SIOUX FALLS. – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (0-6) will begin a seven-game Florida trip when they face Grand Valley State (4-5) in a doubleheader at noon on Friday, March 8 in Kissimmee, Fla. USF will also face U-Mary (2-5) at 3 p.m., and Minnesota Duluth (0-0) at 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 9 in Auburndale, Fla. After a day off, USF will meet Notre Dame (Ohio) (2-5) at 5:45 pm., in a doubleheader on Monday, March 11 in Kissimmee, Fla.  USF also has a single game with Northwood (7-3) on Tuesday, March 12 at 10:30 a.m. in Kissimmee, Fla.

The Cougars, directed by third-year head coach Grant Hieb have opened 0-6 but just finished a three-game series with No. 25 Colorado Mines in which they lost a three-game series by a combined six runs. So far, USF has hit .228 as a team with a home run and 18 RBI in six games. USF has 43 hits, eight doubles, three triples and 60 total bases. As a team, USF, which has eight steals on 15 attempts, has a .317 slugging mark and a .274 OBP.

Notes on the Opponents

Grand Valley State (4-5)
GVSU, which lost 5-2 to Minnesota Crookston on March 5,  is led by seventh-year head coach Jamie Detillon. GVSU, which opened 4-5, is led on offense by Joe Laudont (.522, HR, six RBI) and Chase Carpenter (.448, 13 hits, 3 RBI). As a team, GVSU is hitting .305 with two home runs and 51 RBIs while allowing a .264 average with four home runs and 42 RBIs. On the mound, GVSU is led by Rylan Peets, who has a 1-0 record in two starts with a 2.61 ERA in 10 1/3 innings.

U-Mary (2-5)
U-Mary stands 2-5 on the season after falling to Walsh on March 6. They also play West Virginia Wesleyan College in doubleheader on Friday before facing USF in Auburndale, Fla., at 3 p.m., on March 9. Directed by former Augustana associate head coach and pitching coach Mark Moriarty, U-Mary is led offensively by Braeton Wixo, who is hitting .385 and Chris Scott who is batting .318 with two RBI.  On the season the Marauders have hit .203 with one home run and 18 RBI. They have been led on the mound by Parker McRae (1-0), who has a 0.00 ERA with two appearances and one start. Ian Fisher is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA with two appearances while Zac Martin has made a start and two appearances wit ha 3.24 era.  As a team they have an 8.13 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 52 innings and 85 hits and 47 earned runs allowed. U-Mary was picked to finished 15^th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
Minnesota Duluth (0-0)
Minnesota Duluth (0-0) will open their season against New York Tech in March 8 before facing USF on March 9 in Auburndale, Fla. Bob Rients is in his 20^th season at UMD, including 14 as a head coach.  He directed UMD to an NCAA Tourney berth in 2016 when his team won the NSIC title. The Bulldogs were picked to finished ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll in 2019.
 
Notre Dame (2-5)
Notre Dame (2-5), coached now by Major League Baseball pitching great Len Barker (four teams including Cleveland), who is in his eighth season at NDC (154-190-1), has opened 2-5. They will played four games in Florida before meeting USF Monday. Rick Phillips (.357, two RBI, .406 OBP) and Joseph Paskell (.348, HR, two RBI, .400 OBP) lead the offensive attack for the Falcons. Kenny Pierson (0-1, 2.57 ERA) and Chris Murphy (0-1, 3.27 ERA) are among the leaders of the pitching staff but have not earned a win across two starts. NDC is hitting .224 as a team with a HR and 18 RBI in seven games. On the mound, they have a 4.28 ERA and 43 strikeouts across 61 innings of work.
 
Northwood (Mich.) (7-3)
Directed by head coach Jack Sabol, Northwood (7-3) has won six straight after sweeping No. 22 Ohio Dominican, 7-5 and 17-4 on March 2. They will face Northern State and U-Mary on Saturday, March 9 as well Minnesota Duluth and Augustana on March 10-11 before meeting USF at 8:30 a.m., March 12 at Kissimmee, Fla. In 10 games, Northwood has a .299 batting average with a .391 on-base percentage and 13 home runs. Nick Palmer leads the offense with a .349 average and .404 OBP. He has 15 hits, including a home run and 11 RBI. Colin McClelland (.333, 2 HR, 11 RBI), Kyle Ziegler (.333, HR, 6 RBI) and David Vinsky (.355, 4 HR, 14 RBI) also have opened the season fast for NU. Jake Gross (2-0, 5.71 ERA) and Max Bain (2-0, 5.17 ERA) lead the Northwood pitching staff, which has a 5.79 ERA.

Rehwaldt, Gulbrandson leading offense
Senior infielder Josh Rehwaldt, who was named to the 2019 NCBWA All-Region Team during the preseason,  had six hits in 10 at bats with five RBI in the series with No. 25 Colorado Mines. As a result, the All-NSIC infielder is now hitting .429 with a .478 OBP and .571 slugging mark. With his three-run double in the eighth inning vs Colorado Mines in 13-11 loss on March 1, Rehwaldt took over as USF's career RBI leader in the program's DII era with 136 (Matt Minnick, 134, 2015-18). He also is the USF DII-program leader in hits with 217 (Matthew Minnick, 212, 2015-18). In that game he had three hits for the first time this season and extended his hitting streak to six straight games this season.

Shortstop Grant Lung, had three hits on March 1 (13-11 loss to Colorado Mines) and added a pair of RBIs and runs scored as he lifted his average to .300 on the season. He is now slugging at .348 with a .304 OBP.

Freshman centerfielder Connor King had two hits, three runs scored and an RBI in 13-11 loss to No. 25 Colorado Mines on March 1.  He is now hitting .286 in six starts for USF. King has a .333 slugging mark and .348 OBP.

Also for USF, rightfielder Kyle Gulbrandson had two hits and two RBI on March 1 and moved his season average to .429.  In the three-game set against No. 25 Colorado Mines, he was 6-of-10 for .600 batting average and drove in two runs. Gulbrandson has a .571 slugging mark to match Rehwaldt for the team-high. He also has a .467 OBP in his first season at USF. 

Junior Ryan Bernardy has USF's only home run of the season as he connected on Feb. 28 against CSM. He is hitting .238 with a .429 slugging mark and a .304 OBP.

Loosbrock and Roesler leading USF on the mound
On the mound, sophomore Alex Loosbrock had another solid outing in a 3-2 setback to No. 25 Colorado Mines on Feb. 28. He allowed just a three-run home run in the second and working six innings of six-hit baseball with five strikeouts. He now has a 2.70 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 10 innings. He has walked two and give up nine hits in two appearances.

Brandon Roesler dropped his ERA to 6.60 after a solid start against CSM. On the season, he is 0-2 in two starts but has had 11 strikeouts across 15 innings.  On Feb. 28, he worked 7 2/3 innings against Colorado Mines and allowed seven hits and four runs with four strikeouts and two walks. 

After missing all of last season, junior Dan Johnson has made two appearances and put together a 3.00 ERA with two hits allowed and one run scored. In three innings, he has a strikeout and a walk.