SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--The Augustana baseball team hosts the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles on Friday and Saturday for a three-game NSIC series at Ronken Field. The series begins with a doubleheader on Friday with game one slated for 1:30 p.m. On Saturday, the teams wrap up the series with a start time set for noon. 

As always, please stay tuned to GoAugie.com and @Augiebaseball for the latest on the schedule adjustments. 

Live stats and live video will be available at GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app. The app is available in the app store and Google Play and is presented by the Original Pancake House. 

Weather Report
It's finally baseball weather this weekend as the predicted high on Friday is 62 degrees and the high on Saturday is expected to be 68. On Friday, wind gusts may be up to 12 mph with sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Saturday's forecast is expected to be partly sunny, windy and mild. 

Scouting the Golden Eagles
Minnesota Crookston is 20-11 overall and holds an NSIC record of 10-3. In their last outing, the Golden Eagles defeated the Upper Iowa Peacocks in a Tuesday doubleheader, 6-5 in game one and 13-3 in game two. Mike Hallquist, Jake Hjelle, Caden Headlee and Ben Goelz make up a quartet of heavy hitters for UMC. Hallquist is hitting .462, leads the team with 49 hits, 13 doubles and three triples, making the start in all 31 games for Minnesota Crookston this season. Hjelle follows suit with 42 hits and a batting average of .368, tying Hallquist with 11 home runs and 40 RBI. Headlee has a batting average of .360 and has made 30 starts this season with 40 hits and five doubles. Rounding out the quartet is Goelz who is hitting .306 with 34 hits, eight doubles and three home runs. Hjelle and Goelz are 10-of-12 and 10-of-11 on stolen base attempts, respectively. On the mound, Alex Koep, Jake Osowski and Jake Dykoff have led the Golden Eagles this season. Koep has tossed 35 innings and holds a record of 4-0 with 46 strikeouts. Osowski has an ERA of 2.18 with 38 strikeouts and a 5-0 record. Dykoff is 4-3 and leads with 55 strikeouts. 

The Vikings
Augustana is 22-13 overall in 2023 with a conference record of 11-4. Last week, the Vikings defeated Minnesota Duluth in two games at Ronken Field, swept Bemidji State in a three-game series and split with Northern State. Jack Hines, Nick Banowetz, Drey Dirksen, Trevor Winterstein and Ragan Pinnow have been impressive at the plate for the Vikings. Hines leads the lineup with a batting average of .396. Dirksen tops the team with 11 doubles and 32 RBI. Following with 10 doubles and two triples is Banowetz, who is hitting .382. Winterstein has a .311 batting average, 42 hits, three doubles, one triple, four home runs and 24 RBI. Winterstein is also 19-of-21 on stolen base attempts while Banowetz is 22-of-24 in that category. On the hill, Caleb Saari has been stellar this season, tossing 50.2 innings and owning a 3-2 record with 60 strikeouts. Seth Miller has thrown 44.1 innings and struck out 48 batters. Caleb Kranz has also spent 32.0 innings on the mound and has logged 50 strikeouts. The Viking pitching staff has amounted 331 strikeouts in 35 games this season.

–GoAugie.com–