WAYNE, NEB. – Despite strong pitching outings from Brandon Roesler and Keenahn Coyle, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (9-26, 7-15 NSIC) dropped a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games to Wayne State (25-9, 17-5 NSIC) on a cool 40 degree Saturday (April 13) at the Pete Chapman Complex.

Roesler tossed a complete game and didn't give up an earned run in a 3-2 loss in game one. The Cougars also lost, 7-3, in game two as Coyle threw six innings and allowed just three earned runs. With the loss, USF fell to 7-15 in the NSIC while Wayne State improved to 17-5 and held onto second place in the league standings. USF was hurt by four errors on the day which allowed WSC to score seven unearned runs among 10 total tallies.

Game 1 – Wayne State 3 USF 2 (seven innings)
Roesler (0-5) put together a complete game effort on the mound but USF fell, 3-2, in seven innings. USF was led offensively by senior infielder Josh Rehwaldt with a double and run scored and junior outfielder Ryan Bernardy who had a single and RBI.

The Cougars opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning off Aidan Breedlove (7-2), who picked up his seventh win of the season. After freshman centerfielder Connor King walked and moved to third on a double by Rehwaldt, he scored on sophomore shortstop Grant Lung's RBI ground out. The RBI was Lung's team-leading 28^th of the season. Rehwaldt advanced to third base on the play and scored on Bernardy's RBI single as USF led, 2-0. However, WSC answered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. However, all the runs were unearned.

On the day, Roesler allowed just seven hits and three unearned runs with four strikeouts. He did not walk a batter in throwing 85 pitches. With his outing today, Roesler now has thrown six plus innings in four of his seven starts. Over his last 10 innings, he has allowed just eight hits, no earned runs and struck out seven in 127 combined pitches.

Breedlove, who threw 65 pitches, allowed two hits and two runs while striking out five batters with one walk. Charles Hasty earned the save by throwing one inning of scoreless relief.

WSC was led offensively by Kyle Thompson and Andrew Hanson, who both had two hits, run scored and RBI.

Game 2 – Wayne State 7 USF 3 (nine innings)
In game two, WSC scored six runs in the opening three innings and used the strong pitching of Hunter Wienhoff (8-1) to earn the victory.

USF finished with four hits and scored three runs, including two in the ninth inning. Wienhoff allowed just two hits and an earned running across eight innings. He had seven strikeouts and walked three batters in throwing 115 pitches. Charles Hasty finished for the Wildcats and retired the only two hitters he faced.

Sophomore Keenahn Coyle (0-6) took the loss after allowing nine hits and seven runs but only three earned tallies in throwing a quality start. He had four strikeouts and three walks in throwing 99 pitches. For Coyle, he now has four starts with five plus innings or more. Freshman Sean Nussbaum finished for USF and had three strikeouts while allowing just one hit in two innings of work.

USF's offense was led by Rehwaldt who had a single and RBI while Bernardy also had a hit and run scored. Kyle Gulbrandson had a run scored while Trey Hubers had a hit, run scored and RBI.

Alex Logelin hit his fifth home run of the season to lead the WSC offense. Bryce Bisenius had two hits and an RBI while Peyton Barnes and Logelin also had two hits.

USF and WSC will conclude the three-game NSIC series with a single nine-inning game on Sunday with a noon start time at the Pete Chapman Complex.