SIOUX FALLS – Matt Graham had a sterling effort on the mound and the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team earned a second straight series win with a 4-3 decision over Wayne State at Sioux Falls Stadium on Sunday in NSIC Baseball action.

USF is now 12-14 overall and 8-14 (11^th, NSIC) in the NSIC after earning their fourth win in the past five games. With the loss today, WSC fell to 10-14 and 9-11 in league play.

"We had a great team win today," said USF fifth-year Head Coach Grant Hieb. "Matt Graham pitched well and worked deep into the ball game likes he has been doing for us all year. Then, Alex (Krout) stepped in and shut the door. Our defense was solid behind both of them with Grant Lung having a very good game at shortstop," he said.

"It was big for our squad to win the series with our in-town rivals next on the schedule," said Hieb, whose team is scheduled to play the Augustana Vikings on Wednesday at 5/7 pm at Ronken Field at Augustana.

Graham moved to 2-2 on the season by working 7 2/3 innings on the hill and allowing five hits and three runs with three strikeouts and three walks while throwing 84 pitches. Alex Krout earned his second second save by throwing 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief. 

Offensively, USF collected 12 hits with two hits from Connor King, Grant Lung, Jared Binsfeld and Trey Hubers. Lung, Bernardy, and Hubers had RBI for the Cougars.

Ryan Obrecht (3-1) took the loss for Wayne State as he allowed 10 hits and four runs (two earned) with four strikeouts in throwing 79 pitches.

After WSC scored three times in the third inning, the Cougars countered with two. First, Lung had an RBI single which brought home King. Then, Bernardy's sacrifice fly scored Tyler Cate. In the fifth inning, USF pushed across two runs to take the lead. When Binsfeld stole second, Bernardy advanced home and scored on a throwing error by the Wildcats to tie the game. Then, Hubers had the big hit with two out as Binsfeld scored.

Breakdown – Stats – Last 5 Games
USF's top three hitters have had a big week as they have a combined 26 hits in 57 at bats for a .456 average. Plus, they have 20 runs scored and 15 RBI with three stolen bases and a combed .602 slugging mark. Leading the way is sophomore centerfielder Connor King, who hit .500 over the past five games with eight hits, eight runs scored, three RBI and his first career- home run against SMSU. He had a .750 slugging mark and .636 OBP. Tyler Cate had nine hits and nine runs scored with four RBI while batting .450 and slugging at .550 with a .522 OBP.  Grant Lung had nine hits in 21 at bats and had a team-high eight RBI. In addition, Tyler Blackburn hit .417 with five hits, including his first career home run and Zane Butts hit .412 with seven RBI, seven hits and four runs scored. He also hit his first career home run. As a team, USF hit .358 in the five-game span and had 45 runs scored with 57 hits and a .535 slugging mark. On the mound, USF had stellar efforts from Andrew Maslowski, who had a complete game win over SMSU and Matt Graham (7 2/3 innings, three runs, three strikeouts) and Caleb Ditmarson (6 2/3 innings, six hits, four runs, three strikeouts), who both had quality starts working into at least the sixth inning.