SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (12-24, 12-14 NSIC) will host city rival and No. 3 Augustana (36-2, 21-2 NSIC) in a mid-week Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader at the Birdcage. The Cougars and VIkings will renew their rivalry at 4/6 p.m., on Wednesday, April 25. Then, the Cougars will conclude their regular season road schedule against face Wayne State in Wayne, Neb., on Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28. The USF-WSC doubleheaders start at 1:30/4 p.m. on Saturday and noon/2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
 
USF was 3-3 last week, including a sweep of U-Mary, 6-2, 7-2, in Watford City, N.D., on April 19 and a 1-3 mark against Minot State in Minot, N.D., on April 21-22. Both series were originally scheduled to be held in Sioux Falls but due to heavy snow, the Cougars were unable to host the games and headed north. The games with Augustana will be available by free live video or through live stats.
 
Cougar plaudits
Josh Rehwaldt had his first career two home run game against U-Mary. He now ranks fourth in the NSIC in hitting at .403 with eight home runs and 31 RBI. He ranks third in the NSIC in slugging at .667, second in on-base percentage at .473 and fourth in the league with 52 hits.
 
Jackson Olson ranks fourth in the league with three saves. He shut down Minot State without a hit over the final 1 2/3 innings of 4-2 USF win Saturday, April 20. Over his last 9 2/3 innings and seven appearances, Olson has allowed just five hits and no runs with seven strikeouts.
 
Brandon Roesler (3-2) continued his impressive freshman campaign by recording his third win in five decisions. He threw 6 2/3 innings and scattered 10 hits while allowing two runs with seven strikeouts in 4-2 win over Minot State on April 20.
 
In his third start of the season, redshirt freshman Matt Graham (1-1) put together his longest outing of his career in earning his first career victory. He allowed just two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in six innings in 7-2 win  over U-Mary April 19.
               
Freshman catcher Alex Elizondo had his first career four-hit day, including his first home run (3-run shot) in a 6-2 win over U-Mary in game two on April 19.  In 14 games, he is hitting .270 with a home run and five RBIs.
               
Freshman Alex Loosbrock picked up his first career win in a 6-2 victory on Thursday over U-Mary. He allowed just four hits and two unearned runs with six strikeouts across six innings.
 
Opponent Review -  Augustana
On Monday, Augustana, which is ranked No. 3 n NCAA DII, ran its winning streak to 12 games with 10-2 and 1-0 wins over Minnesota-Duluth to retain a spot at the top of the NSIC.  The Vikings, which own a 15-0 road record, last suffered a loss against St .Cloud State, 2-1, on April 5. AU is directed by Tim Huber, who has a 339-182 mark in his 10^th season at the helm of AU. He is 227-94 in league play. AU leads the NSIC in pitching with a 1.97 ERA and hitting with a .319 mark. Vikings have accumulated 378 strikeouts, 15 shutouts, and allowed opponents just a .190 batting average. On offense, the Vikings have a league high 284 runs, 23 home runs, 73 doubles and nine triples. AU is led offensively by Riley Johnson, who is hitting .381 with a .429 on-base percentage and is one of seven hitters for the Vikings over .300. Jordan Barth is providing the power with five home runs and 47 RBI while Sam Baier has a .314 average with a team-high seven home runs and 41 RBIs. On the mound, the Vikings have a pair of starters at 6-0, including Jacob Blank with a 2.22 ERA and 64 strikeouts while Tyler Mitzel has a 1.82 ERA. David Flattery is 5-1 in seven starters with a 1.43 ERA.
 
AU leads USF, 6-4 in series while in NSIC
In the DII era and as part of the NSIC, USF is 4-6 against the Vikings. The two teams split a year ago as Matthew Minnick's grand slam was the difference in a game one win before the Vikings took game two, 5-3 at Ronken Field. In 2016, USF took a pair of walk-off wins, 8-7, and 5-4 at Harmodon Park. The Vikings swept USF in 2014 (3-2, 14-2) at Harmodon Park and in 2015 (6-5, 3-2) at Ronken Field. In 2013 at Ronken Field, USF defeated AU, 6-2 but lost 2-1.
 
Opponent Review - Wayne State
The Wildcats, which will host Concordia St. Paul on Wednesday, stand sixth in the league at 13-11 and 15-19 overall.  On offense, the Wildcats rank seventh in the NSIC with a .281 batting average with 24 home runs and 156 RBI. They have a .411 slugging percentage and .349 on-base percentage. On the mound, WSC is 13^th in the NSIC with a 6.76 ERA with 186 earned runs allowed in 247 2/3 innings, 213 strikeouts and .308 opponent batting average. Fourth-year head coach Alex Koch leads WSC, with an 86-95 overall record and 60-56 in NSIC play.  On offense Bryce Bisenius leads the lead in hitting at .379 with a home run and 22 RBI. Travis Miller is hitting .364 with six home runs. Andrew Hanson is hitting .347 and Tanner Simmons at .322 with both slugging six home runs.  WSC's top starter is Aaron Ras, who is 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA with eight starts.
 
WSC leads USF, 11-5 in series
In NSIC play, Wayne State holds an 11-5 record of USF. In 2013 at Harmodon Park, WSC and USF split with the Wildcats taking 10-4 and 3-2 decisions and USF winning, 2-1 and 5-1. In 2014, USF defeated WSC, 5-4, but lost 13-3, 5-3, and 3-0 in a four-game series in Wayne, Neb. In 2015, WSC swept USF, 10-7, 10-0 at Harmodon Park. USF split with WSC in 2016 in Wayne, Neb., taking a 5-1 decision but falling 12-5. A year ago, USF recorded a 12-6 decision in the opener as Josh Rehwaldt homered and had two hits and Matthew Minnick also had two hits, three runs scored and an RBI. USF then lost, 3-1, 4-3 and 11-10.
 
 
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. 
 
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. Rehwaldt, who homered, 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. Nick Belzer finished for MSU, allowed a two-out single to Matthew Minnick, who had two of USF's three hits. Sophomore right-hander Keenahn Coyle took the loss for USF, falling to 1-2 on the season. He had a solid outing with a career high seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.  The Cougars swept U-Mary, 7-2, 6-2 with Matt Graham and Alex Loosbrock earning their first career wins. In the opener, Rehwaldt homered twice and had four RBIs. In game two Alex Elizondo had four hits including his first career home run, a three-run shot. Anthony Lopez also deposited a three-run home run in the game two win. USF dropped 3-of-4 to second place Minot State on April 21-22. USF lost 3-0, 8-1 and 16-7. In a 4-2 win on Saturday, Brandon Roesler earned his third win of the season. Jackson Olson closed for his third save.
 
How USF stands overall
USF ranks 13th in the league with a .239 batting average and have hit 22 home runs, which ranks tied for sixth in the NSIC, in 30 games. USF has a .317 on-base percentage and is slugging at .343. On the mound, the Cougars have a 5.15 ERA, which ranks fifth in the NSIC. The Cougars have allowed 315 hits, 164 earned runs with 188 strikeouts, 133 walks and a .284 batting average in throwing 286 2/3 innings.
 
USF, which was picked 11th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll, is led by head coach Grant Hieb, who is 28-52 in his second season with the program.
 
Rehwaldt ranks third in the NSIC in hitting at .442
Junior first baseman Josh Rehwaldt now ranks fourth in the NSIC in hitting at .403 with eight home runs and 31 RBI. He ranks third in the NSIC in slugging at .667, second in on-base percentage at .473 and fourth in the league with 52 hits. Rehwaldt, who has 16 multi-hit games this season, has 31 RBIs, 86 total bases and six stolen bases.   He has an RBI in 16 different games and multi-RBIs in eight 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 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Player of the Week honor on Feb. 20. Rehwaldt is hitting .488 against right-handers (40-of-82), .255 against left-handers (12-of-47) and 25-of-61 for .410 with runners on base.
 
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 18 career HRs, 121 RBI, 198 hits, and 107 runs in making 134 career starts. The home runs and RBIs rank second all-time in USF's DII era with his 198 hits sitting third. He also has the program's top average of .381 and doubles with 44 in the DII era. Rehwaldt has a career slugging mark of .588 with an on-base mark of .426 and 23 steals. He also has 30 multi RBI games and 63 multi-hit games. He has 62 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 .313 with 40 hits, with two home run and 13 RBI and 16 runs scored. Gavin is slugging .414 with a .367 on-base percentage. Twelve times, he has multi-hit games. In nine starts on the mound this season, Gavin has a 3-5 record and 2.82 earned run averaged. Gavin, who has two complete games, has gone at last 5 1/3 innings in eight of nine starts and not allowed more than three runs in any of the starts.  Gavin is hitting. 391 against lefties on 18-of-46 hitting and 22-of-82 for .268 average against right-handers.  
 
 
This and That
 
The Cougars are 11-0 when leading after six games and 4-0 when ahead through eight frames. When USF scores first, they are 8-4 and 5-3 when they score in the first inning. USF is 8-6 when out-hitting foes but 4-15 when the opposition holds the hitting edge. Against right-handed starters, the Cougars have an 8-14 record but are 4-10 against southpaws. As for day games, USF is 10-21 but 2-3 at night. Also, USF has a 3-3 record in one-run games, 5-4 in two-run games and 2-1 in extra innings.