April 23, 2008
Box Score
The Peacock baseball team remained in second place in the Northern Sun Conference after sweeping an NSIC double header in Bemidji, Minnesota. Upper Iowa took a pair of victories against the Beavers of Bemidji State on Tuesday. The Peacocks won game one 2-1 and took the second 9-8.
In game one, Andy Seabrooke threw a solid game going the distance to earn his first win of the season. Seabrooke allowed one run in the game while scattering four hits over his seven innings of work. The lefthander picked up seven strikeouts in the victory.
The Peacocks and Beavers played through the first four innings without scoring a run. The visitors put the first mark on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth when Lucas Wilsing reached first on a single and scored on a T.J. Johnson homerun to give UIU a 2-0 lead.
Bemidji State was able to cut the Upper Iowa lead in half in the bottom of the inning as they scored a run on a pair of singles against Seabrooke. The lefthander kept his focus and got out of the inning without allowing any more runs.
The Peacocks tried to add an insurance run in the seventh as a Johnson single and a Fox bunt single put runners on first and second with one out. The Beavers' defense made the plays to get out of the inning though and came to the plate trailing by one.
After allowing a leadoff single, Seabrooke closed out the inning and the Beavers' rally to earn his first victory of the season with a complete game.
Johnson led Upper Iowa at the plate with two hits including the big longball for the win.
In game two, the Peacock bats started early and scored nine runs in the game. The Upper Iowa offense was again fueled by the longball. After scoring a run with one out on a Brock Spangenberg fielder's choice, Johnson hit a bomb over the wall to give the Peacocks a 4-0 lead after just a half inning.
The Peacocks added another pair of runs in the second inning as Marcus Thompson knocked in Jarrod Esquibel, who reached on a single. Nick Fjelland moved to third on the Thompson hit and scored on a wild pitch. Fjelland reached on his 19th double of the season.
The Beavers rallied with four runs in the bottom of the second off Peacock starter Brad Mey. The home team fueled the comeback with three hits including a big three-run homerun that pulled Bemidji State to within two, 6-4. The Beavers added another run to cut the deficit to one, 6-5, on a solo shot out of the ballpark in the third.
Chris Wlezien climbed the hill for Upper Iowa to begin the fourth inning and did not allow the Beavers to put any runs on the board in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. The Peacock bats did their job as Seth Fox powered a homerun over the fence to push the UIU lead back to three runs, 8-5, in the top of the fifth inning. The visitors added an insurance run in the sixth inning to take a 9-5 lead into Bemidji's final time at the plate.
The home team scored one in the ninth and had the bases loaded with two outs when Ryan Bohannon hit a double to the right centerfield gap to plate two Beavers and pull the home team to within one run, 9-8. With runners on second and third, Wlezien gutted it out and got a strikeout to end the game and strand the tying and winning runs on base.
With three doubles in game two today, Fjelland has tied the Upper Iowa baseball program's record for doubles in a season. The UIU third baseman has 21 on the season which ties the mark set by Gary Mu'min in 1995. Wlezien earned the win for the Peacocks with four innings of relief. Mey did leave the game with a two-run lead, but did not pitch the necessary four innings as a starter to earn the victory. Wlezien improved his record to 2-0 on the season.
With the two wins, Upper Iowa improves to 21-23 overall on the season and 17-7 in NSIC action. The Peacocks will next host the Warriors of Winona State at Robertson Woods Field this coming weekend, Apr. 26-27, in a four-game NSIC series. Both double headers will begin at 1:00 p.m. in Fayette.
