SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team hits the road for its final non-conference weekend series of the season, taking on Drury in Springfield, Mo. for a three-game set. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon before closing the series with a noon game on Sunday.

Complete action can be followed on GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app, presented by The Original Pancake House. The app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play. 

Series History
The teams played 13 times from 2008-2019 with Drury leading the series 7-6. The Vikings have won five of the last seven meetings, including a pair of wins in a series victory in 2019. 

The Panthers
Drury is 2-3 on the year after splitting a two game series against then-No. 8 West Texas A&M. They also defeated the Buffs in an exhibition game on Sunday. Scott Nasby has been at the helm for 12 seasons at Drury and owns an official record of 306-229-1

The Panthers are led by a pair of hitters batting over .500. Max Elmer has slashed .538/.647/.615 with seven hits and eight runs scored. Wes Collins brings the pop, slashing .526/.591/1.158 with three home runs and nine RBI. 

The Vikings
Augustana is 3-2 overall after a 20-5 rout of Missouri Western on Tuesday afternoon. The Vikings have scored 55 runs in five games. 

AU reached base 26 times in Tuesday's victory. Jack Hines went 3 for 4 with a double, home run, four RBI, and three runs scored in the victory. Drey Dirksen added a pair of hits with three runs scored and three RBI while drilling his third home run of the season. Trevor Winterstein went 2 for 4 with a pair of runs scored, and Nick Banowetz hit a home run and drove in five runs. 

Also leaving the yard was Tate Meiners, who drove in two runs and scored each time he reached base. The Vikings had 15 hits from 11 different hitters and eight of nine starters. AU also drew six walks and were hit five times, with all nine starters and 14 different hitters reaching base. 

Kai Taylor struck out three in two innings while serving as the starter. Tom Sun earned the victory, throwing 1 ⅓ in scoreless relief while striking out three. As a whole, the pitching staff collected 10 K's in seven innings of action. 

Max Mosser is batting .500 (6 for 12) on the year through five games to lead the team in batting. Hines has been stellar to open the season, slashing .476/.522/.905 with a pair of home runs and eight RBI while scoring nine runs. Dirksen has now hit three home runs in five games while batting .400 (6 for 15) and tallied a 1.473 OPS. The Vikings were a perfect 9 for 9 in stolen bases, led by a pair of steals from Winterstein. 

As a team, AU ranks fifth in double plays per game with 1.40, eighth in doubles per game with 3.0, ninth in scoring with 11.0 runs per game, and 12th in batting average with a team average of .344. 

Nine AU hitters have recorded multi-hit games, led by four from Hines. Hines and Winterstein were also the only hitters to record hits in all five games. After going hitless in the season opener, Luke Ballweg carries a four game hit streak and is batting .455 with five RBI and a .538 on base percentage. 

Caleb Saari is one of 33 players in the country to not allow an earned run while qualifying for ERA. Just missing the cutoff is J.D. Hennen, who opened his season with four shutout innings while striking out five and allowing an opponents batting average of .071. Ashton Michek also earned a start last weekend, allowing just two earned runs in six innings and recorded four strikeouts. 

Out of the bullpen, Sun, Aidan Torpey, and Maddox Foss combined for 7 ⅔ scoreless innings and eight strikeouts. 

A Couple Numbers To Watch
Drey Dirksen continues to inch closer to the program's home run crown. He has hit 39 in his career, fifth most in program history. He now sits one away from fourth and 10 away from the program record, held by Nate Baumann (49, 2008-11). The number is also tied for seventh most among active DII career leaders. Trevor Winterstein is ninth in program history with 44 stolen bases. Caleb Saari is eighth in career strikeouts with 180. Adam Diedrich is third in program history and fifth among active career DII leaders with 16 saves.