February 4, 2026

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEW
The Dakota State University Trojan baseball team (0-0 overall record) makes their 2026 season debut this weekend as they return to Sterlington, La., to compete in the Cajun Collision.  The preseason tournament features teams that either ranked in the NAIA's Top 25/receiving votes, or qualified for the NAIA Baseball National Tournament in the past few years.  The Cajun Collision is taking place at Sterlington Sports Complex (1290 LA-136) in Sterlington, La.

Dakota State opens their season Friday morning at 11 a.m. as they face the first team from the Red River Athletic Conference, Louisiana Christian (5-1 overall record) on Field #5.  The Trojans play their second opponent from the same conference on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. versus LSU-Alexandria (3-4 overall record) on Field #5.

DSU plays two more games on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. versus Park (Mo.) (0-0 overall record) of the Heart of America Athletic Conference on Field #5.  The Trojans close out the tournament versus the defending NAIA national champion and current longest winning streak of 65 games, No. 1 ranked LSU-Shreveport, at 2:30 p.m. on Field #1.

QUICK HITS
*Dakota State officially makes their 2026 season debut as they play in the Cajun Collision preseason tournament in Sterlington, La.  It is the second straight year that the Trojans compete in the same preseason tournament.

*The Trojans are seeking their first win in the Cajun Collision, an annual preseason baseball tournament that features teams that are either ranked in the NAIA's Top 25 or played in the NAIA national tournament in the past few years.

*Dakota State will face three teams from the Red River Athletic Conference in the Cajun Collision - Louisiana Christian, LSU-Alexandria, and LSU-Shreveport.  The Trojans will also face a team from the Heart of America Athletic Conference Park (Mo.).

*The Trojans are scheduled to play two preseason tournaments on their first two weekends of the 2026 schedule.  After the Cajun Collision, DSU heads to Fayette, Mo., for the Eagle Invitational, hosted by No. 25 Central Methodist (Mo.).

*Dakota State is scheduled to play first 23 games as non-conference contests before starting the inaugural Frontier Conference on March 21-22 at Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls, S.D.  Each league members are set to play a total of 25 conference games this spring.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Mike Byrnes enters his 26th season as the head baseball coach at Louisiana College, ranking first all time in wins and third in win percentage at the university.

LCU started the season off strong, sweeping a doubleheader against (19) Mid-America Christian (Okla.). The Wildcats rode that momentum to a series victory against Mobile (Ala.), winning the first three contests before dropping their first game of the season 3-0.

The Wildcats are hitting .314 coming into this weekend. Their pitching staff has been stellar this year, pitching to a 3.02 team ERA and a .260 batting average against.

SCOUTING THE GENERALS
Kody Gautreaux is in his 5th season at the helm of the LSU-Alexandria baseball program. In his time as the head coach of the Generals, his teams have recorded an 89-57 record.

The Generals started off the season with doubleheader sweep of Wiley (Texas) by scores of 9-0 and 4-3. The next five contests for LSU-Alexandria were against John Melvin University (La.), where the Generals split the first doubleheader before losing their next three games.

LSU-A is hitting .204 as a team coming into this weekend, and their staff is pitching to a 5.12 team ERA.

SCOUTING THE PIRATES
Cary Lundy enters into his 24th season leading the Park (Mo.) baseball program, where he is the all-time leader in wins with 547. He is a Park University alum, graduating in 1982 while competing in baseball, basketball, and cross-country.

Park opens their season with the Cajun Collision, after coming off a 24-20 campaign in 2025.  The Pirates are a member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference and were a former member of the American Midwest Conference.

SCOUTING THE PILOTS
Brad Neffendorf is in his sixth year as head coach of the LSU-Shreveport Pilots. Neffendorf was recognized as the ABCA National Coach of the Year after the Pilots recorded the first undefeated season in college baseball history at 59-0. He carries an overall coaching record of 270-49.

The Pilots have extended their winning streak to 65 games coming into this weekend. The Pilots swept Tabor (Kan.) and (4) Hope International (Calif.) coming into the Cajun Collision. 

LSU-S is hitting .320 as a team this season, and their staff is pitching to a 2.50 team ERA. 

DAKOTA STATE IN THE NEW CONFERENCE ERA; PICKED TO FINISH SECOND
Dakota State enters their new conference era this season, the Frontier Conference after the North Star Athletic Association dismantled last season.  The Frontier Conference features the five existing members of the North Star Athletic Association along with NAIA's newcomer Bismarck State (N.D.).

Dakota State was picked to finish second in the Frontier Conference Baseball Coaches' Preseason Poll, which was announced last November.  The Trojans scored 20 points in the coaches' preseason poll, along with the first-place vote.  Bellevue (Neb.) was picked as the preseason favorite to win the title with 25 points and five first-place votes.

Dickinson State was picked to finish third with 15 points, followed by Valley City State (N.D.) fourth with eight points, Mayville State (N.D.) fifth with seven points, and Bismarck State (N.D.) sixth with five points.

There will be a preseason round-robin tournament on March 21-22 at the Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls, S.D.  Each team will be playing four total teams, where the traveling partners will not face each other in the preseason tournament.  The four-game slate will count toward to their league record, totaling 25 conference games this spring.

The 2026 Frontier Conference Baseball Tournament will be hosted by Dickinson State at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark in Dickinson, N.D.  The postseason tournament begins on Thursday, April 30.

The winner of the conference postseason tournament receives an automatic bid to the NAIA Baseball National Tournament Opening Round on May 11-14 at various campus sites.  The opening round winners move on to the Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in Lewiston, Idaho, on May 22-30.

2025 DAKOTA STATE BASEBALL SEASON IN REVIEW
The 2025 Dakota State baseball squad finished with their fourth consecutive winning season, finishing at 26-24 overall record and 10-10 record in the final year of the North Star Athletic Association.  The Trojans also went 2-2 in the NSAA/Cal-Pac Postseason Conference Tournament in Dickinson, N.D., falling to Simpson (Calif.) and La Sierra (Calif.) in the tournament.  DSU defeated Mayville State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.) in the loser's out games of conference tournament.

Nine Dakota State individuals along with two team records were listed in the school record book after the 2025 season.  The Trojans established a new team record of 73 home runs, breaking the previous record of 56 home runs in 2024.  Sam Tyrpa became the all-time strikeouts leader with 262 career strikeouts, followed by Nicholai Arbach with 257 career strikeouts.  Arbach also set a single season school record of nine complete games, breaking the previous record of eight completed games set by Dustin Ottens in 2006 and Asa Patterson in 2004.

Aidan Perry tied the single season school record with 35 walks drawn with Josh Wells in 2025.  

Six Trojans received awards recognition last season in the North Star conference, led by Arbach as the First Team selection and conference's Pitcher of the Year.  Cassidy Watt was also selected on the First Team All-Conference.  Perry and Cameron DeMaria were named to the league's Second Team All-Conference.  Hunter Vikemyr was named to the Honorable Mention All-Conference.  Connor Raney was DSU's recipient to the conference's Champions of Character award.

A LOOK AT 2026 TROJAN BASEBALL SCHEDULE
Dakota State's 2026 schedule includes a return trip to the Cajun Collision in Sterlington, La., along with 25 Frontier Conference contests.  The Trojans, under the guidance of seventh-year head coach Derrion Hardie, will face six different opponents that qualified for the NAIA Baseball National Tournament last season.

After playing a four-game slate in the Cajun Collision, DSU will play in another preseason tournament in Fayette, Mo., on Feb. 13-14.  The Trojans play a doubleheader on each day versus the host-team Central Methodist (Mo.) and Madonna (Mich.).

Dakota State is scheduled to play their home opener on Feb. 20-21 versus Great Plains Athletic Conference's foe Midland (Neb.).  The Trojans continue their non-conference schedule with a 3-game series at Sterling (Kan.), on Feb. 27-28, four-game series at Mount Mercy (Iowa) on March 6-7, and four-game series at Bethel (Tenn.) on March 13-14.

DSU begins their Frontier Conference play on March 21-22 as they play in the preseason round-robin tournament at Sanford Sports Complex.  The six league teams will play, where they won't face their travel partner (DSU-Bellevue, Valley City State-Mayville State, and Dickinson State-Bismarck State).  

The first Frontier Conference four-game series are set for March 27-28 at Bismarck State (N.D.).  The Trojans continue their road action at Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) on March 31 in a non-conference game, followed by a four-game Frontier Conference series at Valley CIty State (N.D.) on April 3-4.

DSU returns home for their six-game home stand versus Bellevue (Neb.) on April 7, followed by a four-game series versus Dickinson State (N.D.) and a non-conference game with Dakota Wesleyan on April 14.

Dakota State closes out their home schedule on April 24-25 with a four-game conference series against Mayville State (N.D.). 

2026 DSU BASEBALL RETURNING TEAM LEADERS

· Hits:  Aidan Perry—57 hits

· Batting Average:  Aidan Perry—.350 batting average (57-of-163 at-bats)

· Slugging Percentage:  Cameron DeMaria—.730 slugging percentage (22 singles, 9 doubles, 14 home runs)

· Runs Batted In (RBI):  Cameron DeMaria—40 RBIs

· Doubles:  Cameron DeMaria—9 doubles

· Triples:  Connor Raney—1 triple

· Home Runs:  Cameron DeMaria—14 home runs

· Total Bases:  Cameron DeMaria—113 total bases

· Runs Scored:  Aidan Perry—50 runs

· Walks:  Aidan Perry—35 walks

· Hit-by-Pitch:  Aidan Perry—8 hit-by-pitches

· Stolen Bases: Connor Raney—13 stolen bases

· On-base percentage:  Aidan Perry—.483 on-base percentage

· Innings Pitched:  Braylon Bear—28 1/3 innings

· Earned Runs Average (ERA):  Tryeton Kolar—5.40 earned run average

· Strikeouts (Pitching):   Braylon Bear—31 strikeouts

· Complete Games (Pitching):   N/A

· Wins:  Braylon Bear—2 wins

· Saves:  Braylon Bear, Alex Ferrin—1 save