SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team returns to NSIC action, hosting Minnesota Crookston for a four-game set at Ronken Field. The teams will play at 3:30 p.m., on Friday, a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., on Saturday and one game at noon 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 Vikings are 49-7 all-time against the Golden Eagles after dropping a pair of games last season. AU is 31-3 all-time at home in the series. 

The Golden Eagles
Minnesota Crookston enters the weekend 7-11 overall and 4-4 in the NSIC, going 3-1 against Wayne State and 1-3 against Sioux Falls. Dylan Debilzen is batting .373 while two-way player Josh Dykhoff has four home runs and a team-high 20 RBI while batting .290. On the mound, Dykhoff is 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA and 0.82 WHIP while striking out 28 in 28 innings. 

The Vikings
Augustana is ranked No. 26 in the ABCA poll, No. 24 in the D2Baseball poll and are the highest team receiving votes in the NCBWA poll after taking two of three against MSU Denver. The Vikings are 11-6 on the year and 6-2 in the NSIC 

Head coach Tim Huber is in his 17th season at the helm for AU and holds an all-time record of 605-272-1. Huber is the reigning NSIC Coach of the Year and has led the Vikings to eight national tournament appearances, including the 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship. 

The Vikings are tied for second in the country in fielding percentage at 0.987, seventh in K/9 with 10.6, ninth in stolen bases per game at 3.53, 13th in scoring at 9.5 runs per game, 20th in on base percentage at .435, 24th in strikeout to walk ratio at 2.76, 25th with a 1.38 WHIP and 28th in batting average at .321. 

Trevor Winterstein enters the weekend on a tear, tallying nine hits in the last two games with seven runs scored, a double and a home run. He leads the Vikings with a .431/.537/.708 slash line with five home runs, 14 RBI and 27 runs scored while stealing 10 bases. 

Jack Hines has eight hits over a four-game hit streak and is batting .406 with 17 RBI and 17 runs scored. The reigning National Player of the Year has four doubles and has a .500 on base percentage while going a perfect 14-14 on stolen bases. 

After a big series against MSU Denver, Troy Berg is up to third on the team with a .381 average and a 1.158 OPS with a team-high six doubles. He is 10 for 10 on stolen bases and has 14 RBI and 14 runs scored. 

Jason Axelberg is slashing .345/.458/.759 and leads the Vikings with six home runs, 25 RBI and added 20 runs scored and a 1.217 OPS. Joshua Koskie has had quite the return to the lineup after redshirting a season ago, hitting .353 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI. The junior has a .455 on base percentage and .618 slugging percentage to rank fourth on the team with a 1.073 OPS. 

Mariano Gomez leads the rotation with a 2.45 ERA. The first NSIC Pitcher of the Week of the season has struck out 33 in 22 innings and has allowed an opponent batting average of .192 while giving up just four extra base hits. 

Ashton Michek has turned in a good start to the season, holding a .250 opponent batting average while ranking second on the team lead with 27 strikeouts. J.D. Hennen threw a no-hitter on March 9 against Bemidji State and has racked up 25 strikeouts in 15 ⅔ innings. 

Out of the bullpen, Maddox Foss has struck out four in 6 2/3 scoreless frames while Kai Taylor has allowed a WHIP of 0.97 in 10 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts. Joel Van De Stroet has allowed just four baserunners in 5 innings while striking out five.  

Record Watch
Jack Hines has his name scattered across the all-time record list at Augustana and will have one more season to stake his claim. Hines is the all-time leader in triples (14) and times hit by pitch (45), third in total bases (444), fifth in runs scored (194), RBI (188) and hits (263), sixth in slugging percentage (.657), on-base percentage (.469), and home runs (37), seventh in batting average (.389) and ninth in stolen bases (58). 

Trevor Winterstein is sixth in program history with 71 stolen bases. J.D. Hennen (.184) and Will Henry (.207) each find themselves among the all-time opponent batting average list, ranking fifth and 10th respectively, minimum 25 innings pitched.

Mariano Gomez, Henry, Hennen and Ethan Cole have all established themselves with swing-and-miss stuff. Gomez is second all-time with 13.16 strikeouts per nine innings while Henry is sixth with 12.27, Hennen is ninth with 11.74 and Cole is 10th with 11.63.
 
Also climbing the career record books is Adam Diedrich, who ranks third all-time with 20 saves, four away from the record held by Bret Severtson (24, 2008-11).

Ashton Michek is the master of deception, holding the all-time record with 20 pickoffs. His two full seasons at Augustana are the top two seasons in program history in terms of pickoffs (six in 2023, 11 in 2024.)