SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – After going 5-3 to open the home season, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (13-10, 5-3 NSIC) will wrap up their 10-game home stretch hosting Northern State (8-9, 3-1 NSIC) in a mid-week doubleheader at 1/3 pm on Thursday, March 31 Bishop Muller Field at Briar Cliff College in Sioux Falls Iowa. This weekend, USF will go to St. Cloud, Minn. to take on the St. Cloud State Huskies (13-9, 5-3 NSIC) on Saturday and Sunday. The Cougars' match-up with NSU has been moved from Wednesday to Thursday due to weather.
After opening 4-0 with a sweep of doubleheaders against Southwest Baptist, the Cougars, directed by sixth-year Head Coach
Grant Hieb, dropped three-of-four games against Metro State-Denver. USF went 3-4 in Florida over spring break, and 2-1 against Minnesota Crookston as NSIC play opened. They split a doubleheader with Minot State before winning 2-of-3 against Southwest Minn. State on March 26-27. As a result, USF is 13-10 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Follow Along -
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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 and video are available via the links below.
Northern State
Live Stats
Live Video
St. Cloud State
Live Stats
Live Video
How Things Stand for USF Baseball -
Redshirt freshman
Noah Christenson has continued his strong start to the season by leading USF in hitting .440, which ranks second in the NSIC and 20th in NCAA DII. The redshirt freshman from Buffalo, Minn., who was named the NSIC Player of the Week three weeks ago, has a team-high 37 hits (1st, NSIC) and 25 runs scored (4th, NSIC) along with a .548 slugging plus a .457 on-base percentage. Christensen has six doubles and a team-high 22 RBI with 46 total bases.
USF has five players hitting .300 on better which has placed USF fourth in the league with a .296 batting average. Aside from Christenson, other USF hitters over .300 include
Tyler Cate at .393;
Brady Klehr, .302;
Weston Gjerde, .333; and Zach Andreason, .300. Cate is slugging at .440 with a .464 OBP. He has 33 hits, four doubles and eight RBI.
Grant Lung, who is hitting .256, has eight RBI and four doubles with 21 hits and has 18 runs scored. He has a .305 slugging mark and .361 OBP with a team-best 9-of-10 on stolen bases. Klehr has opened up his first season at USF by hitting .302 with 19 hits, 14 RBI, .476 slugging and .343 OBP, while Hubers ranks second on USF with19 RBI, .359 slugging and .360 OBP. Blackburn is slugging at .455, with nine RBI and OBP at .365.
Ben Serie has a team-best four home runs and ranks third on the team with 16 RBI and second on the team with 39 total bases. He is hitting .296 so far this season.
As a team, USF has scored 157 runs for 6.8 runs per game and rank fourth in the NSIC in runs scored. The Cougars have 209 hits, as well as slugged 15 home runs. USF has team marks of .411 slugging and .386 on-base percentage with 40 stolen bases in 51 attempts.
Breaking it down for USF
USF has scored 25 runs in the first inning, a team-best 37 in the fifth inning, and 21 in the sixth inning. Against left-handed starters, USF is 3-3 with a 10-7 mark vs right-handers. When leading after six innings, USF is 11-1 and is 4-0 after leading through seven innings. When USF has scored at least six runs or more, they are 7-0. USF is 6-3 when scoring in the first inning and 8-1 when they score first. In terms of situational stats, USF is hitting .262 vs left-handers and .299 against right handers. With runners on base, USF is at .317 as a team led by Christenson's .489 mark. With the bases loaded, USF is hitting .308 and own a .298 average with runners in scoring position. Christenson is 13-of-27 for .481 to lead USF, while
Tyler Blackburn is 6-of-18 for a .333 with runners in scoring position and
Trey Hubers is 13-of-34 for .382. When hitting with two outs, USF is batting .262 with Christenson at .455 and
Tyler Cate at .435. In terms of advancing runners, USF has been successful 52.8 percent of the time. USF has 33 two-out RBI.
On the mound, USF has recorded 166 strikeouts in 173 innings with 29 walks. The bullpen is led by
Caleb Ditmarson, who sits at a 2.97 earned run average with five appearances. He ranks ninth in the NSIC in earned run average and eighth in strikeouts with 35, eighth in wins and eighth in innings at 30.1 while holding opponents to a .224 batting average.
Alex Krout has an NSIC-high four saves to lead USF. He has made a team-high seven appearances and owns a e3.38 earned run average.
Derek Lundgren has two wins and
Andrew Maslowski has three wins, while
Connor McGonigal also has two wins for the Cougars. USF has a 1.9 strikeout to walk ratio and average 8.59 strikeouts per game.
History –
USF trails 3-2 against Northern State
In the overall series, the Cougars trail the Wolves, 3-2. USF's most recent win over the Beavers was a 7-3 decision on March 21, 2019 in Sioux Falls, S.D. In their most recent matchup, USF dropped a 7-3 decision to the Wolves on April 6, 2021 in Aberdeen, S.D. NSU also took the first win of the series, a 2-1 decision on April 2, 2014 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
USF trails 17-6 against St. Cloud State in overall series
In the overall series, the Cougars trails the Huskies, 17-6. In their most recent meeting, USF took a 8-6 win over SCSU on March 13, 2022 in Sanford, Flor. The last time the Cougars lost to SCSU was on April 11, 2021 in St. Cloud, Minn, which was a 5-3 decision in favor of the Huskies.
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.
