SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The No. 19-ranked Augustana baseball team is set to finish off its 10-game homestand Tuesday with a mid-week doubleheader against the Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston. 

The Games
Baseball starts at 1:30 on Tuesday with a seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning game. In compliance with Augustana's COVID-19 protocols, attendance for the games will be open to the public with a limited capacity. All spectators must wear a mask unless actively eating or drinking. In addition, fans are encouraged to bring lawn chairs to help support physical distancing. The full spectator policy can be found here. 

As always, live video and live stats will be provided on GoAugie.com/Live.

The Golden Eagles
Picked to finish seventh in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, Minnesota Crookston comes into its matchup with Augustana with an impressive 11-0 overall record and 7-0 record within the conference. The Golden Eagles have defeated Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Sioux Falls and Upper Iowa two times apiece and also swept Winona State in a three-game series. 

The Vikings
Augustana comes into its matchup with Minnesota Crookston at 9-3 overall with a 5-3 conference record. The Vikings took two-of-three from St. Cloud State and Minot State and split a mid-week doubleheader with SMSU. The conference matchups came after a four-game sweep of Cameron University to start the season. 

Last weekend, junior southpaw Tanner Brown pitched the second perfect game in Augustana history, defeating the Beavers of Minot State in game one of the series 4-0. Brown struck out 11 hitters in the seven-inning affair and only needed 86 pitches to accomplish the feat. 

Not to be forgotten, senior NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Max Steffens delivered an elite performance in game three of the Minot series to give the Vikings the series win. Steffens turned in eight innings of one run ball and notched 10 strikeouts. 

Overall, the Augustana pitching staff has been overpowering hitters all season. The Vikings average over 10 strikeouts a game with 125 through the first 12 contests of the year. The top three starters, Brown, Steffens and sophomore righty Ryan Jares, all have 20-or-more strikeouts, ERAs under 2.20 and are a combined 6-0 on the season. 

At the plate, five of the Viking starters own batting averages above the .350 mark: senior shortstop Sam Baier (.351), junior infielder Jordan Barth (.354), senior outfielder Riley Johnson (.367), junior infielder JT Mix (.382) and sophomore outfielder Carter Howell (.409). 

Howell leads the squad in stolen bases with seven, Johnson and Howell lead the team in hits with 18 apiece and Barth leads the team in extra-base hits with eight and RBIs with 13. 

Player to Watch
The Riley Johnson watch is getting serious. Heading into Tuesday's games, Johnson is just four runs shy of the career runs scored record, six hits shy of the career hits record and three stolen bases shy of the career stolen bases record. After five more runs scored, seven more hits and four more stolen bases, Johnson will own all of those Augustana records. 

One Last Thing
The Vikings are 40-4 in the all-time series with the Golden Eagles. Augustana is also 23-0 against Minnesota Crookston at home, a streak that extends all the way back to 2001.