Augustana Baseball Set For Road Series With Winona State

4/23/2021 1:01:00 PM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Augustana baseball team is off to Winona, Minnesota, for a three-game set against the Warriors of Winona State Saturday and Sunday. The Vikings (22-7 overall and 18-7 within the NSIC) and Warriors (17-10 overall and 14-8) sit at third and fourth, respectively, in the NSIC standings, setting up for an exciting weekend of baseball.

The Games
First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader is set for 1:30 p.m. at Loughrey Field in Winona, Minnesota, with Sunday's game three starting at noon. Live video and live stats will be available at GoAugie.com/Live.

The Warriors
Picked to finish sixth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, Winona State comes into its matchup with Augustana red-hot, winning its last eight games. In those eight games, the Warriors have swept Wayne State and Minot State in doubleheaders and SMSU in a three-game series.

At the plate, the Warriors are led by senior Sam Kohnle who is hitting .389 and leads the team in hits with 37, eight of which have been doubles. Junior Derek Baumgartner is slashing .333 for Winona and leads the squad in extra-base hits with four doubles, four triples and three homers. On the mound, Winona is led by sophomore Cameron Kramer who owns a 3-0 record and 2.54 ERA in 28.1 innings pitched.

The Vikings
Augustana has thrived in three-game series' against NSIC opponents thus far in the 2021 campaign. The Vikings have taken two-of-three from St. Cloud State, Minot State and UMary and have swept Bemidji State and Concordia-St. Paul.

The Viking pitching staff, the No. 1 strikeout team in the country, has been bringing the heat all season and brings six pitchers with 25-or-more strikeouts and less than a 3.25 ERA into the series with Winona State: Tanner Brown, Ryan Jares, Koby Bishop, Jed Schmidt, Caleb Kranz and Max Steffens.

On the basepaths, Augustana also has the conference's top-three base stealing threats on its roster in seniors Sam Baier and Riley Johnson and sophomore Carter Howell. Baier (16-for-16) and Howell (16-for-18) lead the NSIC with Johnson (15-for-17) one stolen base behind. Johnson, however, owns the school record for stolen bases with 96.

At the plate, Augustana continues to be the top hitting team in the conference with a .333 batting average and more than 70 hits than the next highest hit total. The Vikings have six hitters batting above .320 with 10-plus extra-base hits and 20-plus RBIs: Howell, Johnson, Baier, Jordan Barth, Christian Kuzemka and Will Olson.

Player to Watch
Junior NSIC Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Barth has tallied multi-hit games in three of his last five games played and has hit safely in all but four games this season. Look for Barth to help carry the Vikings offense as we head into the last quarter of the regular season.

One Last Thing
The Vikings are 21-14 in the all-time series with the Warriors. In the last 18 matchups, Augustana is 16-2.

-- GoAugie.com --

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