SIOUX FALLS -- After the 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (0-0), which returns nine of its top 10 batters and seven of its top eight pitchers, is ready to begin the 2021 season at Truman State (0-4) March 12-13 in Kirksville, Mo. 

Fans can follow the Cougars on social media at USF_Athletics on twitter or by clicking on live stats or watching live. The match up with TSU is the first between the two program in USF's DII history.

USF will open the season against Truman State, which is 0-4 after falling four times to Lindenwood on March 5-7. They lost, 7-0, 3-0, 12-1 ad 12-2 in games at St. Charles, Mo. As a team they are hitting .193 with three runs and 23 hits and a .226 OBP. They are led by Will Fromm, who is hitting .385 with five hits in 13 at bats. Reid Wilson is batting .313 with five hits in 16 at bats. TSU has a 7.45 earned un average with 23 strikeouts in 29 innings. TSU Head Coach Dan Davis, who has 208 career wins in his 15th season, led his squad to a 4-14 year in 2020.

USF is directed by fourth year Head Coach Grant Hieb, who has led USF to a 52-107 record. A year ago, USF was 5-8 and ended the season with a 6-5 win over No. 7 Ashland. Before the season was cut short, USF had a .265 average with three home runs, nine triples, 23 doubles and 88 runs scored in 13 games. The Cougars had a .393 OBP and a .387 slugging mark. On the mound, USF had a 6.93 earned run average in 13 appearances with 82 strikeouts and 39 walks across 100 innings of work.

"This is the most talented group I've had in my short time as the Head Coach at the University of Sioux Falls," said Hieb, who will be assisted by Rob Hirrschoff and former USF standout Gunner Peterson. "I've had an experienced group and am returning almost my entire starting lineup from last season. We ended the shortened 2020 season with a big win against a top 10 opponent and I'm hoping that's a sign of good things to come for this year," he said.

Player Notes - Lung and Krout named Players to Watch

USF was recently picked to finish 13th in the NSIC Preseason Poll, is looking forward to starting the new season strong with tons of returning talent. The Cougars, which had a 5-8 nonconference record before the season was shut down, will be led by junior shortstop Grant Lung, named by the NSIC as a Player to Watch, who has a .258 career average, 18 stolen bases, 53 RBI and 27 multi-hit games. Lung, who has 95 hits in 368 at bats, has 27 career extra base hits (19 doubles, four triples, four home runs) which has helped him to 134 total bases and a .364 slugging percentage. A starter in 106 career games, he has 18 career stolen bases and 52 runs and 133 multi-RBI games (8 2-RBI games, 4 3-RBI, including a career high 6-RBI game in 2019).

Sophomore outfielder Connor King hit .390 in the shortened season a year ago, with 10 RBI and six steals. In his career, King has a .275 career average with 52 hits in 189 at bats along with 21 RBI. King, who has started 60-of-61 games, has nine extra base hits (4-2B, 4-3B, 1-HR) to help him to 67 total bases and a .355 slugging percentage. He also has 20 career steals with 52 walks and 42 runs scored along with 13 multi-hit games(10 2-hit games and 3 3-hit games) and five multi-RBI games(4 2-RBI games and a career high 3-RBI game in 2020). 

Senior Ryan Bernardy, who hit .325 a year ago, has totaled 11 home runs, and 43 RBI in his career with a .255 batting average. He has 65 hits in 255 at bats along with 46 RBI. During his career, Bernardy has 22 extra base hits (9-2B, 4-3B, 11-HR) which has helped him to 119 total bases and a .467 slugging percentage. In addition, he has 15 steals along with 52 runs scored and 341 putouts on defense and 28 assists with just 10 errors in his career giving him a .974 fielding percentage. He 15 multi-hit games (13 2-hit games and two 3-hit games) as well as 13 multi-RBI games (eight 2-RBI games and five 3-RBI games).

Also back is Jacob Binsfield, who In his first season at USF, hit .313 with seven RBI, a .406 slugging percentage and had a .343 OBP. On defense he had a .941 fielding percentage with 15 putouts and an assist. He made nine starts in 10 games with 10 hits in 32 at bats with four runs scored. Binsfield had 2 multi-hit games (2-hit game and 3-hit game) as well as two 2-RBI games. Another return is outfielder Brennan Albert, who .298 with a team high 12 RBI and a .426 slugging percentage in 2020. A starter in all 13 games a year ago, he recorded two stolen bases, had a .411 OBP and a .960 fielding percentage with 23 putouts and an assist. He had 14 hits in 47 at bats with 11 runs while recording 20 total bases and four extra bases hits with two doubles and a pair of triples. Albert had three multi-hit games, including two games with two hits and one with three hits. He also had three multi-RBI games 2 games with 2 RBI and a 4 RBI game which came in the 17-3 win over MSU Billings… longest hit streak was 4 and longest on-base streak was 8... Albert hit .333 with RISP and tallied a .375 AVG with 2 outs along with four 2-out RBI(.298, 12 RBI).

 Zane Butts hit .239 with 11 RBI and a .370 slugging percentage a year ago. A starter in 13 games, he had 11 hits in 46 at bats with 12 runs scored. Butts had two doubles, two triples and 17 total bases. He had three multi-hit games (1 2-hit game and 2 3-hit games) and three multi-RBI games (two, 2-RBI games and a 3-RBI game), including his 2-4 three RBI game against Grand Valley State.

NSIC Pitcher to Watch Alex Krout returns as part of a veteran staff. He was 2-0 with a 3.44 ERA in 18.1 innings which was the most on the team. Krout appeared in four games with two being starts. 

Jack Blogg had a 1-1 record, 0.00 earned run average in four appearances (one start) as he worked 8 2/3 innings.  He had nine strikeouts, six hits and two walks. Opponents hit just .188 off of him in their 32 at bats on the year. In a 10-0 win against West Virginia Wesleyan, he threw six innings with eight strikeouts and only two hits. 

Payton Livingston had a 1-0 record with a 2.45 earned run average in seven innings in 2020. He had a 1-5 career record with 32 strikeouts in 50 innings of work. He has made 25 appearances with nine game starts with has a 5.22 ERA and has surrendered 63 hits, 41 runs, 29 of which were earned, and walked 19 batters…  

Matt Graham had a 1-1 record in five appearances, including four starts, while pitching 17 innings. He allowed 24 hits, 10 runs and registered 16 strikeouts. In his career, he is 4-7 with 52 strikeouts. Graham has worked 81.2 innings with 16 starts in 32 appearances.   

After the four-game series at Truman State, the Cougars are scheduled to open the NSIC season at home (Birdcage) on March 20 with a doubleheader at 1:30/3:30 pm against Minot State. They will also play Sunday March 21 at noon against Minot State.