February 6, 2024

This Week's Preview
MADISON, S.D. (Feb. 6, 2024)—The Dakota State University Trojan baseball team (36-18 overall record, 24-4 NSAA record in 2023 season) makes their 2024 season debut on Friday and Saturday as they play a four-game series.  The Trojans travel to Kansas City, Mo., to take on Avila (Mo.) (4-4 overall record of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The four-game series will take place at The Z (11901 Wornall Road) on the campus of Avila in Kansas City, Mo.  The doubleheader starts at 12 p.m. on each day, with seven-inning games in each game. 

This weekend's four-game series marked the third straight year that Dakota State will be making their season debut at Avila, despite 2021 season opener at Avila was being canceled due to weather.   The Eagles took the last three games of the four-game series last season, with the Trojans winning the season opener by a 1-0 shutout victory on Feb. 10-11, 2023.

Avila, who was 18-32 overall record last season, kicked off their 2024 season on Jan. 27-28.  The Eagles dropped a four-game series at SAGU (Texas), losing 7-3 and 8-2 on Jan. 27 followed by 8-7 and 2-0 setbacks on Jan. 28.  Avila returned home on Feb. 2-3 and earned a four-game series sweep of Dordt (Iowa) of the Great Plains Athletic Conference.  AU edged the Defenders by the score of 3-2 and 7-6 on Feb. 2, while adding 10-2 and 3-2 victories on Feb. 3

Next Up:  Dakota State returns to the state of Missouri as they prepare for the Joplin (Mo.) Tournament on Feb. 16-17.  The Trojans face Kansas Christian twice, William Woods (Mo.), and (RV) Concordia (Neb.).

This Week's Quick Hits
+ Dakota State (S.D.) is scheduled to play a total of 12 games during the month of February on three straight weekends.  The Trojans play in a pair of preseason tournaments in Joplin, Mo., next weekend, and the Midwest Collision (hosted by Baker, Kan.), in Kansas City, Mo. On Feb. 24-25.
+ The Trojans will face their second opponent from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference on the first weekend of March, visiting Sterling (Kan.).
+ DSU went 1-3 record in the last meeting with Avila (Mo.) on Feb. 10-11, 2023.  The Trojans won the first game by the score of 1-0, followed by a 5-0 setback on Feb. 10, 2023.  AU swept DSU 4-3 and 3-1 on th
+ Dakota State plays a total of 20 straight games before their first home games at Flynn Field.  DSU's first home games are tentatively scheduled for March 15-16 with a four-game series with Mayville State (N.D.).
+ The Trojans are scheduled to play a total of 26 non-conference contests and 24 North Star Athletic Association contests on their 2024 schedule.
+ DSU's non-conference opponents come from the conferences of Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, the American Midwest Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference, and Heart of America Athletic Conference.
+ Dakota State was undefeated at home last season with a 5-0 record.  The Trojans were also 16-13 record on the road and 15-5 record on neutral sites in 2023.

Noteworthy...
TROJANS IN THE SEASON OPENERS:  Dakota State (S.D.) ended their season opening game drought by defeating Avila (Mo.) in 2023 season opener by the score of 1-0.  It was the first time since the 2016 season that the Trojans had won the season opener, sweeping Mount Marty (S.D.) in a pair of shutout victories by the scores of 4-0 and 2-0 in Yankton, S.D. (March 5, 2016).

DAKOTA STATE PICKS TO FINISH SECOND IN NSAA:  The North Star Athletic Association baseball head coaches' had tabbed Dakota State (S.D.) to finish second in the league after tallying 42 points.  Bellevue (Neb.) was the unanimous pick to win the conference title for the ninth straight year after picking up all seven first-place votes and 49 points.  The NSAA baseball regular-season title was not decided until the last day of the regular-season where the Trojans fell short in a doubleheader sweep by the Bruins.  
 
TROJANS SENIORS:  Dakota State have eight seniors listed on their 2024 roster on dsuathletics.com.  The seniors included JD Kirchner, Aiden Rocha, Dalton Nelson, Connor Cook, Roch Laferriere, Walker Hultgren, Ryan McDaniel, and Gage Nagy.  Kirchner and Hultgren were named to the NSAA All-Conference First Team, while McDaniel collected Second Team All-Conference honor.  Kircher was also an NAIA All-America honorable mention.  McDaniel also was named to the NSAA Gold Glove catcher award.

DSU BASEBALL DEVELOPMENTAL TEAM SCHEDULE UPDATE:  The Dakota State University Trojan baseball developmental team is scheduled to make their 2024 season debut on March 18 with a doubleheader at NCAA Division II Augustana (S.D.).  The Trojans are slated to play a total of 26 contests on their 2024 development baseball schedule, with the home opener scheduled for March 27 versus Minnesota West CC.

Trojans' 2023 season filled with school records
Madison, S.D. (Feb. 6, 2023)—Dakota State's (S.D.) 2023 season was filled with numerous school records, where they finished with an impressive overall record of 36-18.  The Trojans also finished the NSAA conference with a 24-4 record, the most conference victories since the league was formed in 2013-14, despite falling short to powerhouse Bellevue (Neb.) on the final day of regular-season contest for the league title.
 
DSU also landed the most NSAA All-Conference selections with eight recipients.  Five Trojans were named to the First Team All-Conference with Mason Macaluso, Walker Hultgren, Sam Tyrpa, Luke Guest, and JD Kirchner.  Ryan McDaniel, Jeremy Green, and Grant Svikulis were selected to Second Team All-Conference.  Chris Burke and Nicholas Arbach were named to NSAA All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Tyrpa and Kircher earned NAIA All-America Honorable Mention in 2023 for the Trojans.  It was the first time since the 2006 season that DSU had two players listed on the NAIA All-America Honorable Mention team (Shea Tonkin and Dustin Ottens).

Dakota State had a 21-game winning streak during the 2023 season, which is the second most consecutive wins in school history and one shy of tying the school record of 22 straight wins by the 2007 squad.  The Trojans had 60-plus records listed in the school record book 'Top 10' in 2023.

Dakota State's 2024 schedule overview
Madison, S.D. (Nov. 22, 2022)—Dakota State (S.D.) is scheduled to play a total of 50 games on their 2024 schedule, including a four-game slate in a pair of preseason tournaments in February. 

The Trojans also play a total of 24 North Star Athletic Association contests.  DSU plays their first 20 games of the season away from the Flynn Field and is scheduled to play their first home games against Mayville State (N.D.) in the NSAA opener on March 15-16. 

Dakota State play several non-conference contests during the NSAA conference season, including a home four-game series with Missouri Valley, and home-and-away contest with rival Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.).

The Trojans host Waldorf (Iowa) in the final regular-season contests on April 26-27 at Flynn Field, which will be their final ever NSAA meetings after this season.  DSU also plays the final conference meetings with Viterbo (Wis.) in end of March.

The North Star Athletic Association postseason tournament returns to Dickinson, N.D., on May 3-6.  The NAIA National Tournament Opening Round is set for May 13-16, and the NAIA World Series on May 24-31.

Tyrpa named to 2024 NAIA Preseason All-America
Kansas City, Mo. (Jan. 24, 2024)—The NAIA has announced the 17-player Preseason Baseball All-America Team, with four starting pitchers including Dakota State's (S.D.) Sam Tyrpa listed.

It was the first time since the 2008 season that the Trojans had an athlete listed on the NAIA Baseball Preseason All-America Team (Greg Biagi at shortstop position). 

Tyrpa earned the North Star Athletic Association Pitcher-of-the-Year, NSAA First Team All-Conference, and NAIA Baseball Honorable Mention in 2023.  He finished the season with a perfect 8-0 undefeated record and posted an earned run average of 2.96 (allowed 24 earned runs in 73 innings).

Tyrpa tossed four complete games and started in 12 games for the Trojans.  He led the team with a single season record of 98 strikeouts (12.08 strikeouts/per 9 innings) and held the opponents' batting average to .209.  He was 6-0 record in seven North Star appearances and worked for 48 2/3 innings.  He produced an ERA of 2.59 during the conference and led the league with 64 strikeouts.

2024 DSU Baseball returning team leaders

· Hits:  Jeremy Green—78 hits

· Batting Average:  Jeremy Green—.398 batting average (78-of-196 at-bats)

· Slugging Percentage:  Walker Hultgren—.648 slugging percentage (45 singles, 23 doubles, 9 home runs)

· Runs Batted In (RBIs):  Jeremy Green—44 RBIs

· Doubles:  Walker Hultgren—23 doubles

· Triples:  Ryan McDaniel, Seth Altwine—1 triple

· Home Runs:  Walker Hultgren—9 home runs

· Total Bases:  Walker Hultgren—127 total bases

· Runs Scored:  Walker Hultgren—53 runs

· Walks:  Walker Hultgren—27 walks

· Hit-by-Pitch:  Jeremy Green—17 hit-by-pitches

· Stolen Bases: Jeremy Green—18 stolen bases

· On-base percentage:  Walker Hultgren—.474 on-base percentage

· Innings Pitched:  Sam Tyrpa—73 innings

· Earned Runs Average (ERA):  JD Kirchner—2.45 earned run average (18 earned runs in 66 innings)

· Strikeouts (Pitching):   Sam Tyrpa—98 strikeouts

· Complete Games (Pitching):   Sam Tyrpa—4 complete games

· Wins:  Sam Tyrpa—8 wins

· Saves:  JD Kirchner—6 saves

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