SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (24-24, 16-17 NSIC) dropped a 12-2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference decision to No. 20 Augustana (39-7-1, 29-4 NSIC) on Monday afternoon at Ronken Field.

The Cougars, which sit in fifth place in the NSIC South, will wrap up their regular season with an NSIC doubleheader at Winona State on Tuesday afternoon (May 3) with games at 1:30/3:30 pm. The Warriors sit just behind the Cougars in the standings. USF has a 16-17 lead mark for a .485 winning percentage while Winona State is at .476 with a 10-11 mark. Also in the mix for a spot in the NSIC Baseball Tourney (May 11-14), which will include the top eight schools by winning percentage are U-Mary at 13-16 (.448); Minnesota Duluth, 12-15 (.444); Northern State, 10-13 (.435) and Wayne State, 11-15 (.435).

USF has recorded the most wins in the DII era with 24 and its 16 league wins is also a program best in the NSIC. The Cougars are trying for a second straight appearance in the NSIC Tourney, which would be a first for the program.

Against USF, the Vikings jumped out of the gate fast with four runs in the first inning and added six more in the second frame to take a commanding 11-0 lead. The Cougars came up with a pair of runs in the sixth inning after Grant Lung had a two-run double with the bases loaded, scoring Tyler Cate and Isaac Bonner, who recorded his first career hit with an infield single.

Senior right-hander Matt Graham (4-5) took the loss for USF after allowing seven earned runs and nine hits in 1 2/3 innings. Also on the hill for USF were Jacob Emerson (3 1/3 innings, three hits, one run) and Jake Haugen (1 1/3 inn., two hits, a run, two walks and a strikeout).

USF was led on offense by Grant Lung with two hits and two RBI while fellow senior Trey Hubers had a pair of hits. Tyler Cate, Isaac Bonner, and Zach Andreasen (double), all added to USF's seven-hit attack.

Jack Hines led the Vikings' offense with three hits and five RBI including a three-run home run in the first inning. Jordan Barth added two hits.

Ryan Jares (6-2) picked up his sixth win in eight decisions by allowing just four hits and no runs while recording nine strikeouts in throwing 59 pitches across five innings of work.  Evan Furst allowed two runs on three hits in one inning of work. Thomas Bruss worked a scoreless seventh inning for Augustana and had a pair of strikeouts.

Season Stats -- With two games to play, the Cougars are hitting .278 as a team with 270 runs, 405 hits and 223 RBI in its 48 games. USF has totaled 85 extra base hits with 26 home runs and 53 doubles. The Cougars own a .376 hitting percentage with a .369 OBP while stealing 83 bases in 108 attempts. Noah Christenson leads USF with a .353 batting average and has a team-high in hits with 60 and RBI with 38. He has a .435 slugging and .401 OBP. Brady Klehr, in his first season as a starter, has a .333 average with six home runs and 29 RBI as well as a team-best .521 slugging mark. Tyler Cate is hitting .299 with a .391 OBP and 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts. Trey Hubers and Ben Serie are both averaging .287 with Serie leading USF with seven home runs. Hubers has 28 RBI. Grant LUng has a .273 average, .380 OBP and a team-high 15 stolen bases. On the hill, USF has a 6.02 earned run average with 330 strikeouts in 367.2 innings. USF has four wins from Caleb Ditmarson (4-3, 3.93 era, team-high 51 strikeouts), Andrew Maslowski (4-4, 5.50 era), Derek Lundgren (4-1, 5.55 era) and Matt Graham (4-5, 6.51 era). Alex Krout leads the Coo with a 2.73 earned run average and has eight saves with a program-high 14 across his career.