SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will continue a 10-game road trip as the Cougars face Northern State (8-7, 7-4 NSIC) in an NSIC doubleheader on Tuesday (April 6) at noon and 2 pm at Fossum Field in Aberdeen, S.D.

The games were originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 7 but due to expected heavy rain on Wednesday and into Thursday, the Cougars and Wolves coordinated with the NSIC a change in date to Tuesday afternoon.   

Follow Along - Video-Live Stats links
Follow along USF baseball by clicking here for live video and clicking here for live stats. 

After playing NSU, USF heads 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 face an NSU team that has won three straight as they swept Winona State, 12-3, 6-1 and 6-1 at Fossum Field in Aberdeen. Prior to that, Minnesota State swept NSU in a mid-week doubleheader, 4-2, 9-1 but the Wolves had defeated Concordia St. Paul three straight on March 28 by scores of 5-3, 1-0 and 3-0.

This year, Northern ranks 14^th in the NSIC in hitting at .233 with five home runs and 43 RBI and 16 stolen bases along but is fourth in the league with a 4.71 earned run average in 109 innings with 57 earned runs and 121 strikeouts against 61 walks. The Wolves also rank fourth in the league with a .968 fielding percentage. Reece Ragatz leads the Wolves with a .377 batting average and has a pair of home runs and eight RBI along with a .411 OBP. Karson Hesser is hitting .303 with a .324 OBP and has 10 hits while Spencer Sarringar is at .298 with 14 hits and 13 RBI plus a .365 OBP. On the mound, Seth Brewer, the reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Week, is 3-0 with a 2.19 earned run average in six appearances and four starts. Zach Hrvol is 2-2 with a 4.68 earned run average in five starts. Hrvol has 32 strikeouts and Brewer 31.

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 3-7 since for a 3-10 overall NSIC mark and 7-7 mark overall. USF lost three games to U-Mary by a combined eight runs of 6-4, 8-6 and 8-4 when the Cougars had leads in each game.

Series Notes -
In the last meeting, USF took a 7-3 win on March 21, 2019. In last four games, the teams have split four games.

Breaking Down Cougars – USF at a Glance
USF is hitting .267 as a team, which ranks eight in the NSIC as they have jumped their average 18 points over the past seven games. USF has hit 11 home runs and has 40 stolen bases for third in the NSIC. USF has a .410 slugging mark and a .383 obp while sitting with 93 RBI and 207 total bases. On the mound, USF ranks 13^th in the NSIC with a 7.16 earned run average. The Cougars have 127 strikeouts against 83 walks.

Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .295 in 17 starts and has 18 hits. He has a .492 slugging mark with three home runs, three doubles and a tied with Ryan Bernardy for a team-high 18 RBI. He has a .361 OBP and is 6-of-7 in stolen bases. Lung, who has hits in 14 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 123 straight games, he has 24 career steals, 62 runs, 33 career extra base hits, 71 career RBI and 113 hits in 429 at bats for a .263 career average. Lung has 18 multi-hit games in his career.

Senior first baseman Ryan Bernardy has jumped his average to a .302 and he has gone 13-of-39 over the last 10 games. During that stretch he has hit all five of his home runs and is tied with Lung for a team-best 19 RBI with 18 of them in that stretch. He hit his fifth HR of the season in game two against U-Mary and it was a grand slam for the first time in his career. 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 16 career home runs, which ranks fourth at USF in the DII era, and 61 RBI (11^th in DII era). He has 84 hits in 317 at bats for a .265 batting average.

Freshman second baseman Tyler Cate had a big series against U-Mary and hit .545 with six hits in 11 at bats and two runs scored with a home run and two RBI. He had a .909 slugging mark and .643 OBP while fielding 1.000. Cate, who had a team-best 10 total bases, moved his average to a team-best .320 with his resurgence this weekend. Cate, who hit his first career home run in the third game against U-Mary, has 16 hits, 11 runs, double, home and 10 RBI while sitting with a .400 slugging mark and a .441 OBP. He has six steals in seven attempts and is fielding .971 with one error, 18 putouts and 16 assists.

USF outfielder Trey Hubers is hitting .289 with 13 hits, eight runs and six RBI. The Brandon native has a .378 slugging mark and a .439 OBP with six steals. Another outfielder, Jared Biesfield, has a .288 average and 15 hits and 12 runs scored with a .404 slugging mark and .403 OBP along with five steals. With nine hits in his last 28 at bats when he has had six RBI, Zane Butts has pushed his average from .161 to .236, or a jumpst of 75 points.

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. 

In two starts in his career at USF, Caleb Ditmarson is 1-1 with a 3.46 earned run average with five earned runs allowed in 13 innings and 16 strikeouts. He has a complete game and has worked at least five innings in both games.

Junior Matt Graham is 1-1 with a 4.45 earned run average with a complete game and 20 strikeouts in a team-high 28.1 innings. Alex Krout is 3-2 with a 5.68 earned run average in six appearances with three starts. He has 17 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 .266 average against right handers with 115 hits in 433 at bats but are 20-of-72 for a .278 mark against southpaws. With runners on base, USF is hitting .279 (74-of-265) while batting .346 (9-of-26) with the bases loaded. With runners in scoring position USF is at .246 with 46 hits of 187 at bats. USF has a .627 success rate with runners on third and less than two outs. In two out hitting USF is batting .238 while having a .480 percentage in advancing runners and has a 4-of-5 for .800 mark in pinch hitting opportunities