SIOUX FALLS  – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will begin a seven-game home stand by hosting Minnesota Crookston (7-0, 3-0 NSIC) on Thursday, March 25 at Brandon, S.D., and then Bemidji State (1-8, 0-4 NSIC) on March 27-28 at Sioux Falls Stadium with two more games on Tuesday, March 30 against Minnesota Duluth (3-3, 1-2 NSIC).

The mid-week series against UMC tomorrow is at 1:30/3:30 at the First National Bank Field at Aspen Park in Brandon. The game was moved from Sioux Falls Stadium due to the wet conditions caused by recent snow and rain.   USF will host Bemidji State in a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:30/3:30 pm followed by a game on noon Sunday, March 28. Against UMD, the mid-week series is a doubleheader with game times set at 1:30/3:30 pm.  

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Quick Review of USF
To start the season, USF had a road sweep at Truman State, which allowed the Cougars to open 4-0 for the first time since 2010 when the Cougars had an 8-0 start while a member of the NAIA. This was 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. USF then opened the NSIC against Minot State on March 20-21, falling 12-2, 13-3 and 11-3 in game held at Corbett Field, in Minot, N.D.

Series Breakdown vs. UMC – USF leads, 14-2
This will be the 17th meeting between UMC and USF with the Cougars owning a 14-2 advantage. The Cougars have won five straight and had an eight-game winning streak from March 22, 2014 to April 6, 2016. In home games, USF is 8-2 and 6-0 on the road with a 14-2 league record.  In the last meeting, USF swept the mid-week series, 3-2 and 10-1 on April 3, 2019. The last UMC win was a 2-0 win at Sioux Falls Stadium on March 26, 2017.  The series dates to March 22, 2014 when the Cougars won 6-0. UMC's first win over USF was a 9-4 decision on March 25, 2017.

Series Breakdown vs Bemidji State – BSU leads, 11-10
USF stands 10-11 all-time against Bemidji State but took a 6-5 decision on April 8, 2019 in a walkoff victory as Alex Robinson's home run in the ninth inning was the different. Current shortstop Grant Lung had a two-run hme run in the game.  USF's longest winning streak is three games from April 2, 2018 to March 17, 2018. At home, USF has a 5-3 record and stand 3-6 away with a 9-10 league mark. The last win by BSU was a 5-4 decision at USF on April 7, 2019. The first meeting was on Feb. 16, 2013 when the teams split a doubleheader with BSU winning game one, 8-1, and USF taking game two, 2-1, which was another walk-off win as Matt Thomas had a game-winning RBI single.

Series Breakdown with Minnesota Duluth
USF trails the all-time series, 14-6 but won the last meeting, 7-4 in Sioux Falls on April 9, 2019. Prior to that USF win, UMD had won four straight including a 12-3 win in the opener of the April 9 doubleheader.  USF is 3-7 at home against UMD and 2-6 in away games with a 6-13 conference mark. USF took the first game of the series, 6-5, in a contest at Sioux City, Iowa on March 28. In the second half of that doubleheader, UMD took an 8-4 win. USF scored the most runs in a game in the series with a 17-7 decision on March 29.

Opponents – By the Numbers
On the season, UMC is 7-0 after a three-game sweep at Winona State by scores of 10-0, 12-11 and 14-9. They opened the season against Bemidji State and took a 23-6 decision.  UMD ranks third in the league in hitting at .323 with a .662 slugging and .476 OBP. They have a league-high 101 runs with 17 doubles, six triples and 20 home runs – all totals that lead the league. UMC has a 7.38 earned run average which ranks 13^th in the league and have allowed opponents to hit .285. Opponents have 10 home runs and UMC has 64 strikeouts against 35 walks.

Bemidji State ranks 15^th in the league with a 17.17 earned run average and have allowed 28 home runs and a .410 batting average. The BSU pitchers have totaled 62 strikeouts against 53 walks. They are hitting .239 with a .339 slugging and .335 OBP. BSU has 12 doubles a triple and three home runs with five steals in six attempts.

Minnesota Duluth is hitting .214, which ranks 14^th in the NSIC. They have four stolen bases, nine doubles, two triples and no home runs. They have a .296 slugging mark and .337 OBP. UMD is third in pitching with a 2.86 earned run average and have held six opponents to a .203 average. The Bulldogs have a 44-19 strikeout to bases on ball rate.

BREAKING DOWN COUGARS – USF at a Glance
USF is hitting .246 as a team, which ranks 10^th in the NSIC, with a .355 slugging percentage and .358 on-base percentage. USF is 12-of-17 in stolen bases and has 12 doubles, two triples and two home runs with 72 total bases. Outfielder Trey Hubers lead USF in hitting at .389 with seven hits in 18 at bats and 10 total bases. He has a .522 OBP and is 2-of-2 on steals.

Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .375 in seven starts with team bests in hits with nine, runs with six, home runs with two, and RBI with 10 as well as total bases with 17. He has a .708 slugging mark and .444 OBP. Lung, who has hits in all seven games this year, twice has three RBIs in a game and two other times has two RBI in a game as he has totaled four multi-RBI games this season and 17 in his career (10-2 RBI games, 6 3-RBI games, including a career-high 6-RBI game in 2019). A starter in 113 straight games, he has 19 career steals, 58 runs, 31 career extra base hits, 63 career RBI and 104 hits in 392 at bats for a .265 career average. Lung has 16 multi-hit games in his career.

 Senior first baseman Ryan Bernardy is hitting .261 with six hits in 23 at bats, five runs an RBI and both a double and triple. He has 11 career home runs and 44 career RBI. He owns 71 hits in 278 at bats with 47 career RBI. He has 24 extra base hits, including 10 doubles, five triples and the 11 home runs. Bernardy has 17 multi-hit games (3 3-hit games and 14 two-hit games) and 13 multi-RBI games.

Freshman Zach Andreasen has opened with a .308 average as a designated hitter. In four starts, he has four hits with 13 at bats and two doubles with three RBI.

On the mound, USF has a 6.45 earned run average (10^th in the NSIC) with opponents hitting .288. The Cougars have allowed 11 home runs and 21 extra base s hits but own a 2-to-1 ratio in strikeouts to walks at 49-to-24. The Cougars are led by junior Cole Schumacher, who is 1-1 with a 3.86 earned run average in two starts. He has a team-high 13 strikeouts, including a career-best eight in his last start against Minot State. He threw a complete game three-hitter against Truman State on March 13 when he had five strikeouts.  Junior Matt Graham is 1-1 with a 4.20 earned run average with a complete game and nine strikeouts in a team-high 15 innings. Andrew Maslowski is 1-0 with a 3.0 earned run average while Alex Krout is 1-1 with a 8.64 earned run average in two starts. He has 10 strikeouts and no walks. USF is fielding .973 with six errors, 159 putouts and 55 assists.

Situational Hitting – USF hitting .309 with runners on
The Cougars have a .262 average against right handers with 50 hits in 191 at bats but are 0-12 against southpaws. With runners on base, USF is hitting .309 (29-of-94) while batting .400 (4-of-10) with the bases loaded. With two outs, USF is at .254 (17-of-67) and hitting .556 (10-of-18) with a runner on third and two out.