#4 St. Cloud State Travels for Weekend Series against Sioux Falls

Saturday, March 23

Sioux Falls, SD

5:00 PM CT

St. Cloud State

University of Sioux Falls (S.D.)

Blake Flint

Photo by: Zach Siggelkow

#4 St. Cloud State Travels for Weekend Series against Sioux Falls

3/23/2019 9:06:00 AM | Baseball

The Huskies enter the weekend with a 4-1 record in NSIC play.

By: Zach Siggelkow

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The #4 St. Cloud State baseball team (16-3, 4-1 NSIC) continues NSIC play this weekend after sweeping the Winona State Warriors in a mid-week series on Thursday. SCSU is scheduled to take on the University of Sioux Falls (3-15, 1-4 NSIC) March 23-24 at Karras Park on the campus of Augustana University in Sioux Falls. First pitch of Saturday's double-header is slotted for 5:00 PM CT, with the second game to follow immediately after. The series finale will take place on Sunday at 5:00 PM.

FOLLOW LIVE
WATCH
STATS
LISTEN
TWITTER

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
USF snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory in their mid-week split with Northern State on Thursday. Ten of the Cougars' 15 losses this season have been decided by three runs or less, while picking up notable wins over Notre Dame (OH) and Northern State. As a team, USF holds a .236 batting average and 6.28 ERA. Josh Rehwaldt paces the Cougars' order with a .333 average while having driven in 11 RBI's on 21 hits, including one home run, a double and two triples. Brandon Roesler (0-3) has recorded a team-high of 29 innings in four starts, while holding a 4.97 ERA. Alex Loosbrook (1-3) had a key hand in snapping USF's losing streak, tossing six frames and only allowing one run on three hits in the seven-inning game. The Huskies are expected to see Matt Graham, Payton Livington and Jackson Olson each make a start in the weekend series. Graham (1-1) and Livingston (0-0) have each made four appearances and two starts while combining for eight strikeouts. The pair of righties have also combined for over 17 innings while each surrendering seven earned runs on the season. Graham holds a 6.30 ERA while Livingston owns an 8.59 mark. Jackson Olson (0-2) is a junior southpaw who owns a 9.75 ERA through 12 innings thrown over five appearances and three starts. Olson picked up a save in USF's 10-9 victory in ten innings last season, tossing a scoreless tenth frame.

SERIES HISTORY
SCSU leads the all-time series 8-4 in 12 meetings since 2014. The Huskies split a weekend series with the Cougars last season, winning the first two 10-5 and 11-1, but then dropping the last two games of the series 1-3 and 9-10. SCSU and USF also split a four-game set in 2017, with SCSU dropping the first two, then fighting back for two wins on day two of the series. St. Cloud State swept their first series in 2014, while also recording two shutout victories. Of note, each meeting between the Huskies and Cougars has been played in Sioux Falls, S.D.

FAMILIAR CONDITIONS
In 2018, the Huskies played eight regular season games in Sioux Falls due to inclement weather conditions. SCSU was 5-3 after sweeping Northern State and splitting with both USF and Augustana.

TOP OF THE CHARTS
#1, NCAA DII - Strikeout to Walk Ratio (4.69)
#1, NCAA DII - Walks Allowed per Nine Innings (2.13)
#1, NSIC, #9 NCAA DII - Team Batting Average (.335)
#1, NSIC, #11 NCAA DII - Team Earned Run Average (3.13)
#3, NCAA DII - WHIP (1.14)

HOT MALLEK
Senior captain and right-fielder, Mitch Mallek owns a team-high .440 batting average along with 17 RBI's on a team-leading 33 hits. Mallek has recorded five doubles, one triple and two homeruns while walking 12 times in 75 at-bats. Mallek is averaging 1.72 hits per game which ranks 19th in NCAA DII.

WALK THIS WAY
Lenny Walker owns a .403 batting average and a team-leading 24 RBI's through 18 games played. The Arizona native has totaled eight doubles, one homerun and 29 hits, a mark that trails only Mallek.

DOM-INANCE
Dominic Austing (3-0) has been nothing short of spectacular through his first four starts of the year as the ace of SCSU's staff. The senior right-hander owns a 1.16 ERA and .91 WHIP through 23 1/3 frames, while having struck out the third most batters in the NSIC this season with 35. Austing's strikeout per nine mark of 13.5 ranks 20th in all of NCAA DII baseball, while opponents are hitting under .200 against the St. Cloud Cathedral graduate.