SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team returns home for a four-game set against Winona State. The teams will play a pair of games starting at 1:30 p.m., on Saturday and two more on Sunday starting at noon. Originally scheduled for a three-game series, the teams will play a non-conference game following the first Sunday game. 

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 34-15 all-time against the Warriors after sweeping a three-game set last season. The Vikings are 14-7 at home and have won 12 consecutive matchups. 

The Warriors
Winona State enters the weekend 16-15 overall and 12-10 in the NSIC after splitting a midweek doubleheader against No. 8 Minnesota State. Cole Fuecker is hitting .341 with 14 extra base hits, including three home runs, and a .945 OPS while Dylan Harer has a team-high four home runs while slashing .375/.474/.625. Wesley Johnson is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in a team-high 24 innings while Cole Stanchina has 29 strikeouts in just 15 1/3 innings to lead the staff. 

The Vikings
Augustana is unranked after splitting two games against Sioux Falls. The Vikings are 20-11 on the year and 15-7 in the NSIC 

Head coach Tim Huber is in his 17th season at the helm for AU and holds an all-time record of 614-277-1. 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 first in the country in fielding percentage at 0.981, fifth in K/9 at 10.1, 14th in scoring at 9.3 runs per game, 20th in stolen bases per game at 2.87, 22nd in hits allowed per nine innings at 8.47, 23rd in batting average at .331 and 24th in on base percentage at .430.

Jack Hines has 36 hits over an 18 game on-base streak and is batting .470 (fourth nationally) with 38 RBI and 34 runs scored. The reigning National Player of the Year has seven doubles, a triple and four home runs and has a .522 on base percentage while going a perfect 19-19 on stolen bases. 

His 1.74 hits per game also ranks seventh in the country and his 19 stolen bases are the sixth most in the country without getting caught. 

Trevor Winterstein has reached base to lead off his last six games and is second on the team with a .395 average and seven home runs, Winterstein is third on the team with a 1.167 OPS while scoring a team-high 46 runs. He is 10th in the country with 1.48 runs scored per game.

After a six hit weekend, Jason Axelberg is slashing .377/.465/.736 and leads the Vikings with 10 home runs, 38 RBI and has added 31 runs scored and a 1.201 OPS. His 28 game on-base streak also leads the team. 

Joshua Koskie is tied for third on the team with a .377 average. His 1.113 OPS is also fourth on the team and he has three home runs and 18 RBI to go along with a .506 on-base percentage.  

The freshmen have made major contributions to the offense this season. Carter Heinsch had three more hits in the second game on Wednesday and is hitting .429 (9 for 21) with 10 runs scored on the year. Bjorn Lind is hitting .351 in 19 games this season and has five multi-hit games since he was regularly inserted into the starting lineup. Kobe Eikmeier is hitting .267 in 24 games and 18 starts. Nate Soelter is 15 for 36 with 13 RBI in his young career, hitting his first career home run on March 27 against Minnesota Duluth. 

Ashton Michek has turned in a good start to the season, holding a .239 opponent batting average while leading the team with 44 strikeouts. J.D. Hennen threw a no-hitter on March 9 against Bemidji State and has racked up 41 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings. Hennen ranks eighth in the country with 5.68 H/9 allowed and 30th with 11.65 K/9

Harry Blum continued a strong stretch this past weekend, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings on Saturday. He has struck out 29 in 29 1/3 innings after earning a start on Wednesday and is the only pitcher on staff with multiple saves (3).

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. 

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 (47), second in total bases (489), third in runs scored (212), batting average (.400), hits (291) and RBI (209), fourth in on-base percentage (.475), and slugging percentage (.673), fifth in home runs (41), and eighth in stolen bases (63) and doubles (45). 

Trevor Winterstein is fourth in program history with 77 stolen bases. J.D. Hennen (.188) and Will Henry (.194) each find themselves among the all-time opponent batting average list, ranking fifth and seventh respectively, minimum 25 innings pitched.

Mariano Gomez, Henry 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 fourth with 12.69 and Cole is 10th with 11.30.
 
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 22 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). He has also recently shot himself onto the all-time strikeout list, moving to ninth with 182 strikeouts.