WAYNE, NEB – With a season-game-high in runs scored, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (14-28, 14-18 NSIC) outscored Wayne State, 21-13, in game two and earned a split of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. USF lost game one, 14-10 after leading 9-6 late in the game.

With the victory, the Cougars stopped a four-game winning streak and remain in ninth place, just .17 behind Northern State (17-17) for eighth place. USF is 14-18 in league play for .438 while NSU is 10-12 which .455 is. Each league team has four games left in the season. The Cougars will host Concordia St. Paul (20-12), which is 13-9 and tied for fifth in the league, on May 4-5 at the Birdcage. NSU plays at Winona State (17-18), which is 16-12 in the league and in sixth place. Upper Iowa (14-21) and Minnesota Duluth (16-25) are tied for 10^th at 12-17 and also remain in the hunt. Upper Iowa closes with Minnesota State (30-11), which is 25-7 and third in the league while UMD hosts Minnesota Crookston (20-27), which is 14^th in the league at 6-22.

In a pair of slugfests Sunday, the Cougars and Wildcats combined for 58 runs on 58 hits with USF hitting .426 and WSC, .387.

Lung leads USF offense on Sunday
USF was led by freshman shortstop Grant Lung, who reached based 11-of-12 times in the doubleheader. He had a .750 batting average with three hits in four at bats while scoring eight runs (four runs in each game), stealing two bases and recording five RBI. On the day, he had a 1.000 slugging mark and .917 on-base percentage. Also for USF senior Brent Jarvis hit .571 with six runs scored and three RBI. Senior Dylan Gavin, who improved his season average to .338, had five hits in nine at-bats with three RBI and three runs scored. Junior Josh Rehwaldt, who improved his season average to team-high .404, had five hits in 10 trips to the plate with a team-high six RBI. He had two doubles and a triple with three runs scored. Rehwaldt, who moved up to second in the league in hitting, now has exactly 100 total bases on the season. He also ranks second in USF DII-history with 128 RBI and has 321 total bases, the best on the team since USF joined the NSIC. Senior Matthew Minnick, who now has a DII-program best 130 career RBIs, also had four hits in nine at-bats with four RBI.

Bats come alive over the weekend
This weekend, the Cougars' bats came alive as they jumped their season average from .237 to .246. USF, which was 1-3 this weekend, did so by collecting 43 hits in 128 at bats and hitting .336 as a team over the four games. USF had nine extra base hits and 37 RBI while registering a season-best .473 on-base percentage over a four-game span. In addition, USF had nine steals and 57 total bases. In the past four games, Gavin and Riewoldt each had seven hits while Rehwaldthad seven RBI. Connor Merriam had six hits in the past four games, hitting a pair of home runs and driving in a team-best eight runs. He now has 17 career home runs, which ranks third in the school's DII era.

Game 1 – Wayne State 12 Sioux Falls 10
Despite scoring its third most runs of the season, USF dropped a 14-10 slugfest to WSC in game one. It was a back and forth affair with the Cougars opening up a 5-2 lead and also owning a 7-6 lead after a Merriam home run in the third inning. However, WSC scored four in the second, six in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth inning to take their third straight game in the series.   

Gavin (4-6) took the loss for USF as he threw four innings and allowed 10 hits and eight earned runs. It was the most runs that Gavin had allowed this season. On a windy day, he allowed five walks with just one strikeout. Christian Lazar worked 1/3 of an inning, giving up two hits and two runs. Payton Livingston tossed one inning of relief, allowing two hits and two runs. Also working out of the bullpen for USF was John Berroth, who closed the sixth inning by retiring both batters he faced.

Offensively, USF was led by Merriam and Rehwaldt, who each had two hits and two RBI. Merriam slugged his sixth home run of the season and 17^th of his career. Lung had a hit, three walks, four runs scored and two RBI. Gavin also had two hits and two RBI.

WSC was led by Bryce Bisenius with three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. Rob Ramsey hit a three-run home run and Alex Logelin had a pair of hits. WSC starter Aidan Breedlove was touched for five hits and six earned runs before departing in the fourth inning. Brady Johnson (1-2) picked up the win as he threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and a run with two strikeouts and three walks. Lawson Zenner earned his sixth save of the season with 1 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen, although USF loaded the bases and put the tying run at the plate in the seventh inning.

Lung walked to open the game and stole second, moving to third on a throwing error by the Wildcats' catcher. Rehwaldt hit a sacrifice fly to score Lung as USF took a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats answered with two in the home half of the inning as Andrew Hanson had an RBI single and a USF error led to an unearned run as WSC took a 2-1 lead.

In the second inning, Jarvis singled, and after Merriam was hit by a pitch, both advanced on a wild pitch. Gabe Shemwell walked to load the bases and with one out Luke Rysavy's RBI groundout plated Jarvis as the Cougars drew even at 2-2.  Lung then followed with an RBI double as the Cougars gained 4-2 lead. Gavin followed with RBI single which scored Lung as USF put up four-spot in second inning. After WSC had a four-run second to take back a 6-5 lead, the Cougars received a two-run bomb from Merriam and a 7-6 lead.

In the fourth inning, Rysavy and Lung walked to open the inning and Gavin's sac fly scored Rysavy with Lung also scoring on an RBI single from Rehwaldt as USF built a 9-6 lead.

Once again, WSC had the answer by putting up six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 12-9 lead. USF cut the lead to 12-10 on an RBI fielder's choice by Minnick, which scored Lung. But the Cougars didn't draw any closer.

Game 2 – Sioux Falls 21 Wayne State 13
USF set a season-high in runs scored with its second most hits in a game this year (19) to record a 20-9 win over Wayne State in game two of the doubleheader.

The Cougars ended a four-game losing streak with the victory in which they scored in every inning. USF scored single runs in the first, second and ninth innings; three runs in the third and fourth innings; two runs in the fifth, sixth and seven innings; and six runs in the eighth inning.  

USF's offense was led by Minnick, who had four hits in five at bats with a run scored and three RBI. Rehwaldt had three hits, three runs scored and four RBI while Gavin had three hits, three runs and an RBI. Merriam supplied two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Lung had another big game with two hits, three RBIs and four runs scored as he reached base six times in seven plate appearances.

USF sophomore Keenahn Coyle (2-3) picked up the win by working 5 2/3 innings and allowing eight hits and three earned runs (eight total runs). With his 94 pitches, he issued four walks and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Junior Spencer Dokken recorded his second save by working the final 3 1/3 innings.

The Cougars scored first as Lung reached on a walk and scored on Rehwaldt's double. WSC tied the game when Bryce Bisenius had an RBI single to score Tanner Simons, who had reached on a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a USF throwing error. USF broke the tie as Merriam and Minnick opened the second inning with base hits and Merriam came home on an RBI ground out by Ryan Meyer. WSC tied the game on an unearned run before Tanner Simons homered for a 4-2 lead.

USF responded in the third inning as Gavin led off with a single and scored on a triple by Rehwaldt, who came home on a throwing error by WSC as USF tied the game at 4-4. After Jarvis doubled, Minnick had a run-scoring single for a 5-4 advantage. After WSC regained the lead at 6-5, USF answered in the top of the fourth inning. Lung walked, stole second and scored on Gavin's double. Rehwaldt followed with a single to score Gavin and he came home on Merriam's single to left field for an 8-6 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 10-6 on RBIs from Rehwaldt and Jarvis. In the sixth inning, Lung added to the lead by hitting a two-out two-run double to score freshmen Ryan Meyer and Alex Elizondo for a 12-7 advantage. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Simons homered to cut USF's lead to 12-8.  

USF's margin moved to 14-8 after Rehwaldt walked and later scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Merriam and Minnick's RBI single plated Jarvis. In the eighth inning, the Cougars added six more runs, utilizing a two-run single from Jarvis, seven walks and a hit by pitch. The Wildcats had two runs in each of the final two frames but the gap was too wide as the Cougars earned a split of the doubleheader.