BRANDON, S.D. – In a fitting way to end Senior Day, Kyle Gulbrandson scored the game-winning run off a walk-off hit by Noah Christenson with the bases loaded as the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (24-19, 16-12 NSIC) rallied to defeat Wayne State (16-20, 10-12 NSIC) on Sunday at First National Bank Field.


?On a day when USF honored 12 seniors, the Cougars earned a four-straight win and swept the three-game series with the Wildcats. USF, which has defeated WSC five straight times, has won seven of eight games to move to 16-12 in the NSIC for fifth in the NSIC. With the 16 wins, USF has its most wins in conference play in the DII era and the 24 total wins are the most by a USF baseball team in that time span, dating to 2012.

Prior to the game, USF honored the seniors including Alex Bertram, Grant Lung, Jack Blogg, Andrew Maslowski, Trey Hubers, Tyler Blackburn, Kyle Gulbrandson, Alex Krout, Jared Binsfeld, Jacob Emerson, Matt Graham, as well as Breckyn Montano, who tragically died in a car accident in 2018. His parents, Kevin and Tiffany Montano, were recognized along with the other parents of the seniors.

For the fifth straight game, USF was involved in a one-run outcome and for the fourth consecutive time, USF picked up a victory and now stands 8-4 in one-run games in 2022.

"It was a great team win today to complete the sweep. Our pitchers threw well all weekend with Andrew (Maslowski) giving us a great outing today," said USF Head Coach Grant Hieb, who has 95 career wins. "We showed a lot of resilience and were able to battle back in the bottom of the ninth. Noah (Christenson) put a good swing on a 2-0 fastball to get the walk-off knock. I was happy with the way we competed this weekend and am hoping we can keep it going when we host Minnesota State on Wednesday," added Hieb.

Game Recap –
Noah Christenson's walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning brought home Kyle Gulbrandson with the game-winning run in a 4-3 decision.

For most the game, USF rode the arm of senior Andrew Maslowski, who shut the Wildcats down for 7 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and two runs overall with four strikeouts. After he left, USF had a throwing error which allowed WSC to take a 3-2 lead. Logan Parker-Sjoberg (2-1) earned the win after allowing just an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings and recording three strikeouts.

USF scored two runs in the opening inning on four hits as Christenson's RBI single scored Tyler Cate and Brady Klehr's two-out RBI single brought home Connor King for a 2-0 lead. In the third inning, Wayne State's Connor Fiene homered to left field to cut the lead in half. WSC scored two unearned runs in the eighth inning when a hit batsman and walk were followed by a stolen base and three-base throwing error that allowed both Colin Lynam and Andrew Hanson to score.

But on this senior day, USF, which has been playing the role of "Cardiac Cougars" with wins in four straight one-run games, was not finished. Senior shortstop Grant Lung led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by senior Tyler Blackburn. Senior Kyle Gulbrandson was hit by a pitch. Then, Tyler Cate, who led USF's offense with three hits, an RBI, and a run scored, came through with an RBI double to left field which plated Lung, who just beat the tag at home plate. Then, WSC intentionally walked Connor King to set up Christenson's game-winning hit.

Christenson, who had two hits and two RBI, now has 15 multi-hit games this year while Cate has a team-high 16. Christenson also has a team-high 10 multi-RBI games.

Stats Breakdown – Three Game Series – Tyler Cate hit .462 with six hits in 13 at bats and a .538 slugging plus a .500 OBP against Wayne State. Grant Lung hit .444 with four hits in nine at bats and a .545 OBP while Brady Klehr hit .375 with a .500 slugging. USF hit .255 as a team with 24 hits and 14 runs in the three games. On the mound, USF was solid with a 2.57 earned run average with 18 strikeouts against eight walks over 28 innings.

Last Eight Games – In going 7-1 over the past eight games, including a 6-0 home record, USF hit .280 with 39 runs, 70 hits and four home runs. The Cougars had a .372 slugging, .380 OBP and 15 stolen bases. Grant Lung hit .360 with nine hits in 25 at bats and a .484 OBP. Kyle Gulbrandson hit .350 with seven hits in 20 at bats and had six RBI with a .464 OBP. Connor King hit .346 with nine hits in 26 at bats and a .471 slugging along with four steals. On the hit, USF had a 2.56 earned run average with 63 strikeouts in 70.1 innings. USF was led by Logan Sjoberg-Parker who was 2-0 with just three hits allowed in 6.1 innings and seven strikeouts. Matt Graham was also 2-0 with a 1.20 earned run average with 13 strikeouts in 15 innings. Andrew Maslowski was 1-0 with a 1.29 earned run average and Alex Krout had two saves and a 2.08 earned run average.

Season – For the year, USF is hitting .288 with a .387 slugging and .377 OBP while recording 77 steals in 101 attempts. USF has 382 hits, 257 runs, 79 extra bases hits and 514 total bases. Noah Christenson leads USF with a .358 batting average and adds a .447 slugging and .406 OBP with a team-high 57 hits and 36 RBI. Brady Klehr is hitting .341 with a .527 slugging and .384 OBP. He has five home runs and 27 RBI. Tyler Cate pushed is average to .313 with a .393 OBP, and has 50 hits and 12 stolen bases. USF is led by Ben Serie in home runs with seven. He is hitting .308 with a .407 OBP. On the mound, USF lowered its earned run average to 5.48 with 305 strikeouts in 333.1 innings. Alex Krout has a 2.73 earned run average and a team-best eight saves. Graham, Maslowski, Derek Lundgren and Caleb Ditmarson all have four wins to lead USF.