Doubleheader With SMSU Pushed to Thursday for Augustana Baseball

3/22/2021 6:12:00 PM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- After winning the home-opening series, the Augustana baseball team, ranked No. 18 in the country, continues its homestand with a mid-week doubleheader against the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State.

The Games
The Vikings and Mustangs play a doubleheader on Thursday with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Due to COVID-19 protocols, fan attendance will be limited to a pass list for Viking players only. Live video and stats, however, can be found on GoAugie.com/Live for both games.

The Mustangs
Picked to finish 12th in the NSIC, SMSU comes into its matchup with Augustana at 2-3 on the season. The Mustangs split a doubleheader on the road with Briar Cliff, before a series loss last weekend in Fayette, Iowa, against Upper Iowa. The Mustangs took game one 7-4 and dropped a couple of close contests on Sunday, 5-4 and 7-6.

The Vikings
Augustana, 6-1 overall on the young season, swept a four-game series against Cameron University to start its 2021 campaign. Last weekend, the Vikings took two-of-three games against St. Cloud State in a low-scoring, windy series to open up NSIC play.

On the mound, Augustana received dominant performances from senior lefty Koby Bishop, sophomore righty Ryan Jares and righty senior NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Max Steffens.

Bishop came on in relief in game one and threw four innings of shutout baseball with four strikeouts while conceding just one hit. Jares threw seven innings in game two and surrendered just one earned run on six hits with seven strikeouts. Steffens tossed 6.1 innings of one-run ball with six hits allowed and five strikeouts to earn the game three victory.

The Vikings tallied just 16 hits in the series against the Huskies, however, junior NSIC Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Barth tallied a hit in each game to extend his hitting-streak to a whopping 20 games.

Despite the lower run total against the Huskies, the Vikings have several hitters off to blistering starts at the plate. Junior infielder JT Mix is hitting .500 (10-for-20), senior infielder Sam Baier is hitting .450 (9-for-20), sophomore outfielder Carter Howell is hitting .400 (10-for-25) and senior outfielder Riley Johnson leads the Vikings in hits (11) and RBIs (7) and is hitting .367 (11-for-30).

Player to Watch
Get ready to be on the lookout for Riley Johnson a lot over the next few weeks. The senior is on the cusp of breaking several career records at Augustana. He is eight runs scored shy of the career runs scored record, 13 hits shy of the career hits record and five stolen bases shy of the career stolen bases record.

One Last Thing
The Vikings are 58-45 in the all-time series with the Mustangs with Augustana currently on a six-game win streak. In their last 26 matchups, Augustana is 24-2 against Southwest Minnesota State.

-- GoAugie.com --

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