The University of Minnesota Duluth will now continue on the road this weekend when it travels to Augustana College for a four-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) set at Karras Park Home of Ronken Field in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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UMD (7-15, 3-9 NSIC) went an even 3-3 last week, splitting a pair of conference series with Concordia-St. Paul and Southwest Minnesota State.
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Freshman second baseman
Skyler Wenninger batted .435 (10-for-23) and moved up to the lead-off spot for the Bulldogs last weekend while getting on-base at an even .500 clip, adding three walks to just three strikeouts on the week. Wenninger had one double on the week, and scored six runs on the week while driving in one of his own as the top tablesetter for Bulldog sluggers
Alex Wojciechowski (So./1B),
Cody Aasen (Sr./LF), and
Matt Vogt (Fr./RF). The trio combined for 20 hits including four doubles and a Wojciechowski home run, while driving in 13 runs on the week.
Sophomore third baseman
Jimmy Heck busted out of a batting slump, batting .350/.409/.400 with seven hits, a double, two runs batted in, two runs scored and a pair of steals on the week. Heck raised his season batting average over 50 points to .242 since finding his stroke last week.
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Sophomore left-hander
Bo Hellquist finally broke out of his unlucky streak and earned his first win of the season in a big way. He tossed a complete game shutout against Southwest Minnesota State, allowing just two hits while scattering three walks. He struck out six Mustangs while holding opponents to a .091 batting average. A couple other lefties picked up wins for the Bulldogs as sophomore
Charlie Conkel was the beneficiary of the Bulldogs' walk-off win against SMSU on Sunday while sophomore
Kyle Fritz tossed two shutout innings out of the pen to pick up his first win of the year against Concordia.
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| Projected Lineup |
| 2B | Jake Peterson (Sr.) | .370 |
| CF | Marcus O'Neill (Jr.) | .400 |
| 3B | Tony Viger (Sr.) | .405 |
| 1B | Alex Fink (So.) | .375 |
| C | Jack Goihl (Jr.) | .410 |
| DH | Kye Winter (Sr.) | .329 |
| RF | Brian Duxbury (Sr.) | .259 |
| LF | Jacob James (Fr.) | .321 |
| SS | Zach Dibble (So.) | .270 |
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Live Stats |
Live VideoAugustana (20-10, 10-4 NSIC) also went 3-3 last week, splitting with Bemidji State University and No. 3 Minnesota State University in conference action, and will take on the University of Sioux Falls tonight before playing host to the Bulldogs this weekend.
The Vikings are led offensively by the infield, though the team has batted .338/.408/.494 as a squad. Junior catcher Jack Goihl and senior third baseman Tony Viger are sixth and sevent in the NSIC in batting, each above .400 on the season. They've had no trouble putting a hurting on pitchers this year with 11 combined home runs, 62 runs batted in, and 59 runs scored. Viger's 17 doubles are six more than the next highest total in the NSIC, with teammates Alex Fink (So./1B) and Kye Winter (Sr./Util) among the players tied for second with 11.
While Augustana has scored over seven runs per game, Viking pitchers have collected a 4.00 ER, shutting out three teams on the year. Senior right-hander Tyson Gau has made eight starts on the year with a 4-2 record and 2.90 ERA, consistently averaging five innings per outing. The aforementioned Winter leads the team with a perfect 4-0 record in his five starts on the mound, including three complete-game efforts to the tune of a 2.67 ERA. Gau and Winter also collected wins for Augustana last weekend against MSU. Senior reliever Derek Quame has collected five saves in his 14 appearances out of the pen with a 1.31 ERA and 10 strikeouts, but has allowed 22 baserunners in 20.2 innings, including seven walks and a pair of hit-batters.
Opening pitch of the series is set for Noon on Saturday in Sioux Falls, with the teams turning around for a second twinbill Sunday at the same time.
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