SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – With two conference wins under their belt, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (10-8, 2-1 NSIC) will continue their 10-game home stretch with games against Minot State on Thursday, March 24 (1:30 pm & 3:30 pm) and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, March 26 (1:30 pm & 3:30 pm) and Sunday March 27 (1:00 pm). All games will be played at the First National Bank Field in Brandon, S.D.
After opening 4-0 with a sweep of doubleheaders against Southwest Baptist, the Cougars, directed by Head Coach
Grant Hieb, dropped three-of-four games against Metro State-Denver. USF went 3-4 last week in Florida and 2-1 against Minnesota Crookston as NSIC play opened last weekend. As a result, USF is 10-8 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Follow Along -
Follow USF Baseball on Twitter at @USF_Baseball, Facebook @
this link or on Instagram at usf_baseball. Updates will also be available at USF_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram at usfcoo_athletics. Live stats for the weekend are available
here with live video available
here.
How Things Stand for USF Baseball -
Redshirt freshman
Noah Christenson has continued his strong start to the season by leading USF in hitting .403, which ranks fourth in the NSIC. The redshirt freshman from Buffalo, Minn., who was named the NSIC Player of the Week two weeks ago, has a team-high 28 hits (3rd, NSIC) and 19 runs scored (6th, NSIC) along with a .516 slugging plus a .435 on-base percentage. Christensen has four doubles and 15 RBI with 32 total bases.
USF has seven players hitting .300 on better which has placed USF fifth in the league with a .296 batting average. Aside from Christenson other USF hitters over .300 include
Tyler Cate at .381;
Brady Klehr, .364;
Trey Hubers, .327;
Weston Gjerde, .333;
Connor King, .316; and Zach Andreason, .364. Cate is slugging at .429 with a .443 OBP. He has 24 hits, three doubles and seven RBI.
Grant Lung, who is hitting .246, has six RBI and two doubles with 15 hits and has 14 runs scored. He has a .279 slugging mark and .356 OBP with a team-best 8-of-8 on stolen bases. Klehr has opened up his first season at USF by hitting .364 with 16 hits, 11 RBI, .614 slugging and .391 OBP, while Hubers has a second team-best 13 RBI, .382 slugging and .391 OBP. Blackburn is slugging at .484, with six RBI and OBP at .405.
Ben Serie has a team-best three home runs and ranks third on the team with 12 RBI and second on the team with 29 total bases. He is hitting .268 so far this season.
As a team, USF has scored 112 runs with 156 hits, as well as slugged 10 home runs. USF has team marks of .404 slugging and .381 on-base percentage with 29 stolen bases in 34 attempts.
Breaking it down for USF
USF has scored 19 runs in the first inning, 20 in the fifth inning and a team-best 21 in the sixth innings. Against left-handed starters, USF is 2-2 with a 7-6 mark vs right-handers. When leading after six innings, USF is 8-0 and is 3-0 after leading through seven innings. When USF has scored at least six runs or more, they are 7-0. USF is 4-3 when scoring in the first inning and 6-1 when they score first. In terms of situational stats, USF is hitting .256 vs left-handers and .308 against right handers. With runners on base, USF is at .319 as a team led by Christenson's .419 mark. With the bases loaded, USF is hitting .250 and own a .312 average with runners in scoring position. Christenson is 9-of-19 for .421 to lead USF while
Tyler Blackburn is 5-of-11 for a .455 with runners in scoring position and
Trey Hubers is 9-of-20 for .450. When hitting with two outs, USF is batting .274 with Christenson at .500 and
Tyler Cate at .533. In terms of advancing runners, USF has been successful 50.9 percent of the run. USF has 28 two-out RBI.
On the mound, USF has recorded 120 strikeouts in 126 innings with 29 walks. The bullpen is led by
Connor McGonigal, who sits at a 0.96 earned run average with four appearances, while Zach Shastay is 1-0 in four appearances with a 6.35 earned run average out of the bullpen.
Alex Krout has three saves to lead USF.
Derek Lundgren has two wins and
Andrew Maslowski has one win, while
Caleb Ditmarson also has two wins for the Cougars. Ditmarson leads the starters with a 3.86 earned run average and has a team-best 25 strikeouts in 23.1 innings, which is also a team-high. USF has a 1.9 strikeout to walk ratio and average 8.59 strikeouts per game.
History –
USF trails 10-16 against Minot State
In the overall series, the Cougars trail the Beavers, 16-10, as MiSU has won eight straight games. USF's most recent win over the Beavers was a 4-2 decision on April 21, 2018 in Minot, N.D. The Cougars started the series with two straight wins on April 6, 2012.
USF holds 9-7 advantage over Southwest Minnesota State
In the overall series, the Cougars own a 9-7 advantage over the Mustangs, including an active three-game winning streak. In their most recent meeting, USF took a 9-8 win over SMSU on April 15, 2021 in Marshall, Minn. The last time the Cougars lost to the Mustangs was on March 27, 2019 in Brandon, S.D., which was a 13-4 decision in favor of SMSU.
Cougars will play home games at First National Bank Field in Brandon, SD
Due to upcoming field upgrades at Sioux Falls Stadium, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will play its home schedule in 2022 at the First National Bank Stadium in Brandon, S.D.
