SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Mother Nature strikes again, forcing the No. 3 Augustana baseball team (28-2, 14-2 NSIC) to adjust its weekend schedule. The Vikings will take on Concordia-St. Paul on Friday, April 13 at Plattsmouth High School in Plattsmouth, Neb. in a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.

Series History
• Augustana leads the all-time series between the Vikings and Golden Bears, 23-4
• The Vikings have won five straight games against the Golden Bears, which were all five games played last season
• The Vikings swept the four game series in St. Paul last season and defeated the Golden Bears in the NSIC?tournament, 11-2
• The last series played in Sioux Falls was in March of 2016 where the Vikings and Golden Bears split the four game series
• The Vikings and Huskies have played every since 2007 except for 2008 and 2014

Augustana Notes
• The Augustana baseball team is ranked No. 3 in the NCBWA Poll (4/11)
• Augustana is currently the top ranked NSIC?team and Central Region team in the poll
• On March 7, Augustana became ranked for the first time since April 26, 2016 when they were 22nd
• The Vikings have been ranked for six straight weeks in the NCBWA?Poll
• The Vikings No. 3 ranking on April 4 and 11 is the highest rank in school history
• The Vikings rank in the top-10 in DII ranking first in winning percentage (.931), shutouts (eight) and WHIP?(1.05), second in ERA?(2.33) and hits allowed per nine (6.24), third in strikeouts-to-walk ratio (3.29), fifth in strikeouts per nine (10.7) and eighth in stolen bases (82)
• The Augustana offense ranks 26th in batting avg. (.319), 44th in runs per game (7.6) and 66th in slugging pct. (.453). Augustana is also 13th in fielding pct. (.973)
• Augustana leads the NSIC in batting avg. (.319), runs (225), hits (307), doubles (58), stolen bases (84), fielding pct. (.974), ERA (2.24), strikeouts (280) and opponent batting avg. (.194)

Three Amigos
• Augustana baseball has three senior transfer pitchers this season. David Flattery (Fort Dodge, Iowa) came from Omaha, Tyler Mitzel (Sioux Falls, S.D.) transferred from Arkansas State and Clay Collison (Algona, Iowa) transferred from Nebraska-Kearney
• Flattery has made six starts going 4-1 with a 1.66 ERA with 53 strikeouts and an opponent batting avg. of .138. Flattery is second on the team in innings pitched (38.0). He leads the team and is third in the NSIC?in strikeouts. Flattery is fourth in DII in hits allowed per nine (4.03), 20th in strikeouts per nine (12.55) and 24th in WHIP?(0.92)
• Collison is an innings eater for the Vikings with four appearances out of the bullpen and two starts totalling 20.1 innings and an ERA?of 0.89 (third best on the team) with 24 K's
• Mitzel has made four starts and one relief appearance. Mitzel is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA in 24.1 innings pitched with two complete game shutouts

Party on Barth
• Freshman Jordan Barth (Cold Springs, Minn.) has become an RBI machine for the Vikings early on in his career
• Barth is the team and NSIC leader in RBI (38) and has 12 multi-RBI games in 28 games. Barth also fourth on the team in hits (34) and second in home runs (four)

Blank is Blanking Teams
• Senior Jacob Blank (Gretna, Neb.) has picked up where he left off last season. Blank is 5-0 in seven starts on the year with an ERA?of 2.09 with a team best 38.2 innings pitched and 49 strikeouts. Blank has one shutout on the year and two complete games
• Blank ranks 14th in DII?in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.17) and ninth in WHIP?(0.85)

Sophomore Sluggers
• Sam Baier (Springfield, Minn.) and Riley Johnson (Champlin, Minn.) are showing no signs of sophomore slumps in their seconds seasons
• Johnson broke a pair of school records during the opening weekend. Johnson recorded six hits in the season opener to break the school record of five and stole four bases in the series finale to tie the school record
• Johnson is batting leadoff for the Vikings and leads the team in batting avg. (.392) hits (47), runs scored (30) and is third on the team with 13 steals
• Baier, the reigning NSIC?Freshman of the Year, is second on the team in RBI?(33) and is the team leader and tied for the lead in the NSIC in homers (six) hitting .315
• Johnson and Baier the only two fielders to start every game this season for the Vikings

Don't Run on Menssen
• Senior Ryan Menssen (St. James, Minn.) has been a stalwart behind the plate for the Vikings this season. The reigning NSIC?Gold Glove recipient has started 21 games between catcher and DH
• Menssen sports of fielding pct. of 1.000, 157 putouts and 14 assists. Menssen has also thrown seven potential base stealers this season out of 17 attempts and has picked off one runner
• Menssen has also been solid at the plate hitting .311 and is tops on the team with being hit by a pitch nine times this season

Nickel for your Thoughts
• Ryan Nickel (Shoreview, Minn.) has made an instant impact as a freshmen. Nickel has appeared in every game for the Vikings and has made 27 starts
• Nickel leads the Vikings in on-base pct. (.464). Nickel is second on the team in batting avg. (.380) and walks (13) and is tied for third in runs scored (27)
• Nickel is one of two Vikings that has more walks than strikeouts?(Johnson)

Svozil Style
• Michael Svozil (Millbrae, Calif.) has made a successful transition from the JUCO ranks to Division II. Svozil attended West Valley College where he appeared in 34 games while attaining a .323 batting average with a .384 slugging percentage. Svozil connected on nine RBI, scored 21 times and stole six bases
• Svozil has brought energy with him in his first season at Augustana. Svozil has appeared in 27 games, making 26 starts, and is fourth on the team in batting avg. (.364)
• Svozil leads the team and the NSIC and is 19th in DII in stolen bases (20) and leads the team in sacrifices with four sac hits and four sac flies

Schmidt Happens
• Freshman Jed Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) has established himself as a future ace in the Vikings pitching staff
• Schmidt mans the fourth spot in the weekend rotation and is the only non-senior in the rotation (Blank, Flattery, Mitzel)
• Schmidt has made six appearances with four starts this season and is third on the team in innings pitched with 26.0. Schmidt is 3-0 with 19 strikeouts and the best starter's ERA?of 1.38. Schmidt has an opponents batting avg. of .174 and has one save
• Schmidt's best performance came against Northern State (3/18) where he tossed a complete game shutout allowing only one hit and three walks with four strikeouts.

Concordia-St. Paul Notes
• Concordia-St. Paul enters the doubleheader against Augustana with a record of 15-9 (8-6 NSIC) after taking two midweek games from U-Mary. The Golden Bears shutout the Marauders in both games, taking game one, 6-0, and game two, 7-0.
• Connor Trygstad leads the Golden Bears, hitting .410 with two home runs and 11 RBI
• Drew Sannes and Carter Schmidt are hitting .383 for the Golden Bears as well
• Pitching is the strong suit for the Golden Bears as they have a team ERA of 2.87 and have an NCAA?best 10 shutouts
• Gus and Louie Varland and Josh Gaworski each have ERA's below 1.00. G. Varland is 4-1 in six starts with an ERA of 0.71 with three complete games and 49 strikeouts in 38 innings. L. Varland is 3-0 in four appearance (four starts) with an ERA of 0.39 in 23 innings with 25 strikeouts. Gaworski is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.46 in 19.2 innings of work. Gaworski was named NSIC and National Pitcher of the Week on March 22 after tossing a no-hitter against Minnesota Crookston

Next Series
The Vikings hit the road next week for a midweek doubleheader in Marshall, Minn. against SMSU. The Vikings and Mustangs are scheduled to play at 1:30 p.m.