KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (2-11) closed its spring break schedule with a hard-luck 5-3 loss to Northwood (11-4) on Tuesday morning at Osceola Heritage Field.
The Cougars finished the spring break trip at 2-5. Against NU, the Cougars took an early 3-1 lead before the Timberwolves rallied with a single run in the fourth inning and three more in the game-deciding seventh inning.
Dakota Roberts (2-0) picked up the win for NSU as he allowed just four hits and three runs with three strikeouts in six innings. Lennon Gwizdala picked up his second save by throwing 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and registering three strikeouts. Sophomore right-hander
Alex Loosbrock (0-3), who was one of four USF pitchers to work innings, took over in the fifth inning. He allowed three runs on three hits with two strikeouts in three innings. Freshman
Sean Nussbaum started for USF and allowed one earned run and three hits over 3 1/3 innings with five strikeouts.
Jackson Olson finished the fourth inning by recording outs against both batters he faced. Sophomore right-hander
Brandon Roesler finished for USF with two innings of relief as he allowed just one hit with two strikeouts.
USF was led on offense by freshman outfield
Connor King with a single, run scored and RBI. Freshman outfielder
Kyle Gulbrandson also singled and scored while
Sam Michels had a double and run scored. Sophomore
Ryan Meyer had a single and run scored.
Game Breakdown -
NU opened the scoring when Colin McClelland singled to score Kyle Ziegler for a 1-0 advantage. USF answered in the bottom half of the inning as King singled and stole second. With two out, he scored on a balk by NU pitcher Dakota Roberts. The Cougars took a 3-1 lead in the third inning as Gulbrandson singled and advanced to third on a double by Sam Michaels.
Ryan Meyer's single scored Gulbrandson with Michels coming home on an RBI groundout by King.
In the fourth inning, the Timberwolves scored an unearned run to cut the lead to 3-2. Sackett, who opened the inning with a walk, scored on a sacrifice fly by Cole Brooks after a USF error and wild pitch had set him up at third base.
In the seventh inning, Brooks led off with a double and Ziegler walked as a two-out RBI double from Nick Palmer plated both runners and NU took a 4-3 lead. Palmer scored on a single by Keaton Sackett.
USF Notes -
Through 13 games, freshman
Kyle Gulbrandson leads USF in hitting with a .405 average and has nine RBI with a .476 OBP. All-league infielder
Josh Rehwaldt is hitting .354 with a team-high 11 RBI and has slugged at .521 with a .436 OBP. He also has a team-high six steals in eight at-bats. Sophomore shortstop
Grant Lung has hit .292 with 10 RBI and .364 OBP.
Sam Michels is hitting. 286 with a .444 OBP and fielding mark of 1.000. USF has a team batting average of .252 which is a jump of 24 points from .228 over the opening six games. USF has a .338 OBP and .359 slugging with four home runs and 44 RBI as well as 21 steals in 32 attempts.
On the mound, USF is led by senior
Christian Lazar, who has a 1.93 ERA through four appearances and recorded nine strikeouts. Sophomore
Matt Graham has a 1-0 record, 4.15 ERA and three strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings. In four appearances with three starts, sophomore
Brandon Roesler owns a 0-3 mark with a 5.14 ERA and a team-best 17 strikeouts in 21 innings. In the seven games on the Florida road trip, USF knocked off three runs from its earned run average with several steady mound era and now stands at 7.18 through 100.1 innings. USF has 81 total strikeouts.
