SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (17-15, 12-15 NSIC), which is currently on a five-game winning streak, are gearing up to host Winona State (20-12, 17-10 NSIC) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball on Senior Weekend on May 1-2 at Sioux Falls Stadium. On Saturday, May 1, USF and WSU will play a doubleheader at 1:30/3:30 pm and noon on Sunday (May 2) when USF's Seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony. 

The Cougars will also honor their seniors on Sunday prior to USF's game with Winona State which is set for noon. Set to start about 11:40 am, USF will honors seniors including pitcher Matt Graham, infielder Ryan Meyer, catcher Sam Michels, third baseman Zane Butts, pitcher Keenahn Coyle, pitcher Payton Livingston, pitcher Charles Roskowiak, first baseman Ryan Bernardy, and pitcher,  Anthony Reese. 

Graham of Sioux Falls, S.D., who has a 3-2 record this season, is a computer science major. He has a .374 earned run average in seven starts with three complete games. Meyer, an infielder from Brandon, S.D., is an English, psychology and social science major. The son of Randy Meyer and Kyla Meyer, he is hitting .214 in eight games and has a game-winning RBI. Michels of Mitchell, S.D. is a biology major. The son of Jeff Michels and Cherie Ramsdell, he has a home run and three RBI in 17 games, including 12 starts. A Glendale, Ariz. native, Butts, who is a communications major, is hitting .270 in 32 games with a home run, 20 RBI, 39 total bases and a .390 slugging mark. He is the son of Kelly Butts and Joe Butts. Coyle of Sioux Falls, who is the son of Kevin Coyle, Klori Sheppard and Zeb Sheppard, is a history major. Coyle has a 2-1 record an 4.85 earned run average in six appearances with four starts and a complete game. Livingston of Brandon, S.D., is a psychology, sociology and social sciences major. The son of Stuart and Missy Livingston, he is 0-1 with an 8.59 earned run average in 12 appearances with two starts and three saves. Roskowiak of Andover, Minn., is a student in USF's Master of Business Administration (organizational leadership) major. The son of Michele and Don Roskowiak, he has a 1-1 record in five appearances for USF this spring. Bernardy of Minneapolis, Minn., who is a student in the Master of Business Administration program at USF, is the son of Steve and Kari Bernardy. He is hitting .267 in 32 games with a team-high eight home runs (third all-time for season in USF's DII era) and has 29 RBI. He ranks tied for second (Matthew Minnick, 2015-18) in career home runs with 19. Reese of Las Vegas, Nev., is a psychology and sociology major. In four appearances this season, Reese, the son of Daryll Reese and Shana Reese, has a 0.00 earned run average and allowed five hits in 4 1/3 innings. 

After honoring the seniors on Sunday, May 2, the Cougars will wrap up their regular season on the road, with back-to-back NSIC doubleheaders. USF will travel to Mankato, Minn., to take on the MSU Mavericks on Wed., May, 5 with games at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm, and then will head to St. Paul, Minn., to face Concordia St. Paul on Friday, May 7 (1:30 pm and 3:30 pm) and Saturday, May 8 (noon). 

Follow Along - USF vs WSU

To follow along USF Baseball, click here to watch the games live and click here to follow along via live stats. 

You can also follow all games by following the USF Athletics Twitter account for live tweets - @USF_Athletics.

After a weekend four-game sweep (three in NSIC) of the Upper Iowa Peacocks and a road split against Augustana, the Cougars face a Winona St. team that is coming off a successful two game sweep of Upper Iowa and is putting together a solid season so far. The Warriors currently sit at 20-12 overall and 17-10 in the NSIC, placing them at fifth in the league overall. 

Breaking down Winona State

So far this season, Winona St. is hitting .282 with 16 home runs, 166 RBI, a 4.60 earned run average, and 133 earned runs in 184 innings. The Warriors are led by Sam Kohnle, with a batting average of .404, an on-base percentage of .500, 25 runs scored on 46 hits, ten doubles, one home run, 26 RBI, and 59 total bases. Nick Herbst is hitting .323 with 22 runs on 31 hits. Herbst also has three home runs and 20 RBI. On the mound, Austin Savary leads the Warriors, with a 2.57 earned run average. Bailey Banaszynski has pitched the most innings, with 44.1 and has struck out a team-high 64 batters. 

Quick Season Review of USF

To start the season, USF, which is directed by fifth-year Head Coach Grant Hieb, 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. After going to Minot State in a site reversal series (originally scheduled in Sioux Falls), USF lost three games to U-Mary in Bismarck, N.D., by a combined eight runs of 6-4, 8-6 and 8-4 when the Cougars had leads in each game. On April 6, they dropped a 7-3 decision to Northern State in Aberdeen and had a second game canceled after four innings with the game tied at 7-7. The Cougars went 1-2 against SCSU, winning the first game 4-2 on April 12 as Keenahn Coyle was stellar on the hill, and then losing both games on April 13 (1-9, 3-5). USF This past weekend, the Cougars went 2-1 against the Wayne State Wildcats, losing the first game 7-6 on April 17, but then winning the next two games (15-5, 4-3) on April 17-18. In the 15-5 win, USF was led by Grant Lung with three hits and five RBI  as he has pushed his average over .300 to .301. Tyler Blackburn had a career-day with four hits and four RBI and he hit his first career home run. Also homering for the first time was Trey Hubers.

In the past six games, USF has gone 5-1 to move to 17-15 overall and 12-15 in the NSIC. USF split a pair of road games against Augustana, falling in game one, 7-1. In the night cap, Andrew Maslowski pitched a gem as he allowed just five hits and no earned runs across 7 1/3 innings with four strikeouts against two walks. Alex Krout finished for his third save as he allowed two hits and an unearned run with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings. USF was led on offense by Connor King with two hits and two RBI while Trey Hubers added a pair of hits.  Then last weekend, the Cougars opened with a sweep of Upper Iowa on April 24 with a 4-3 victory in game one in which Connor King had a walk-off hit to back the solid pitching of Keenahn Coyle, who earned his second win with a complete game (three runs, eight hits, five strikeouts, seven innings).  In game two, Payton Livingston earned his third save with three innings of shutout relief and Alex Bertram picked up his first win of his career. USF had a career-best four hits from Tyler Cate and three hits from Tyler Blackburn. Noah Buss had three hits and three RBI with his second home run of the season. Ryan Bernardy also took the ball out of the park with his eighth home run of the season. USF trailed 9-5 after 2 1/3 innings but rallied and scored five in the fourth frame in earning the win. In game one on April 25, Matthew Graham had a complete game three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts in a 3-0 win over Upper Iowa. USF also won a nonconference game against UIU, 2-1, as USF utilized six pitchers and Charles Roskowiak had his first career win. Alex Krout picked up his fourth save and Ryan Meyer had the game-winning go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning. 

Stat Breakdown - USF by the numbers recently
In the past six games, USF is 5-1 and has a .274 batting average and .274 earned run average with 19 earned runs allowed in 46.2 innings while registering 34 strikeouts against eight walks. USF had three complete games in the six games. 

Series Notes - Winona St. 

In the last meeting, USF took a 6-4 loss to the Warriors on April 28, 2019. The overall series edge belongs to Winona St., 19-7. Overall, USF is 2-5-1 at home and 5-14 away with a 1-19-1 mark in conference mark during the DII era. In the first meeting in the DII era, USF took a 5-4 decision on the road. The Warriors have won two straight since the Cougars took a 7-4 decision on April 26, 2019. Since 2017, USF and WSU have traded wins and losses. 

Breaking Down Cougars – USF at a Glance

USF is hitting .276 as a team, which ranks seventh in the NSIC. USF has hit 20 home runs and has 60 stolen bases for third in the NSIC. USF has a .405 slugging mark and a .385 OBP while sitting with 169 RBI and 379 total bases. On the mound, USF ranks 10^th in the NSIC, with a 6.10 earned run average and 201 strikeouts. 

In the past six games, USF has hit .274 with two home runs, 25 RBI, 29 runs and 45 hits in that span. USF, which has had 164 at bats in those six games, owns a .354 slugging mark and .396 team OBP during that stretch, when they have nine steals on 16 attempts. Leading the way has been Tyler Blackburn at .357 with five hits in 14 at bats and a .438 OBP. Tyler Cate has hit .333 with seven hits and four runs scored. Noah Buss and Grant Lung each collected five hits. On the mound, USF has a 3.64 earned run average with two complete games, a shutout, three saves and 34 strikeouts against eight walks in 47 innings. 

Over the past 10 games, USF is 8-2 with a .308 average, .421 slugging mark and .403 OBP. USF  has outscored opponents, 63-46, and outhit them, 90-78. The Cougars have six homr runs, 56 RBI and 123 total bases. Leading the way has been Cate with 14 hits in 36 at bats with three RBI and a .476 OBP. Tyler Blackburn is hitting .385 with 10 hits in 26 at bats and hit his first career home run. Grant Lung has hit .375 with 12 RBI and .475 OBP while Connor King is at .333 with 10 hits and 10 runs scored and a .545 OBP. Also for USF Zane Butts is hitting .323 with 10 hits, HR, five RBI. During that 10-game span, USF has a 4.61 earned run average with two complete games and 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio (54-27). In two starts, Graham is 2-0 with a 1.62 earned run average and 10 strikeouts. Alex Bertram is 1-0 with a 1.42 earned run average in three appearances. Alex Krout has a 1-0 record, 3.18 earned run average and three save with seven strikeouts in four appearances.

USF Player Notes 

In a 4-2 win over St. Cloud State, senior Keenahn Coyle earned the win with seven innings of five-hit baseball. He allowed just one earned run, had four strikeouts against three walks and in seven innings had a 1.29 earned run average. It was Coyle's longest start since May 2019 when he went eight innings against Concordia St. Paul. He is 2-1 this season with a 4.85 ERA, 22 strikeouts, 10 walks, 14 earned runs and 30 hits. Coyle is 7-15 in his career with 6.41 ERA, 105 strikeouts, 158.2 innings and 45 appearances with 24 starts and two complete game.

Senior first baseman Ryan Bernardy is hitting .267 and has produced 24 runs on 28 hits. He has hit eight home runs (tied for 5th in the NSIC) and has a team-best 29 RBI. He hit his eighth HR of the season in game two against Upper Iowa. He had a season-best five RBI against Bemidji State on March 27. Seven times this season has multi-hit games and 22 in his career (3-3 hit games, 18 2-hit games). Bernardy has 19 career home runs, which places second all-time in the DII era with Matt Minnick, 19, 2016-18. The all-time leader is Josh Rehwaldt with 28 in 2016-19. With his 75 RBI, he ranks sixth all-time at USF. Bernardy has 93 hits and is 10th alltime. He has a .265 batting average career average. With eight home runs this season, he is tied for the second most in a season, a record held by Josh Rehwaldt with 10 in 2019. 

Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .306 in 32 starts and has 33 hits in 108 at bats. He has a .444 slugging mark with three home runs, six doubles, and 32 RBI. He has a .397 OBP and has 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts. Lung, who has hits in 25 games this year and has a four-game hitting streak, once had five RBIs in a game, twice has three RBIs in a game, and five other times has two RBI in a game as he has totaled eight multi-RBI games this season and 21 in his career (13-2 RBI games, 6 3-RBI games, including a career-high 6-RBI game in 2019). A starter in 136 straight games, he has 26 career steals, 62 runs, 34 career extra base hits, 72 career RBI and 118 hits in 446 at bats for a .264 career average. Lung has 18 multi-hit games in his career.

Freshman second baseman Tyler Cate is hitting .343, with 27 runs on 36 hits. Cate, who hit his first career home run in the third game against U-Mary, has had a solid six-game run, in which he hit .333 with 7 hits in 21 at bats and had one RBI, plus a slugging percentage of .333 with a .417 OBP. This year, he has 36 hits in 105 at bats, 27 runs, two doubles, one home run and 16 RBI while sitting with a .410 slugging mark and a .438 OBP. He has eight steals in 12 attempts and is fielding .971 with three errors, 42 putouts and 58 assists.

Junior catcher Tyler Blackburn has been on a hot streak over the past six games, hitting .357 with three runs on five hits. On the season, Blackburn is hitting .303 with 20 hits in 66 at bats. He has six doubles, one home run, and 10 RBI, while sitting at a .439 slugging mark and .373 OBP. Meanwhile, third baseman Zane Butts, who is hitting .323 over the past 10 games, has jumped is average to .270 with 13 runs on 27 hits in 100 at bats. With a .390 slugging mark, Butts has seven doubles, one triple, one home run, and 20 RBI. 

USF outfielder Trey Hubers is hitting .278 with 25 hits, 15 runs and 12 RBI. The Brandon native has a .378 slugging mark and a .387 OBP with eight steals in 10 attempts. Another outfielder, Jared Binsfeld, has 15 RBI, a .367 slugging mark and .348 OBP while recording six stolen bases. Kyle Gulbrandson has started the season strong, with a .346 mark in eight starts and 13 games. He has nine hits and a .423 slugging mark with a .419 OBP. 

On the mound, Matt Graham is 3-2 with a 3.74 earned run average, with three complete games in eight appearances and seven starts. He has a team-high 33 strikeouts and allowed 31 hits in throwing 53 innings, the most on the USF team. 

In three starts in his career at USF, Caleb Ditmarson is 2-2 with a 8.75 earned run average and 22 strikeouts. He has a complete game and has worked at least five innings twice. Alex Krout (4-2) has made 11 appearances and owns a 5.13 earned run average with a team-best four saves which is tied for fifth in the NSIC. In 26.1 innings, he has allowed 15 earned runs with 26 strikeouts.