SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (7-11, 3-11 NSIC) will continue a 10-game road trip as the Cougars face St. Cloud State (8-8, 6-5 NSIC) with an NSIC single game at 1:30 pm on Saturday (April 10) and a noon/2 pm DH on Sunday (April 11) in St. Cloud, Minn. 

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Follow along USF baseball by clicking here for live video and clicking here for live stats. 

After playing St. Cloud State, 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.

USF, which has lost four straight games in NSIC play, face an SCSU team that defeated the #18 Augustana Vikings (15-4, 11-4 NSIC) earlier this season on March 21. SCSU has had a solid season so far, splitting almost of their double headers with their opponents. In the Huskies most recent matchup, they defeated Winona St., 8-3, in the first game of the day, then lost the second game, 5-1, on April 6. 

This year, SCSU ranks seventh in the NSIC, hitting at .324 with 27 home runs, 122 RBI, a 4.86 earned run average, and 69 earned runs in 130 innings. The Huskies are led by John Nett, with a batting average of .379, an on-base percentage of .493, 22 runs scored on 22 hits, five doubles, one triple, and 38 total bases. Matt Quade is hitting .377 with 9 runs scored on 20 hits. Quade also has 4 home runs and 17 RBI. On the mound, Matt Osterberg leads the Huskies, with 20.2 innings pitched and 20 batters struck out. Luke Tupy is tied at the top of the leaderboard with Osterberg, also with 20 batters struck out. 

Quick 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. Then USF has gone 3-8 since for a 3-11 overall NSIC mark and 7-8 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. Last Tuesday, 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. Ryan Bernardy hit his sixth HR and with two RBI has a team-leading 20 on the year.

Series Notes - SCSU

In the last meeting, USF took a 12-1 loss to the Huskies on March 24, 2019. SCSU has won three straight since USF captured a 10-9 win on March 30, 2018 in Sioux Falls, in what was a doubleheader sweep for the Cougars at Sioux Falls Stadium (10-9, 3-1). In the all-time series, SCSU has a 15-4 lead and has won 6-of-10 games played.

Breaking Down Cougars – USF at a Glance

USF is hitting .265 as a team, which ranks ninth in the NSIC. USF has hit 12 home runs and has 42 stolen bases for third in the NSIC. USF has a .410 slugging mark and a .385 obp while sitting with 96 RBI and 217 total bases. On the mound, USF ranks 13^th in the NSIC with a 7.24 earned run average. The Cougars have 146 strikeouts against 86 walks.

Junior shortstop Grant Lung is hitting .286 in 18 starts and has 18 hits. He has a .476 slugging mark with three home runs, three doubles, and 18 RBI. He has a .368 OBP and has seven 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 124 straight games, he has 24 career steals, 62 runs, 33 career extra base hits, 71 career RBI and 113 hits in 431 at bats for a .262 career average. Lung has 18 multi-hit games in his career.

Senior first baseman Ryan Bernardy has jumped his average to a .313 and he has produced 14 runs and 20 hits. During the last ten games, he has hit all six of his home runs and has a team-best 20 RBI. He hit his sixth HR of the season in game one against Northern St. 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 17 career home runs, which places him in a tie for third all-time at USF in the DII era with Connor Merriam (2016-18) and is just two from second which is held by Matt Minnick, 19, 2016-18. The all-time lead is Josh Rehwaldt with 28 in 2016-19. With his 63 RBI, he is tied with Austin Richey (2014-17) for ninth all-time. He has 85 hits (11th all-time, sixth from 10th, Anthony Lopez, 2014-18) in 385 at bats for a .265 batting average. With six home runs this season, he is tied for the sixth most (6, Connor Merriam, 2018; Josh Rehwaldt, 2017; Matt Minnick, 2016).

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 continued his hot streak with two hits in three at bats and both a run scored and RBI against Northern State. He is now hitting a team-best .340. Cate, who hit his first career home run in the third game against U-Mary, has 18 hits, 12 runs, double, home and 11 RBI while sitting with a .434 slugging mark and a .458 OBP. He has six steals in eight attempts and is fielding .974 with one error, 18 putouts and 19 assists.

USF outfielder Trey Hubers is hitting .292 with 14 hits, eight runs and six RBI. The Brandon native has a .375 slugging mark and a .433 OBP with six steals. Another outfielder, Jared Binsfeld, has a .273 average and 15 hits and 12 runs scored with a .382 slugging mark and .394 OBP along with five steals. With nine hits in his last 30 at bats when he has had six RBI, Zane Butts has pushed his average from .161 to .228, or a jump of 68 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. 
 
Situational Hitting – USF hitting .309 with runners on
The Cougars have a .267 average against right handers with 120 hits in 449 at bats but are 20-of-80 for a .250 mark against southpaws. With runners on base, USF is hitting .270 (76-of-282) while batting .321 (9-of-28) with the bases loaded. With runners in scoring position USF is at .245 with 48 hits of 196 at bats. USF has a .611 success rate with runners on third and less than two outs. In two out hitting USF is batting .234 while having a .467 percentage in advancing runners and has a 4-of-5 for .800 mark in pinch hitting opportunities.