SIOUX FALLS- The University of Sioux Falls Baseball squad (1-2) will take their second trip to Colorado in three weeks when they make a trip to Denver this weekend. In the three-game series, the Cougars will face off against the Metro-State Denver Roadrunners. The two teams will play at The Regency Athletic Complex.
USF opened the season with a 8-5 loss to Montana State-Billings and a 5-0 setback to Colorado St. Pueblo before exploding for a 17-3 win against MSU-Billings. In their win USF had a season high 17 hits as
Brennan Albert was 3-of-4 with four RBIs. Ryan Bernady added three hits and three runs with two RBI while
Grant Lung had three hitsand four runs while
Trey Hubers supplied a pair of hits.
Alex Krout earned his first career win by going five innings and allowing just one earned run.
Jack Blogg worked the final two frames and gave up two hits.
The Rundown (2020 Record)-
Fri., Feb. 28, 1:00 p.m. at Metro-State Denver Roadrunners
Sat., Feb. 29, 1:00 p.m. at Metro-State Denver Roadrunners
Sun., Mar. 1, 12:00 p.m. at Metro-State Denver Roadrunners
Metro-State Denver Roadrunners (2-9)-
The Roadrunners, was ranked 5
th in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after going 28-24 last year. Ryan Strain, the head coach of MSU-Denver, is in his 3
rd season of coaching the Roadrunners and has a record of 52-61. Players to watch will be OF Chase Anderson, 2B Zach Walsh, and a DII second-team All-American P/OF Logan Soole.
Through 11 games the Roadrunners have three hitters batting over .300 and a lineup that has blasted 11 home runs and average 4 runs per game. Senior Cade Peters leads the team with a .421 batting average, 16 hits, 3 home runs, 8 RBI, and a .737 slugging percentage. Freshman infielder Brice Martinez will also be a player to watch as he is hitting .370 and has 8 hits in his last 5 games.
Of the pitchers, Cade Crader has shown to be the early season ace by boasting a 2.40 ERA along with a team high 17 strikeouts in 15 innings. The MSU-Denver team holds a 4.57 team ERA and has set down 100 batters on strikes. Opponents have hit .268 against the Roadrunner staff.
Sioux Falls Cougars (1-2)-
The Cougars, under third year head coach
Grant Hieb, has started 1-2 but are coming off a big win. On January 16
th, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) office released the NSIC Preseason Release and Coaches Poll. USF received 31 points in the Preseason Coaches Poll, placing the Cougars at 14th in the conference. So far, USF is led by
Brennan Albert, who has a .455 average with five hits and five RBI.
Grant Lung is one of four USF hitters over .300 as he has a .364 mark with four runs.
Connor King has hit .333. On the mound,
Matt Graham had a solid outing in the opening as he allowed just seven hits and a run across six innings although USF lost, 8-5. The USF staff has a 5.75 ERA while USF is hitting .265.
The History-
For the Cougars and Roadrunners, this will be the 16
th, 17
th, and 18
th matchup between these two ball clubs. The Cougars have an all-time record against the Roadrunners of 1-14, as the Roadrunners have won the last 7. The last Cougar win over MSU-Denver came on February 26, 2017 when they won 7-4 in an 11-inning affair.
