SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--The Augustana baseball team begins the 2023 season in Hilo, Hawai'i, with a five-game series against the Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans. The Vikings start the season with a 10 p.m. CT contest on Wednesday night.
Live stats will be available at GoAugie.com/Live. Live video will be available to purchase for the series.
The Vulcans
Hawai'i Hilo competes in the PacWest conference with 2022 DII Baseball Runner-up Point Loma. The Vulcans were selected to finish sixth in the 2023 PacWest Coaches Poll and are led by fifth-year Casey Yamauchi. The Vulcans held an overall record of 27-19 and a record of 15-17 in PacWest action.
Yamauchi, a Hilo native, led the PacWest with a batting average of .403 and recorded 21 doubles. He finished the season second in stolen bases with 27. Hawai'i Hilo also returns Eric Peterson, a redshirt-senior that had a batting average of .323 during the 2022 season. Peterson logged the second-highest batting average of the returning players, just behind Yamauchi, and had 30 hits and 9 RBI.
The Vikings
Augustana enters the 2023 season ranked No. 15 in the preseason edition of the NCBWA DII poll. The Vikings finished first in the NSIC last year and completed 2022 at the NCAA Super Regional. In 2022, the Vikings held an overall record of 47-13-1 and an NSIC record of 31-5.
Head coach Tim Huber enters his 15th season at the helm for AU and holds an all-time record of 500-235-1. Huber is the reigning NSIC Coach of the Year and has also led Augustana to five national tournament appearances including the 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship. Twenty three players were added to the roster in the offseason.
Ryan Jares was named the NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year while the Vikings were selected to finish second in the NSIC Preseason Poll for 2023. Along with Jares' Pitcher of the Year accolade, Drey Dirksen was named as the Viking's Preseason Player to Watch. The Vikings received 185 points with five first place votes in the conference poll.
Jares started in 14 games on the mound, logged 109 strikeouts and pitched 81 innings, had an ERA of 2.78 and a .95 WHIP and held an 8-2 record in 2022. The Winsor, Colorado, native also earned NCBWA First-team All-Region honors and D2CCA Second-team All-Region honors. Dirksen played in 50 games while making 42 starts, logged 39 hits, three doubles and 16 home runs and totaled 37 RBI. Dirksen also spent 8.2 innings on the mound and recorded 13 strikeouts.
One Last Thing
Although Augustana is playing over 3,700 miles from its campus, one Viking will feel right at home. Viking freshman infielder Jacob Ornelles grew up in Honolulu, Hawai'i, while helping Punahou High School to a runner-up finish in the ILH Championship.
–GoAugie.com–
