SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team looks to get back on track with four conference games against Minnesota Duluth. The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m., on Thursday before a noon doubleheader on Friday. The games will be played at Ronken Field with the Bulldogs serving as the home team.  

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 40-17 all-time against the Bulldogs after sweeping four games last season. AU has won 17 games in a row in the series and is 22-7 at home against UMD. 

The Bulldogs
Minnesota Duluth enters the weekend 11-10 overall and 7-5 in the NSIC after taking one of four from Minnesota State last weekend. Troy Lynch is hitting .431 with six extra base hits and a 1.169 OPS while Garrett Stauffacher has a team-high five home runs while slashing .328/.455/.623. Brayden Buttweiler is 2-1 with a 3.98 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 20 1/3 to lead the rotation while four Bulldogs have combined to throw 9 1/3 scoreless innings out of the pen. 

The Vikings
Augustana is unranked after taking two of four against Minnesota Crookston. The Vikings are 13-8 on the year and 8-4 in the NSIC 

Head coach Tim Huber is in his 17th season at the helm for AU and holds an all-time record of 607-274-1. 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 third in the country in K/9 at 11.0, seventh in fielding percentage with 0.981, 11th in scoring at 9.4 runs per game, 14th in stolen bases per game at 3.19, 22nd in strikeout to walk ratio at 2.48, 23rd in on base percentage at .433 and 26th in batting average at .323. 

Jack Hines has 17 hits over an eight-game hit streak and is batting .438 with 24 RBI and 19 runs scored. The reigning National Player of the Year has five doubles, a triple and a home run and has a .511 on base percentage while going a perfect 15-15 on stolen bases. 

Joshua Koskie racked up six hits in eight at bats last weekend, jumping his average to .429 with 17 runs scored and 13 RBI. He leads the team with a .518 on-base percentage and is tied with a 1.185 OPS. 

Trevor Winterstein had a five-game hit streak snapped on Sunday, moving his season average to .400 with six home runs, 32 runs scored and a 1.185 OPS. He is 11th in the country with 1.52 runs scored per game.

After recording a hit in each game against Minnesota Crookston, Troy Berg is up to fourth on the team with a .357 average and has a 1.071 OPS with a team-high six doubles. He is 11 for 11 on stolen bases and has 14 RBI and 17 runs scored. 

Jason Axelberg is slashing .338/.464/.716 and leads the Vikings with six home runs, 28 RBI and added 22 runs scored and a 1.217 OPS. True freshman Kobe Eikmeier has swung it well lately, holding a .327 average with 17 runs scored. 

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 .248 opponent batting average while leading the team with 34 strikeouts. J.D. Hennen threw a no-hitter on March 9 against Bemidji State and has racked up 31 strikeouts in 21 1/3  innings. 

Out of the bullpen, Maddox Foss has struck out eight in 9 1/3 innings while allowing just two runs and Kai Taylor has allowed an opponents batting average of .234 in 13 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts. Harry Blum turned in a spectacular outing out of the bullpen on Sunday, striking out 12 in 5 2/3 innings while being dealt a no-decision. 

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 (15) and times hit by pitch (45), third in total bases (459) and RBI (195), fourth in on-base percentage (.471), runs scored (197) and hits (263), fifth in batting average (.393), and slugging percentage (.663), sixth in home runs (38), eighth in stolen bases (59) and 10th in doubles with 43. 

Trevor Winterstein is fourth in program history with 73 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, Cole is eighth with 11.79 and Hennen is 10th with 11.59.
 
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.)