BROOKINGS, S.D. – Despite two home runs and three hits from Josh Rehwaldt, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (10-32) dropped a high-scoring 11-7 decision to Division I South Dakota State (19-16) in nonconference baseball on Tuesday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

USF, which will face Winona State in NSIC baseball on April 27-28 in Winona, Minn., played SDSU for a third time (0-3) in the program history and battled the Jackrabbits of the Summit League tough all day. USF scored five runs in the sixth inning to tie the game before SDSU answered with a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth inning and then added a pair in the seventh inning to earn the victory. The Cougars, which wrapped up their nonconference schedule, finished with seven runs on 13 hits but committed six errors while SDSU had nine runs on 13 hits and made one error.

Rehwaldt led USF's offense with the two home runs (back-to-back solo shots in sixth and seventh innings), which was the 25^th and 26^th of his career and a single while recording his 17^th steal of the game. He now has seven home runs and 29 RBIs this season and his average jumped to .338 on the season. Rehwaldt, an all-region infielder, who tied his career high for home runs in a season with eight (2018), now has 157 career RBIs and 258 career hits as he is the school's DII leader in both categories. Also supplying three hits to USF's attack was freshman outfielder Connor King, who also had an RBI. Sophomore catcher Sam Michels had two hits and an RBI.

USF freshman pitcher Jacob Emerson started but did not figure in the decision. Emerson worked three innings and allowed eight hits and five runs while striking out three in throwing 65 pitches. John Berroth took the loss to fall to 1-1. He allowed three runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings while throwing 50 pitches. Spencer Dokken (1 2/3 innings, one hit, two runs, both unearned, two walks, strikeout) and Charles Roskowiak (inning, two strikeouts), who lowered his earned run average to 2.00, finished for USF. The Cougars registered nine strikeouts and walked two hitters as they now have 282 strikeouts against 111 walks this year.

SDSU's Alex Marro picked up the win to move to 1-0 on the season. He was the final of six SDSU pitchers to throw in the game and he allowed two hits and a run with two strikeouts across two innings. Korey Kuhlmann started but didn't figure in the decision. He allowed four hits and a run with two strikeouts in three innings. SDSU recorded eight strikeouts while walking four hitters.
Josh Falk led the offense of SDSU with two hits, including a three-run home run, and had three RBI. Gus Steiger added two hits and two RBI while Nick Smith had three hits and an RBI.  

In the high-scoring affair between the Jackrabbits and Cougars, it was SDSU who jumped off to a fast start. In the bottom of the first inning, Falk hit a three-run home run as the hosts took a 5-0 lead over USF.  Down 6-0, freshman infielder Trey Hubers singled, stole second, and scored on sophomore Grant Lung's two-out single in the third inning as USF pulled within 6-1.

Both teams were held off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when the teams combined for eight runs. USF scored five runs on five hits in the top half of the frame.  Rehwaldt started things for USF by hammering his seventh home run of the season. He hit his seventh home run of the season and 25 of his career with a solo shot to open the 6th inning. After Rehwaldt's HR, Alex Robinson and Ryan Bernardy rapped singles which was followed by a run-scoring single by Michels as USF cut the lead to 6-3. With two out, freshman outfielder Connor King also had a run-scoring single to help USF draw within, 6-4. Then, SDSU committed an error as Nash Dalzell and Michels scored to tie the game at 6-6.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, SDSU had the answer. Nick Smith produced an RBI single and then a balk by USF allowed the Jackrabbits to take an 8-6 lead. A wild pitch by USF brought in Smith as the SDSU lead grew to 9-6. In the top of the seventh inning, Rehwaldt had his second home run of the game and did so in consecutive at bats as the Cougars crawled within, 9-7. In the bottom of the frame, SDSU scored a pair of unearned runs produced by USF throwing errors for the 11-7 advantage.