SIOUX FALLS. – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (0-3) will travel to face Colorado Mines (6-2) in a nonconference three-game series at Jim Darden Field on Thursday, Feb. 28 and March 1.The Cougars and Orediggers will play a doubleheader at 3 pm and 6 p.m., on Thursday. The two teams will also play at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon in Golden.

The series has been moved up to beat the cold and snowy conditions projected for the Golden, Colo., area this weekend. The original series was set to be held March 1-3. Live stats and live video will be available for all three games in the series.

Notes on the Opponent – Colorado Mines
Colorado Mines, which is led by first-year head coach Robbie Bales, has opened 6-2 after a four-game sweep of St. Edwards (3-2, 7-1, 7-4, 13-5). They have a five game winning streak after splitting four games with Angelo State to open the season. Phil Van Zale leads Mines with a .400 average along with two home runs and five RBIs. Trevor Kehe is hitting .345 with nine runs scored while Jace Selsor is at .344 with two home runs and seven RBI while Derek Daly has five home runs and 12 RBIs in the opening eight games. As a team, UCM is hitting .314 with 13 HRS and 59 RBIs and allowing .340 with eight home runs and 53 RBIs. On the mound, UCM is led by Walter Pennington, who is 1-0 with 1.80 ERA in two starts. Gabe Garvens is 2-0 with a 2.19 era in four appearances.

Series Notes
USF has played UCM five times took defeats each time. In 2018, USF fell, 13-12; 8-4; and 13-6. They also to UCM 15-4 and 2-1 in 2017
 
USF will look to get offense on track

USF opened the season at Metro State and dropped three games by scores of 5-1, 13-3 and 19-1. Sophomore shortstop Grant Lung is leading the USF offensive attack with four hits in 12 at bats for a .333 batting average and .333 OBP. Infielder Josh Rehwaldt, who was selected to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Preseason All-Region Team, is hitting .273 with three RBIs and a triple. He has a .455 slugging mark and .333 OBP while fielding at 1.000.  As a team, USF is hitting .170 and allowing .413 to opponents. Rehwaldt, a two-time All-NSIC selection, finished in the NSIC's top-10 in eight offensive categories a year ago. He was sixth in hitting at .388; fourth in slugging (.631), on-base percentage (.459), hits (52), sixth in doubles (13) and home runs (eight) and eighth in RBIs (41).  He returns with a career average of .377, which ranks best among USF players in the DII era. In the DII era, Rehwaldt ranks first in doubles with 47, second in hits with 208, second in home runs with 18 and second in RBIs with 134. He trails former USF teammate Matthew Minnick who had 212 hits, 19 home runs and 134 RBIs from 2015-18.  Rehwaldt has 65 career multi-hit games which includes 23 with three hits or better. He also has recorded 33 multi-RBI games with 15 of three RBIs or more. In 2017, he was USF's first-ever NCAA DII all-region player with his selection to the 2017 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) DII squad.

USF's pitching has been led by Alex Loosbrock who set a creer high with seven strikeouts across four innings in relief. Dan Johnson also had a solid first outing and didn't allowing a run or hit in an inning after missing all of last season. Brandon Roesler (0-1, 8.59 era, 7.1 inning, seven strikeouts), Jackson Olson (0-1, 11.25 ERA, four innings, three strikeouts) and Keenahn Coyle (0-1, 16.88 era, 2.2 innings, two strikeouts) all made starts for USF against Metro State.

Roesler is USF's leading returning pitcher after putting together a 4-3 record with a 3.41 ERA (16^th, NSIC) in 2018 as a true freshman. He recorded three complete games in 10 starts and had a shutout. He registered 42 strikeouts and just 14 walks in tossing 63 1/3 innings across 13 appearances.  

USF, which returns five position starters and three pitchers who made starts a year ago, were picked to finish 11^th in in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches Poll which was released Jan. 17 by the league office. USF, which is directed by third-year head coach Grant Hieb, finished 10^th in the NSIC at 15-21 (15-31 overall) a year ago and finished with 65 poll points and just behind Minnesota Crookston for 10^th (67 points) in the poll.

Following the trip to Golden, Colo., the Cougars will head to Florida for seven non conference games, beginning with Grand Valley State in Kissimmee, Fla., on March 8. USF will open the NSIC portion of the schedule on March 16-17 with three games against U-Mary at the Birdcage (Sioux Falls Stadium).