Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CROOKSTON, Minn. – Sterling mound performances and solid offense led the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (6-22, 4-11 NSIC) to a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road sweep over Minnesota Crookston (15-9, 7-3) on Wednesday.

USF, which won by 10-1 and 3-2 scores, recorded its first NSIC doubleheader sweep of the season and did so against a team that was second in the league with a 7-1 record at the start of the day. With the victory, USF improved to 4-11 in league play and sit 13^th in the league as UMC dropped to 7-3 and dropped to fifth in the league standings.

On the day, USF pitchers had a 1.12 earned run average as they allowed just eight hits and two earned runs. The Cougars had a strong strikeout to walk rate as they had 19 strikeouts to just four walks. USF's bullpen allowed just one hit and had eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. In the first game, Matt Graham picked up the win with his best performance at USF (six innings, five hits, five strikeouts, one run) and in game two Payton Livingston allowed just two hits and one earned run with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Then, the bullpen took over and shut the door on UMC.

On offense, USF hit .254 as a team with 17 hits and 13 runs in 67 at bats. Sam Michels had a career-best three hits and three RBI in game one and Alex Robinson hit .571 with four hits in seven at bats while scoring two runs with an RBI. Ryan Bernardy had three hits in seven at bats with three RBI. He had a pair of doubles. Josh Rehwaldt had three hits, including his third triple of the season, and an RBI. The Cougars also stole eight bases in nine attempts and had just three errors.

G1 – Sioux Falls 10 Minnesota Crookston 1 (seven innings)
Led by a career-best pitching performance from redshirt sophomore Matt Graham and 11 hits on offense, USF won game one, 10-1 over UMC. Redshirt freshman Sam Michels led the offense with a career-best three hits and career-high three RBI while senior All-Region infielder Josh Rehwaldt had three hits and two runs scored. Junior outfielder Ryan Bernardy chipped in with two hits and an RBI.

Graham, who improved to 2-1 on the season, held UMC's hitters in check with his best-ever effort at USF. He tied a career-high by throwing six innings (U-Mary, April 19, 2008) and allowed just five hits and one run with a career-best five strikeouts. Over the past 10 2/3 innings, Graham has allowed just six hits and one earned run. USF senior Spencer Dokken closed for USF as he had two strikeouts and a walk in one inning of relief.

USF scored three runs in the first inning, added one in the third and four in the fourth inning for an 8-0 advantage. After UMC put up a run in the fifth inning, USF answered with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

UMC starter Zach Rustad worked three innings and gave up five hits and eight runs – three earned – with five strikeouts and four walks. Matt Nelson replaced Rustad and worked two innings with four strikeouts and three hits allowed.  UMC used a total of four pitchers with Rustad taking the loss.

The Cougars started fast against UMC as the first four runners reached. The Cougars took a 1-0 lead after Rehwaldt's triple scored Connor King, who had walked. After sophomore shortstop Grant Lung walked, he stole second and advanced to third on throwing error by the catcher on a play in which Rehwaldt scored. Michels followed with an RBI single as the Cougars took a 3-0 lead.

After a double by Bernardy, it was Michels again with an RBI single as USF took a 4-0 lead in the third inning. In the next frame, UMC committed a couple of errors which led to Trey Hubers coming home after a bunt sacrifice by Ryan Meyer which turned into an error. Meyer advanced to second on another UMC error and scored the second unearned run of the game. Then, freshman outfielder Connor King reached on an error by UMC and stole second base.  Rehwaldt and Lung proceeded to walk to load the bases with no outs. Once again, Michels came through and his third hit of the game and third RBI scored Rehwaldt.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Griffin Fussy doubled to right center to scored Scott Finberg as UMC cut the lead to 8-1.  USF answered in the sixth inning as Alex Robinson scored on an RBI single by freshman designated hitter Nash Dalzell.

King scored on a hit by Robinson as USF took a 10-1 lead in the seventh inning and then Spencer Dokken closed it out for USF.

G2 – Sioux Falls 3 Minnesota Crookston 2 (9 innings)
In game two, USF used four pitchers to hold UMC to two runs and three hits while Bernardy had a two-run double. Then, USF scored an unearned run in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie. Nash Dalzell reached on an error by the shortstop was bunted to second and scored on an error by UMC on a ground ball by King.

After that pitching dominated on both sides. Sophomore Payton Livingston had his best start of the season as he allowed just two hits and two runs – one earned – in 4 2/3 innings. In his start, he set a career-high with six strikeouts while issuing just one walk. Senior Christian Lazar took over for Livingston in the fifth inning and was dominant. He worked 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief and recorded two strikeouts He now has 22 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Sophomore Keenahn Coyle worked the eighth inning and gave up a hit but had two strikeouts. After giving up a hit, he picked off UMC's Reed Hjelle which was Coyle's team-leading sixth pickoff this season and the team's ninth overall. In the ninth inning, USF head coach Grant Hieb turned to his senior left-hander Mitchell Lyall, who didn't allow a ball out of the infield. Lyall picked up the save while striking out two batters and threw just 11 pitches, nine which were strikes. He retired the final batter on a weak groundout to the left of the mound. USF pitchers threw 75 strikes among 128 pitches thrown.

Nate Albrecht (2-2) was the hard luck loser in game two. He worked seven innings as he allowed five hits and three runs – two earned – with four strikeouts and a walk.
In game two, USF scored quickly again as Bernardy hit a two-run double which scored Lung, who walked, and Robinson who had singled. In the bottom of the first inning, UMC answered with an unearned run as Blake Jorgenson reached on an error, stole second and came home on a USF throwing error. In the second inning, UMC's Scott Finberg homered to tie the game at 2-2.

The Cougars broke through in the top of the seventh inning as a couple of errors allowed USF to take a 3-2 lead. Nash Dalzell reached on the first error and then scored two outs later when Connor King's ground ball was not handled by the UMC second baseman.