April 20, 2009
Game One Stats
Game Two Stats
Upper Iowa welcomed the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State to Robertson Woods Field on Saturday afternoon for the first two games of a four-game Northern Sun Conference series. The Peacocks and Mustangs locked up in two very good ballgames as each team came out on the winning end once. UIU took the first game 3-1 behind a masterful performance by Brian Solemsaas. SMSU won the second game in extra innings, 7-3, despite a very good performance by Greg Sieck in relief and a Peacock rally in the bottom of the seventh to send the game past the scheduled seven innings. With the split Upper Iowa moves to 16-19 on the season and 10-8 in the NSIC, while Southwest Minnesota State is now 18-5 overall and 8-4 in conference play.
Upper Iowa was first to get on the board in game one when Tom Longoni hit his seventh homerun of the year over the wall in left field with two outs in the third inning to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Peacocks added to their lead with two runs in the fourth inning. The pair of runs came when Brad Hasenkamp singled to right field with the bases loaded and two outs. T.J. Johnson, who was hit by a pitch, and Josh McKeon, who had doubled, scored the two runs. The Mustangs mounted a rally in the final inning as they scored one and had the go-ahead run at the plate, but Solemsaas dug in and struck out the final batter to end the game and the SMSU threat.
Solemsaas threw his fifth complete game of the season to pick up the win and move to 4-3 on the year. He allowed three hits, two of which came in the final inning. The right hander seemed to get stronger as he the game went as all of his five strikeouts came after the fourth inning. McKeon tallied two hits for the Peacocks as they made the most of their six hits to get the win.
In game two, the Mustangs put a run on the board in the first and chased Peacock starter Danny Bales with the bases loaded and one out in the second. The visitors scored one run in the inning, but Greg Sieck was able to close the door on SMSU's threat of a big inning. Lucas Wilsing got a run back with a solo shot over the wall in the right in the bottom of the second to cut the lead in half. Both Sieck and Mustang starter Jared Pick were in total control over the next several innings. Still trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Wilsing led the inning off with a walk. With one out, T.J. Johnson delivered the game-tying double to plate Wilsing from first. UIU had opportunities to win the game in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed to push the winning run in from third in both innings. The Mustangs blew the game open in the top of the ninth when they scored five runs on four hits. The Peacocks scored one in their final time at the plate, but fell to SMSU, 7-3.
Sieck took the tough loss to fall to 2-3 on the year. The southpaw threw 7.2 innings allowing 5 runs on 7 hits while striking out 4 Mustang batters. Johnson led UIU at the plate with a pair of hits.
