SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team continues the 2025 conference slate at home with four games against Bemidji State. The teams will play a single game Saturday at 2 p.m., a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., on Sunday and a noon single game on Monday. 

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 and Beavers have met 49 times since 1960, with the Vikings leading the series 42-7. Last season, the Vikings swept a four-game set with a combined score of 48-2, coming within two outs of a weekend-long shutout. AU is 27-3 at home in the all-time series. 

The Beavers
Bemidji State enters the weekend 1-5 after getting swept in a four-game series against William Jewell. Noah Drusch is batting .300 with three doubles and a pair of home runs to lead the offense. Zach Evenson also has two home runs, adding seven RBI and a .969 OPS. Derek Hoffman has a 1.50 ERA after allowing just one earned run in six innings for the lone Beaver victory. 

The Vikings
Augustana is ranked No. 15 in the ABCA poll, No. 14 in the D2Baseball poll and are receiving votes in the NCBWA poll after splitting a four gamer against St. Cloud State. 

Head coach Tim Huber is in his 17th season at the helm for AU and holds an all-time record of 599-269-1. 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 rank seventh in fielding percentage at 0.985 and K/9 with 11.4, 30th in strikeout to walk ratio at 2.41, 34th in the country with 8.4 runs per game and 46th with 2.25 stolen bases per game. 

Jason Axelberg powered the offense last weekend. He hit .333 with a pair of home runs against St. Cloud State while slashing .333/.467/.833. Axelberg drove in five runs, walking twice and drawing a HBP while stealing two bases and playing error-free outfield. He closed the series with a two-hit game, including a three-run blast to keep the Vikings alive in game two of Tuesday's doubleheader.

Joshua Koskie leads the offense with a .409/.536/.773 slash line, tying the team lead with two home runs and driving in six. 

Behind him is Trevor Winterstein, whose .345 batting average ranks second. Winterstein is tied for the team lead with two home runs and 10 hits while leading the team with 10 runs scored and has been plunked five times. 

Also batting .345 is Jack Hines. The NSIC Preseason Player of the Year has driven in eight runs on nine singles and a double while collecting a .472 on-base percentage. He has stolen a team-high three bases and has scored eight runs while drawing six walks. 

The aforementioned Axelberg leads the club with 12 RBI while going 7 for 23 with a pair of home runs. The senior is slashing .303/.393/.565 and also has three stolen bases. 

Joe Kolbeck has been an on-base machine, drawing seven walks and hitting .333 to turn in a team-best on-base percentage of .600. He has two games where he reached base every time up, an 0 for 0 day with four walks in the season opener and a 1 for 1 with three walk game against St. Cloud State. 

Three arms out of the bullpen have yet to allow a run. Joel Van De Stroet has struck out five and allowed just one hit in 3 2/3 innings, Maddox Foss has added four strikeouts in three innings with a WHIP of 1.00 and Ryan Clementi has 1 1/3 of scoreless baseball with three strikeouts. 

Mariano Gomez leads the rotation with a 1.64 ERA. The first NSIC Pitcher of the Week of the season has struck out 16 in 11 innings and has allowed an opponent batting average of .184 while giving up just one extra base hit. 

Ethan Cole threw six scoreless innings against St. Cloud State, dropping his ERA to 2.45 with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings. Reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Year Ashton Michek touts a 3.75 ERA, powering the staff with 17 strikeouts in 12 innings and has the lone pickoff. 

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 (42), fourth in total bases (423), fifth in slugging percentage (.663) and runs scored (186), sixth in home runs (37), hits (247) and RBI (177), seventh in batting average (.385) and on-base percentage (.466) and 10th in stolen bases (47). 

Trevor Winterstein is seventh in program history with 63 stolen bases. Will Henry (.202) and J.D. Hennen (.203) each find themselves among the all-time opponent batting average list, ranking seventh and eighth respectively, minimum 25 innings pitched. Henry also ranks eighth in ERA at 2.52.

Mariano Gomez, Will Henry and Ethan Cole have all established themselves with swing-and-miss stuff. Gomez is second all-time with 13.04 strikeouts per nine innings while Henry is fourth with 12.60 and Cole is seventh with 12.06.
 
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 18 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.)

One Last Thing
This Vikings have won 21 straight games against Bemidji State, winning those 21 games by a combined score of 276-37.