SIOUX FALLS – Despite a pair of solid outings on the mound, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (9-29, 7-18 NSIC) dropped a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games to No. 20 Augustana (27-11, 20-4 NSIC) on Tuesday night at the Birdcage.

Game 1 – Augustana 2 Sioux Falls 1
In the opener, Evan Furst (4-0) and Ryan Helgensen combined on a four-hitter as the Vikings edged USF in a pitcher's duel. Furst allowed two hits and one run with five strikeouts in throwing 89 pitches. Then, Helgeson earned his third save with 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief. He had two strikeouts and allowed two hits.

USF also had a solid work on the mound. Sophomore starter Matt Graham, who worked three innings and allowed two runs on three hits in throwing 55 pitches, dropped to 2-3 on the season. Three USF relief pitchers did not allow a run and just one hit over the final four innings. Christian Lazar continued his solid relief work with one inning of shutout relief as he lowered his earned run average to 2.79 on the season. Freshman Sean Nussbaum also had an inning of shutout relief while sophomore Jackson Olson worked two innings of shutout relief and had a strikeout and a walk in throwing 24 pitches to eight batters.

Both teams had four hits in the game.

After AU scored two runs in the third inning on a hit and RBI by Michael Svozil and Ryan Nickel. USF also scored a run in the third inning as Trey Hubers scored on Grant Lung's team-leading 30^th RBI.

Game 1 – Augustana 7 Sioux Falls 1
Led by Tanner Brown's strong performance on the mound and three hits and three RBI by JT Mix, the Vikings defeated the Cougars, 7-1, in game two of the NSIC doubleheader.

Brown allowed three hits and a run with 11 strikeouts in throwing 99 pitches to 23 USF batters. Josh Olson (1 1/3 innings, strikeout), Jed Schmidt (2/3 innings, walk) and Michael Brandt (inning, no hits, strikeout) finished up for the Vikings.

USF had a strong performance from sophomore Payton Livingston, who worked six innings with five strikeouts while throwing 88 pitches to 27 batters. He permitted seven hits and three earned runs. Also on the mound for USF was sophomore Keenahn Coyle, who gave up two hits and a run with a strikeout in one inning of work. He also recorded his team leading 10^th pickoff of the season (USF has 13 as a team). Mitchell Lyall gave up a hit and one earned run in 1 1/3 innings in throwing 24 pitches. It is the first earned run that Lyall has allowed this season. Olson finished for USF as he worked in his second straight game and recorded a strikeout in retiring both hitters he faced.

USF had three hits as Grant Lung and Trey Hubers had singles and junior Ryan Bernardy hit his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning off Brown. The Vikings were led by Mix with three hits and three RBI while Riley Johnson had three hits, including a home run, and two RBI. AU finished with 10 hits and were aided by three USF errors.

USF will travel to face Upper Iowa on April 19-20 in Fayette, Iowa in an NSIC three-game series.