SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team heads east to take on former NSIC foe Upper Iowa on Wednesday afternoon. The single game is slated for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch. From there, the Vikings will travel to St. Cloud State for a four game conference set, with doubleheaders on Thursday and Friday beginning at 1 p.m.

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
Augustana holds a 30-5 series lead against Upper Iowa and have won 13 of the last 14 since 2017. In their 2023 series, Jack Hines had a pair of multi-hit games to help the Vikings to a series win. The Vikings have won 12 of 13 games in Fayette, Iowa. 

The Peacocks
Upper Iowa is 3-9 overall and 0-4 in the GLVC after getting swept by Maryville in its first series in its new conference. Brian Voigt is in his first season as head coach of the Peacocks

Bryce Hall is hitting .306 with 10 runs scored and has a .444 on base percentage for a UIU offense that scores just over four runs a game. Isaiah Maes leads their pitching staff with 13 ⅓ innings and 12 strikeouts for a staff that holds a 8.71 team ERA. 

The Huskies
St. Cloud State is 8-6 overall and 4-0 in the NSIC. They have not played since Feb. 26, when they defeated CSU Pueblo 11-9. Patt Dolan is in his 26th season at the helm for SCSU and holds a career record of 837-417-1. 

Drew Beier is batting .425 with a 1.014 OPS, while Cal James is batting .396 with five home runs, 20 RBI, and a 1.314 OPS to lead an offense that scores 8.4 runs per game. Payton VanBeck and Luke Tupy are at the top of the rotation for SCSU, holding a 3.42 ERA in 23 2/3 innings with 20 strikeouts and a 3.43 ERA in 21 innings with 30 strikeouts, respectively. 

The Vikings
Augustana is 10-2 overall and have won eight games in a row after sweeping Bemidji State in four games to open NSIC play. The Vikings are fourth in the country with 10.8 runs per game. 

The Vikings swept the NSIC weekly honors after the sweep, with Jack Hines earning his third career Player of the Week honor and Caleb Saari becoming the NSIC Pitcher of the Week for the first time. Hines went 8-13 with two home runs, a pair of doubles, three stolen bases, seven runs scored, and eight RBI in the series. Saari was dominant in his Friday start, allowing just one hit and one walk in his first career shutout while tying a program record with 17 strikeouts. 

Hines is slashing .478/.519/.913 on the year with a team-high five doubles, 19 RBI, 20 runs scored, and six stolen bases. He also has five home runs on the year and has a 12 game hit streak to open the season. 

The only batter with more homers than Hines is Drey Dirksen, who has hit six and driven in 13 runs while batting .395 and leads the team with a 1.523 OPS. He's also walked nine times and been hit four times. Dirksen has now hit a home run against each of the four opponents AU has faced this season. 

Jason Axelberg is batting .458 with three home runs and 13 RBI in 11 games and six starts, and Max Mosser is batting .450 with a .593 on base percentage. As a team, AU ranks sixth in the country in home runs per game with 1.83 home runs per game, eighth with 1.08 double plays per game, ninth with a .570 slugging percentage, 17th with a .333 batting average, 23rd in doubles per game with 2.33, and 27th with 2.42 steals per game.

13 AU hitters have recorded multi-hit games, led by eight from Hines. He is also the only player to have a hit in every single game. Ballweg has a nine-game hit streak after going hitless in the season opener.  Dirksen joins Hines with a 12 game on-base streak to open the year.

Ashton Michek and Caleb Saari have been at the head of a pitching staff that ranks among the nations best. Michek has a 1.00 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 18 innings, and Saari holds a 1.80 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 20 innings of action. He has 23 strikeouts and has allowed an opponents batting average of .200. J.D. Hennen has also shined in his first season of extended work, striking out 15 in 12 ⅔ innings while allowing an opponents batting average of .178. 

Out of the bullpen, Tom Sun, Aidan Torpey, Logan Von Berge, Will Henry, and Maddox Foss have combined for 11 1/3 scoreless innings and 18 strikeouts. Ethan Cole made his first start of the season on Saturday and struck out 11 in five innings of work, and Mariano Gomez has a .077 opponents batting average in 4 ⅓ innings. 

As a staff, the Vikings have struck out 125 hitters in 94 ⅓ innings. They're second in the country with four shutouts, second with a 3.47 K/BB ratio, 11.9 K/9 rate, and fifth with a 1.21 WHIP.

Numbers Game
Drey Dirksen continues to inch closer to the program's home run crown. He has hit 42 in his career, tied for second most in program history. He now sits seven 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. Ashton Michek is fifth in program history with a 2.39 career ERA and tied the program record for career pickoffs with 10 after recording three on Saturday. Caleb Saari (201) moved up to sixth in career strikeouts, while Caleb Kranz (194) sits eighth. Adam Diedrich is third in program history and fifth among active career DII leaders with 17 saves.