SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will begin a 10-game road trip as the Cougars begin with the University of Mary (5-7, 3-4 NSIC) on April 2-3 in Bismarck, N.D. The Cougars and Marauders play a single game at 11 am on Friday, April 2 and then a doubleheader at noon and 2 pm on Saturday, April 3.

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After playing U-Mary, USF has a mid-week doubleheader at Northern State (5-7, 4-4 NSIC) at 1:30/3:30 pm in Aberdeen, S.D., on Wednesday, April 7 and then the Cougars head to St. Cloud State (6-5, 4-2 NSIC) for three-game on April 10 (1:30/3:30 pm) and April 11 (noon). USF will then go to Southwest Minnesota State on April 14 (1:30/3:30 pm) for a mid-week doubleheader. The Cougars return home on April 17 for a three-game series against Wayne State with a doubleheader at 1:30/3:30 pm on April 17 and a noon start on April 18.

The Cougars has won 3-of-4 games and finished a seven-game homestand at 3-4. USF dropped a doubleheader to Minnesota Crookston, 15-3 and 7-5 before taking two of three against Bemidji State, as they lost 18-11 and won 4-0 and 9-3. In a mid-week doubleheader on March 31, USF split with Minnesota Duluth, falling 15-9 and winning 9-7.
 
U-Mary had a split of a mid-week series at Winona State as they took a 9-3 win in game one but lost 8-7 in game two. They have two wins in the last six games.  This year, Mary ranks 12^th in hitting at 2.32 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI with a .391 slugging and .323 on-base percentage. Mary ranks eighth in pitching with a 5.42 earned run average. They have allowed 55 earned runs in 91.1 innings and allowed six home runs and a .227 batting average.

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. Then USF has gone 3-4 since for a 3-7 overall NSIC mark and 7-7 mark overall.

Series Breakdown vs. Mary – USF leads, 13-6
This will be the 20th meeting between Mary and USF with the Cougars owning a 13-6 advantage. However, U-Mary took the most recent decision, 4-3, on March 18, 2019. USF has won four straight to Mary but has a 9-2 mark away and a 13-5 conference mark. USF is 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. USF's last win was a 6-2 decision on April 19, 2018 when the Cougars won a doubleheader with a 7-2 first-game win. In the first matchup as NSIC foes, USF earned a 4-0 decision on April 25, 2013 in Sioux Falls. U-Mary won the second game, 5-0. USF six straight from April 22, 2014 to April 4, 2015. USF also had a six-game winning streak against Mary from March24, 2016 to April 19, 2018.    

Breaking Down Cougars – USF at a Glance
USF is hitting .263 as a team, which ranks seventh in the NSIC as they have jumped their average 17 points over the past seven games. USF has hit eight home runs with 80 RBI and owns a .397 slugging (8^th, NSIC) and .376 OBP (9^th, NSIC). The Cougars rank second in the NSIC in stolen bases with 35 in 44 attempts. USF is fielding 962 with 17 errors along with 105 assists. USF has scored 88 runs in 14 games which is eighth in the NSIC. The Cougars also have 108 hits which is eighth in the NSIC. On the mound, USF ranks 13^th in the NSIC with a 7.04 earned run average and fifth in innings at 110. The Cougars have 107 strikeouts for sixth in the NSIC while sitting 13^th in walks with 69.

Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .333 in 14 starts and is tied for the team lead with 16 hits. He has a .521 slugging mark with two home runs, three doubles and a team-high 16 RBI. He has a .397 OBP and is 5of-5 in stolen bases. Lung, who has hits in 12 games this year, twice has three RBIs in a game and four other times has two RBI in a game as he has totaled six multi-RBI games this season and 19 in his career (12-2 RBI games, 6 3-RBI games, including a career-high 6-RBI game in 2019). A starter in 120 straight games, he has 23 career steals, 60 runs, 32 career extra base hits, 69 career RBI and 111 hits in 416 at bats for a .267 career average. Lung has 18 multi-hit games in his career.

Senior first baseman Ryan Bernardy has jumped his average to a .314 (from .261, jump 53 points) as he has gone 10-of-27 over the last seven games. During that stretch he has hit all four of his home runs and recorded a team-best 13 RBI. He had a season-best five RBI against Bemidji State on March 27. Six times this season has multi-hit games and 21 in his career (3-3hit games, 17 2-hit games). Bernardy has 15 career home runs, which ranks fourth at USF in the DII era, and 57 RBI (11^th in DII era). He has 81 hits in 305 at bats for a .265 batting average.   
The Cougars are led on the mound 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. 

During the homestand, Zane Butts jumped his average by .50 points to a .205 with three multi-RBI games and been dazzling on defense with 10 putouts and 16 assists with just three errors over the past seven games. Among his standout defenisve plays was catching a foul ball catch in which he had to reach into the bullpen in a very athletic play. He does not have an error in the last four games

Junior Matt Graham is 1-1 with a 5.06 earned run average with a complete game and 17 strikeouts in a team-high 21.1 innings. Alex Krout is 3-1 with a 5.60 earned run average in five appearances with three starts. He has 16 strikeouts and three walks. In three starts, Andrew Maskowski is 1-2 with 13 strikeouts against three walks.

Situational Hitting – USF hitting .309 with runners on
The Cougars have a .263 average against right handers with 94 hits in 358 at bats but are 14-of-53 against southpaws. With runners on base, USF is hitting .297 (63-of-212) while batting .381 (8-of-21) with the bases loaded. With runners in scoring position USF is at .268 with 41 hits of 153 at bats. USF has a .643 success rate with runners on third and less than two outs. In two out hitting USF is batting .241 while having a .498 percentage in advancing runners and has a 4-of-4 for 1.000 mark in pinch hitting opportunities.