SIOUX FALLS – When Sunday (Feb. 20) afternoon arrives so does the beginning of the 2022 season for the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team.

USF, which tied the program-high for wins a year ago, will open against Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, Mo., with doubleheaders set for Sunday (Feb. 20) at 1/4 pm and Monday (Feb. 21), Noon/2 pm.

The Cougars face Southwest Baptist, a member of the GLVC Conference, for the first time.As the season starts, the Cougars are focused on bettering its 21-21 record (overall) and 16-19 league mark of a year ago. USF tied a program-mark for the most wins at the DII level and finished eighth with a berth in the NSIC Tournament for the second time. Under the direction of sixth-year Head Coach Grant Hieb, the Cougars have been projected 10th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll. USF received 73 points in the balloting among coaches in the league.

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Update on Home Field 
Due to several upgrades scheduled for Sioux Falls Stadium, which is USF's normal home, the Cougars will play its home games in 2022 in Brandon, S.D.

Opponent Breakdown -- Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats, which were picked fourth in the Green Division by the GLVC after finishing fifth in 2021 with a 19-21 record, is directed by 11^th year head coach Chris Martin. Inside the Bearcats - Key returners for the Bearcats include senior Rhys Cratty, Juniors Colby Sneed and Ryan Carmack, and sophomore Eli Smock. Cratty started all 40 games for the Bearcats and finished first among all hitters with 49 hits and .329 batting average.  Junior Colby Sneed also started all 40 games splitting time between catching and designated hitter. He led the Bearcats with 33 RBIs and finished with a .305 batting average. Sophomore Eli Smock will be the starting shortstop for the Bearcats and is coming off a strong freshman season where he started 18 games and finished with a batting average of .327. On the mound, junior Ryan Carmack returns from a stellar sophomore season where he went 6-0. Carmack was 5^th in the GLVC with a 2.45 ERA in 9 starts and finished 4^th in the conference with 71 strikeouts.  Coach Chris Martin enters his 11^th season leading the Bearcats. Last season, Coach Martin became the winningest coach in SBU baseball history with 204 wins.

A Inside Look at USF 
The Cougars will be led by a group of seniors including NSIC "Players to Watch" Grant Lung, a shortstop from Peoria, Ariz., and Matt Graham, a right-handed pitcher from Sioux Falls, S.D. I 

"I'm looking forward to this upcoming season as we return a majority of our key players from last year's team. My goal is to build on last year's success as we earned a bid in the conference tournament for the first time in my five years as the Head Coach. We'll look to be a scrappy team that will put pressure on defenses and rely on pitching and defense to win ballgames," said USF Head Baseball Coach Grant Hieb.

In total, the Cougars return nine seniors along with seven starters. Lung (.290, .421 slugging, .383 OBP, 11 SB, 4 HRs, 38 RBI, 95 assists), a three-year team captain at shortstop, will anchor the infield with the Tyler Cate (41 starts, .354 avg., 35 runs, 25 RBI, .438 slugging, .443 OBP, 15 SB, .949 fielding and .429 avg with runners in scoring position). Lung has a .267 career batting average with 137 hits, 91 RBI and 38 extra base hits, including 26 doubles and eight home runs. In 148 career starts, has 37 multi-hit games and 22 multi-RBI games. 

"I am extremely excited and I have butterflies going already," said Lung. "Making the (NSIC) tournament is an expectation and anything less is less than we want," he said.

Another senior Andrew Maslowski noted that expectations are high. "We expect to compete with the best. Our culture keeps building and building with the winning mentality. I think our guys will be ready after that opening start in Missouri," he said. "I think this senior class will be those mentors that show the way and how we will approach the season with that winning mentality," he said.

In the outfield, USF returns Conner King, who was the only NSIC player named to the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Team. Aside from being the league's top defender in center field, King, who was named to the NSIC All Defensive Team, is the school's first-ever to earn the honor as he had 93 putouts, six assists and no errors (.293 avg, 41 runs, 43 hits,.395 slugging, .450 OBP, 14 steals, 1.000 fielding). Also back will be outfielder Trey Huber (.308 avg., 19 RBI, .410 slugging, .419 OBP), among several others along with a group of talented newcomers.

On the mound, USF returns several key members of the pitching staff – Graham, Alex Krout (5-2, 4.35 era, 39.1 inn., 14 app, 3 starts, 5 saves); Andrew Maslowski (5-4, 4.70 era, 51.2 inn., 9 starts, 2 CG); and Cole Schumacher (1-3, 3.62 era, four starts, 2 CG, .210 avg) along with several other veteran returnees and newcomers. Graham owns a 7-10 career record with a 3-3 mark and 4.88 earned run average in 2021. A two-time team captain, he had nine starts, three complete games, shutout and limited opponents to a .201 average. He has 86 strikeouts in 140 innings with 27 starts and 42 appearances in his career. 

The baseball non-conference season gets underway in early February with NSIC play beginning on March 19. The 2022 NSIC Baseball Tournament will take the top eight teams in the final NSIC Standings. The eight-team double elimination NSIC Tournament takes place May 11-14 co-hosted by Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls. The tournament will be played at Karras Park (Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Aspen Park (Brandon, S.D.).  After facing Southwest Baptist, the Cougars head to Metro State in Denver on Feb. 25-27 before heading to the Russmat Central Florida Tournament on March 9-13. USF opens the conference season at home March 19 against Minnesota Crookston at the Brandon Field.