AUBURNDALE, FLA. – With a 5-3 record through eight games, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team will begin a seven-game spring break swing on Wednesday, March 8 in Florida at the Russmat Central Florida Tournament. The Cougars will open with a doubleheader against Grand Valley State (3-1) on Wednesday at 1:15 and 3:15 pm., in Auburndale, Fla., at the Lake Myrtle Complex.

Also from March 9-13 the Cougars, directed by sixth-year head coach Grant Hieb, will face Malone (7-4) on Thursday, March 10 for a doubleheader at 8:15/10:15 am in Auburndale, Fla., – Lake Myrtle Complex. Then, USF has a one-day break before facing Wayne State of Michigan (6-2) for a doubleheader at 2:30/4:30 pm on Saturday, March 13 in Davenport, Fla., at the Northeast Regional Park. The Cougars close the Florida trip with a match up with fellow NSIC member St. Cloud State (4-5) with that nonconference single game set to start at 9 am on Sunday, March 14 in Sanford, Fla., at the Historic Memorial Sanford Stadium.

After opening 4-0 with a sweep of doubleheaders against Southwest Baptist, the Cougars dropped three-of-four games against Metro State-Denver as they sit 5-3 through eight nonconference games.

Follow Along -
Follow USF Baseball on Twitter at @USF_Baseball, Facebook @ this link or on Instagram at usf_baseball. Also updates will be available at USF_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram at usfcoo_athletics. For the Grand Valley State games, live stats are available by clicking here and fans can watch live video for all games at the spring games by purchasing a pass by clicking here.

How Things Stand - 
Redshirt freshman Noah Christenson continued his strong start to the season with five hits in six at bats in the final two games against MSU-Denver. The redshirt freshman from Buffalo, Minn., who was named the NSIC Player of the Week two weeks ago, is now hitting .531 with a team-high 17 hits and a .625 slugging plus .553 on-base percentage. Christensen has three doubles and six RBI with 20 total bases.

USF has seven players hitting .300 on better including Tyler Cate at .394; Grant Lung, .364; Brady Klehr, .364; Trey Hubers, .360; Tyler Blackburn, .333; and Noah Buss, .300. Cate is slugging at .485 with a .459 OBP. He has 13 hits, three doubles and four RBI. Lung has three RBI and two doubles with 12 hits and, like Cate, has 10 runs scored. He has a .424 slugging mark and .462 OBP with a team-best 7-of-7 on stolen bases. Klehr has opened up his first season at USF by hitting .364 with eight hits, six RBI, .591 slugging and .391 OBP while senior Trey Hubers has a team-best nine RBI, .360 slugging and .469 OBP. Blackburn is slugging at .667, with five RBI and OBP at .474. Ben Serie has a team-best two home runs and ranks second on the team with eight RBI and second on the team with 18 total bases. He is hitting .267.

As a team, USF is hitting  .327 with 72 runs and 91 hits as well as seven home runs. USF has team marks of .464 slugging and .418 on-base percentage with 19 stolen bases in 21 attempts. On the mound, USF has recorded 59 strikeouts in 60 innings with 29 walks. Connor McGonigal sits at a 1.93 earned run average with two appearances while Zach Shastay is 1-0 in two appearances with a 0.00 earned run average out of the bullpen. Alex Krout has two saves to lead USF. Derek Lundgren, Caleb Ditmarson and Andrew Maslowski all have earned a win. Ditmarson has a team-best 10 strikeouts in 10 innings, which is also a team-high.

History – Series
Grand Valley State – GVSU owns a 3-1 lead over the Cougars after a 7-1 win in 2019 and 10-3 and 8-3 verdicts in 2020. USF won the last match up on March 7, 2020. Matt Graham earned the win, going four innings in a seven-inning game with three strikeouts. Alex Krout earned his first save of his career.  The USF offense, which had six extra base hits, including four triples, was led by Grant Lung, who had three hits and his first home run of the season.

Malone – USF – Cougars will face Malone for the first time.

Wayne State – In the only meeting in school history, Wayne State took a 12-2 decision on March 9, 2020.

St. Cloud State – SCSU owns a 17-5 advantage over USF, which including a 5-3 win on April 11, 2021. USF's last win was 4-2 decision on April 10, 2021. USF also has a 10-9 verdict in 10 innings on March 30, 2018 when the Cougars swept a doubleheader with a 3-1 win in the opener.

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.The Cougars, which sit 5-3 going into their spring break trip to Florida this week, will open their home schedule with a three-game set against Minnesota Crookston in Brandon, S.D. on March 19-20.