SIOUX FALLS  – After a 4-0 start, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will face Minot State (2-3) in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener for both teams on Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21. The series was originally scheduled to be held in Sioux Falls but a site reversal was made due to the heavy snowfall in Sioux Falls this past week.

USF and MiSU will play a doubleheader at 1:30/3:30 on Saturday, March 20 and then a single game at noon on Sunday, March 21.To follow along, click here for live video and click here for live stats.

After a road sweep at Truman State, USF is 4-0 for the first time since 2010 when the Cougars had an 8-0 start while a member of the NAIA. This is the first time in the NCAA DII era that USF is off to such a strong start. In the opening weekend, the Cougars earned a 6-5 win in the opener and then took a 6-2 decision followed by a 2-1 win and put together its best offensive display of the season in a 16-4 win. As for Minot State, the Beavers split with Northwest Missouri State on Feb. 22-23, as they took a 14-6 win and lost 13-4. On Feb. 24, they fell to Pittsburg State, 4-2 and Rogers State, 13-5 on Feb. 25 before taking a 5-3 win over Central Oklahoma on Feb. 27.

Series Breakdown – MiSU leads, 13-11
This will be the 25^th meeting between Minot State and USF with the Beavers owning a 13-11 advantage. In the last match up, Minot State took a 6-2 decision on March 31, 2019. It was part of a three game sweep for MiSU, which also took a 4-0 and 14-3 decision that weekend. With these games reversed from Sioux Falls to Minot, USF again plays away from Sioux Falls. USF has not had a home game against MiSU, since March 30, 2014 and those games were in Sioux City, Neb.  The last time USF played MiSU in Sioux Falls was on April 7, 2012 when USF won 5-4 in nine innings and lost 6-2. MiSU has won five straight in the sereies since USF took a 4-2 decision on April 21, 2018. In fact, the Beavers have won 10-of-11 games. USF longest winning streak was six games from April 7, 2012 to March 29, 2014 as the Cougars had wins of 5-4, 10-7, 7-0, 10-0, 5-1, and 5-0. In the second game on March 29, MISU took a 8-2 win to break the streak. The first meeting was a 14-8 USF win on March 12, 2006 as USF won the first three games of the series. MISU has twice won five straight against USF in the series.

MiSU – By the Numbers
As a team, the Beavers are hitting .221 while opponents bat .287. MISU has 40 hits in 181 at bats with six home runs and 25 RBI across their five games. They are slugging at .387 with a .332 OBP. Jackson Pakorney leads the offense with a .353 average and has a home run and four RBI. He owns a .421 OBP. Jordan Williams is batting .294 with three RBI and .333 OBP.  On the mound, MiSU has a 7.12 earned run average with 54 strikeouts, 29 walks and 34 earned runs allowed across 43 innings. They are led by RJ Martinez who is 1-0 in two starts with a 3.60 earned run average. Noah Myhre is 0-1 with a 3.60 earned run average and 11 strikeouts while Jordan Chappell has a 1.80 earned run average with 12 strikeouts in five innings.
 
BREAKING DOWN 4-GAME SWEEP – USF at a Glance
During the four-game sweep, USF had four straight solid starts as Andrew Maslowski, Cole Schumacher, Matt Graham and Alex Krout all earned wins. Those four combined for a 2.33 earned run average with 18 strikeouts against five walks in 27 innings. They allowed just seven earned runs and 21 hits. Schumacher allowed just three hits in seven innings in a complete-game victory. He is 1-0 with a 1.29 earned run average and five strikeouts. Graham had a complete game and is 1-0 with a 2.00 earned run average with three strikeouts and six hits allowed in nine innings. Alex Krout was the game one starter and is 1-0 after going five innings and allowed two earned runs with a career-high seven strikeouts. He has a 3.60 earned run average. Andrew Maslowski is 1-0 after throwing six innings in the 16-4 win and now has a 3.00 earned run average with three strikeouts. As a unit, USF has 21 strikeouts in 30 innings and have held opponents to a .221 batting average.
 
Offensively, USF hit .304 as a team with 38 hits in 125 at bats with 14 extra base hits (10 doubles), 25 RBI, 58 total bases, .412 OBP and .464 slugging mark. Leading the way is sophomore outfielder Trey Hubers, who is hitting .545 with six hits in 11 at bats and a .615 OBP. Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .400 with two home runs and a team-high seven RBI and 14 total bases along with a .933 slugging mark and .471 OBP. Redshirt freshman Tyler Cate is hitting 400 with a .571 OBP and three stolen bases. Senior Ryan Bernardy is among the eight USF hitters hitting over .300 with his .385 average and a .529 OBP.

Player Notes -- Lung and Bernardy lead way

Grant Lung, who has a .263 career average, 18 stolen bases, 60 RBI and 29 multi-hit games. Lung, who has 101 hits in 383 at bats, has 31 career extra base hits (21 doubles, four triples, six home runs) which has helped him to 148 total bases and a .364 slugging percentage. A starter in 110 career games, he has 19 career stolen bases and 57 runs and  16 multi-RBI games (10 2-RBI games, 5 3-RBI, including a career high 6-RBI game in 2019).

Senior Ryan Bernardy, who hit .325 a year ago, has totaled 11 home runs, and 44 RBI in his career with a .261 batting average. Bernardy, who is hitting .385 in 2021, has 70 hits in 268 at bats along with 47 RBI. During his career, Bernardy has 24 extra base hits (10-2B, 5-3B, 11-HR) which has helped him to 127 total bases and a .467 slugging percentage. In addition, he has 16 steals along with 56 runs scored and 372 putouts on defense and 28 assists with just 11 errors in his career giving him a .974 fielding percentage. He has 17 multi-hit games (14 2-hit games and three 3-hit games) as well as 13 multi-RBI games (eight 2-RBI games and five 3-RBI games).


Breaking it down – Game-by-Game
G1 -- Sioux Falls 6 Truman State 5 (7 innings)
With solid pitching from Alex Krout and Payton Livingston plus three hits from Bernardy and two by three other players, USF successfully opened the season with a 6-5 road win over Truman State in game one of the doubleheader.Krout (1-0) earned his first win of the season and third at USF by throwing five innings and recording a career-high seven strikeouts. In five innings, he threw 67 pitches while allowing two runs and four hits. Payton Livingston earned the save by working two innings and allowing three hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts. At the plate, Bernardy had three hits in four at bats. He hit a triple and had an RBI. Lung had two hits in four trips to the play with two RBI. In his first career game, designated hitter Tyler Cate had two hits and two RBI while Hubers also had a pair of hits. USF collected six runs on 11 hits and made two errors. Connor McKenna took the loss for TSU as he allowed six runs in six innings with seven strikeouts.

G2 – USF 6 Truman State 2 (nine innings)
Led by a complete game from junior right-hander Matt Graham and clutch hitting from Hubers (three hits) and Lung, USF completed the 6-2 come-from-behind win and a sweep against Truman State on day one of the two-day four-game series. Graham (1-0) allowed just six hits and two earned runs in throwing the complete game, which was the first of the year and fifth of his career. He had seven strikeouts and three walks on the day. USF was led offensively by Trey Hubers, who had a career-best three hits with a run scored, RBI and stolen base. Grant Lung added two more hits, including his first home run of the season while scoring two and knocking in two. In the game, USF had nine hits and six runs, which all came from innings 6-9 as the Cougars rallied for the victory.

 G3 -- Sioux Falls 2 Truman State 1 (7 innings)
In the opener of a doubleheader Saturday, junior Cole Schumacher threw a complete game three-hitter to lead USF to its third straight win. Schumacher was back up by RBIs from Tyler Blackburn and Jared Binfield, who had one of USF's six hits. The Cougars also had hits from Noah Buss, Ryan Bernardy, Grant Lung, Trey Hubers and Tyler Cate. But the story of the game was Schumacher, who allowed just three hits across seven innings. He recorded five strikeouts and walked three in throwing 94 pitches. His only blemish was a home run allowed to Luke Turner in the bottom of the third inning. He retired 11 of the last 15 batters and only one hit among those who reached.

G4 -- USF 16 Truman State 4 (7 innings, run rule)
With a 16-run explosion, fueled by three hits and two RBI from Connor King and three RBI from Grant Lung and Zane Butts, the Cougars rolled past Truman State, 16-4, in game two. USF, which scored its most runs since a 17-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on March 6, 2020, had 11 hits by eight different players. But King, who ended an 0-12 slide to open the season, was a key factor with three hits and two RBI. It is the third time in his career, he has had three hits. Butts also broke out of a slow start with two hits and tied a career-high (Grand Valley State, March 7, 2020) with his three RBI. Lung also came up big with three RBI, two runs scored and his second home run of the season. USF also had hits from Alex Bertram, who had two RBI, Kyle Gulbrandson, who also had an RBI, and Noah Buss, who also scored a run. In his first start of the season, Maslowski (1-0) was solid by allowing just two earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts across six innings. Charles Roskowiak worked the other inning and threw shutout relief in his first appearance of the season.