Augustana glad to be home for Super Regional starting Friday against Mankato

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -The Augustana baseball team will host the Super Regional with a spot in the college World Series on the line Friday and Saturday at Ronken Field when they host arch-rival Mankato.

After pulling off a huge win at top-seeded Central Missouri to make it this far, this team brings a load of confidence to the field. And they’re thrilled it’s on their home diamond.

Augie Junior Nick Banowetz says, “Getting to sleep in your own bed is huge. The familiarity of the field and where we’re at I think is huge. Just everything about the travel like the eating is a lot better when you’re not traveling. The sleep’s obviously a lot better and just being in your own home. The comfort of it is very under rated to be able to host and obviously the crowd is just a huge bonus to that. So we’re just very excited for the opportunity this weekend. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Augie Senior Luke Ballweg says, “I would say it’s definitley more relaxing than playing in front of 700 fans that are booing against you. I’d say it’s more relaxing than that but I just hope that guys don’t make it bigger than what it is. It’s just another baseball game. It’s playing catch and seeing the ball, it’s doing the little things. I know we’ll go into it and it will be great to play in front of family and friends, that’s fantastic.”

The Vikings and Mavericks come in with similar records and are very familiar with each other. So it’s the team that doesn’t make mistakes and has the bats working that will advance to Cary, North Carolina and the College World Series.

Copyright 2023 KSFY. All rights reserved.