered his ERA to 2.66 and made his seventh start of five innings or more. In the four games against UIU and MSU, he batted .538 with seven hits, two hits and a home run as he had a .600 on-base percentage and .769 slugging mark. In the 5-3 win over UIU, Gavin had four hits, including his home run. Freshman Gabe Shemwell also had a big performance with a hit and a career-best three RBIs. He just missed a grand slam earlier in the game, sending the Peacocks' left fielder to the wall to haul in the drive by the freshman outfielder.
 
USF's pitching staff had a solid performance, putting together a 2.61earned run average with just nine earned runs and 28 hits allowed in 31 innings. Aside from Gavin, sophomore Jackson Olson allowed no runs on two hits in three innings while making two appearances for a 0.00 ERA. Junior Spencer Dokken also had a 0.00 ERA while allowing just two hits in two innings. Starter Brandon Roesler allowed four hits and one earned run with six strikeouts in six innings of work in a no-decision against UIU (5-3 USF win). In the 6-0 loss to MSU, sophomore Keenahn Coyle put together one of his best performances of the season as he allowed just two earned runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.
 
Opponent Review - U-Mary
U-Mary, directed by interim head coach Kevin Walsh, most recently dropped a pair of games to Concordia St. Paul, 7-0, 6-0, in Minnetonka, Minn., on April 12. The Marauders rank 11th in the NSIC in hitting at .265 with one home run and 98 RBI, .302 slugging mark and .345 on-base percentage. On the mound, they have a 6.91 ERA, which ranks 13th in the league, with 132 strikeouts in 228 innings. Teams are hitting .305 against U-Mary.

The offensive attack is led by Jesus Pavan, who is hitting .368 with team-highs in RBIs (18), slugging percentage (.425) and on-base percentage (.409).  Travis Stevens is hitting .295 with Connor Doll at .284.
 
Opponent Review – Minot State
The Beavers, which have won two straight games, own a 10-3 record on a neutral field and are 8-8 away but have yet to play a home game. Head coach Scott Eul is in his second season at Minot State, accumulating a 41-28 record.  The Beavers won 2-of-3 from Minnesota Duluth in its most recent series. They recorded a season-best 27 runs in a 27-12 victory on Monday, April 16 after a 13-9 win in the second game of a doubleheader on April 15. However, the lost to UMD, 5-3, in the opener. At the plate, Minot State is hitting .272 for eighth in the league. They own one of the league's best slugging units, owning a league-high 34 home runs with 162 RBIs and a league-best .462 slugging mark. On the mound, the Beavers have a 5.47 ERA to rank eighth in the NSIC. They have accumulated 192 strikeouts in 222 innings with teams hitting .301.

The hitting attack is fueled by Michael Borst, who is hitting .324 with three home runs and 22 RBIs with a .402 on-base percentage. Darrel Doll is batting .308 with a league-high eight home runs and 31 RBIs (4th, NSIC) while slugging .681 (2nd, NSIC) and owning a .463 on-base percentage (4th, NSIC). Seven pitchers have made starts for the Beavers with Reilly O-Rourke holding a 2-1 record in seven starts with a 7.24 ERA. Justin Demary is 3-4 in seven starts with a 4.14 ERA while Andres Hackman has a 3-4 mark in seven starts with a 5.35 ERA. In eight relief appearances, Tanner Galey stands 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Also out of the bullpen, Jack Gamba has a 1.98 ERA in eight appearances and is tied with a team-high two saves.
 
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, Neb. 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.  Dalton Roach of MSU moved to 7-0 by holding USF to six hits in tossing a complete game in a 3-1 victory. Senior Stuart Maes (1-6) took the loss for the Cougars, working 2 2/3 innings and allowing three hits and one earned run with a strikeout and three walks. USF scored its only run in the fourth inning on Josh Rehwaldt's sixth home run of the season. Rehwaldt and Dylan Gavin both had a pair of hits for USF. In game two, senior left-hander Aaron Rozek limited USF to a pair of hits over six innings as MSU captured a 6-0 decision for the sweep. On April 13 against Upper Iowa, USF took a 3-0 loss before rebounding with a 5-3 victory as Dylan Gavin had four hits and freshman Gabe Shemwell supplied a career-high three RBIs, including the game-winning two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
Cougar Tracks
USF ranks 14th in the league with a .241 batting average and have hit 16 home runs, which ranks tied for sixth in the NSIC, in 30 games. USF has a .313 on-base percentage and is slugging at .334. In league games only, USF is 12th in hitting at .243 with 73 runs scored. On the mound, the Cougars have steadily made progress this season with its 5.05 ERA ranking sixth in the NSIC. In league-only games, USF ranks fifth in the lead with a 3.89 ERA in 20 games. They have 108 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings. Overall, the Cougars have allowed 260 hits, 134 earned runs with 151 strikeouts and a .283 batting average in throwing 238 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 third in the NSIC in hitting at .442
Junior first baseman Josh Rehwaldt ranks second in NSIC in hitting at .411 (34th in NCAA DII), and slugging pct., at .643 while sitting sixth in on-base percentage at .460 and fourth with 46 hits. Rehwaldt, who has 14 multi-hit games this season, has 24 RBIs, 72 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 12 different games and multi-RBIs in five contests. He 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 NSIC 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 16 career HRs, 114 RBI, 192 hits, and 105 runs in making 128 career starts. Rehwaldt has a career slugging mark of .581 with an on-base mark of .421 and 23 steals. He also has 28 multi RBI games and 61 multi-hit games. He has 60 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

Gavin doing double duty
Senior Dylan Gavin,  is handling double duty for USF. On the season he is hitting .318 with 34 hits, with one home run and 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. Gavin is slugging .383 with a .371 slugging mark. Ten times, he has multi-hit games. In eight starts on the mound this season, Gavin has a 3-4 record and 2.66 earned run averaged as he has allowed 35 hits and 14 earned runs in 47 1/3 innings. He has gone at last 5 1/3 innings in seven of eight starts and not allowed more than three runs in any of the starts. He has 31 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.
 
This and That
The Cougars have an 8-0 record when leading after six innings and stand 2-0 when ahead through eight innings. USF, which is 6-11 against right-handed starters, own a 7-18 mark in day days and are 2-1 in extra inning tussles. When USF has hit a home run they stand 4-4 and are 6-5 when outhitting opponents. USF is 6-4 when they score first but just 3-17 when the opponent gets on the board first.  
 
USF has totaled 51 multi-hit games, including a team-best 14 by Rehwaldt and 10 by Gavin, who owns the longest hitting streak of 13 games and has hit in two straight. Rehwaldt leads USF with six multi-RBI games as the team has 21 in total.