April 8, 2009
Game One Stats
Game Two Stats
Tuesday was quite a day for the Upper Iowa baseball team. Five and a half innings into the game one, Winona State was having their way with the Peacocks, but then something happened... the Peacock bats came alive and their pitching and defense refocused.
Trailing 15-5 at Robertson Woods Field and heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Head Coach Mark Danker brought the team together and told them that ten runs wasn't too much to overcome if each player would do their job and play to their abilities. The players responded by scoring five runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh capped off by a game-tying three run homerun by Brock Spangenberg to tie the game at 15-15 and push the contest to extra innings. With momentum on their side and a brash young reliever on the mound, the Peacocks continued to hold the Warriors scoreless and won the game in the ninth, 16-15.
In the second game, Upper Iowa's defense continued to be lights out and the offense racked up nine hits in scoring five runs. But the story of game two was Gavin Mason. The sophomore from Naperville, Illinois threw a three-hit, complete game shutout in the first collegiate start of his career. Mason was awesome on the mound forcing the Warriors into ten ground ball outs two of which he made the play on in back-to-back at bats.
The wins extend the Peacocks winning streak to seven games and improve their overall record to 12-15 and 6-4 in the NSIC. Upper Iowa has defeated Winona State the last eight times the teams have met and nine of the eleven times the teams have played since Upper Iowa made the move up to NCAA Division II.
The big plays in game one are too numerous to recount but here are the best of the best from the Peacocks' come from behind win.
Trailing 8-0, Erik Sorensen got UIU on the board with an rbi-single in the second.
In the third, the Peacocks scored four runs on five hits. All the runs came with two outs. Brad Hasenkamp drove one run in with an infield single and Sorensen cleared the bases with a double to left centerfield.
After falling behind 15-5, the Peacocks scored five runs in the sixth inning to cut the deficit in half. Three straight singles by Kreston Albright, Jarrod Esquibel, and Tom Longoni loaded the bases with no outs. Longoni and Seth Fox used great hustle to beat out a double play try to keep the rally alive. A Lucas Wilsing double to right field drove in two Peacocks. Upper Iowa put the last two runs of the inning on the board thanks to a sac fly by Spangenberg and a ground out by T.J. Johnson.
Trailing 15-10, Upper Iowa tied the game with five runs in the seventh. Fox drove the first run in on a single to right field and Wilsing drove the second run in on a ground out. With two outs and two on, Spangenberg lifted an outside fastball deep over the wall in right field to tie the game at 15-15.
The Peacocks won the game in the ninth when Johnson led the inning off with a double down the leftfield line. Hasenkamp laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that he would have beat out, but the Winona State pitcher fielded it and threw the ball away allowing Johnson to score an unearned run and claim the win for UIU.
Brandon Hall picked up the win in relief after throwing two innings and not allowing a run or a hit.
In game two, Upper Iowa turned the pitching duties over to Gavin Mason. Mason allowed only three hits in his seven innings of work. The right hander picked up the win in his first collegiate start. While Mason and defense had the Warriors held in check, the offense continued to hit the ball hard.
Albright led the game off with a double down the right field line and scored as the Warriors turned a double play two batters later. The Peacocks added a run with two outs in the fifth inning when Sorensen came through with his second two-out, rbi-double of the day scoring Spangenberg, who reached on a single up the middle.
Upper Iowa added three insurance runs for Mason in the sixth when Longoni hit a solo homerun to right center and Spangenberg hit a long ball over the wall in left center to score two runs. Fox scored on the homerun after reaching on a single up the middle.
For the day, the Peacocks hit .394 (28-71) and slugged .634 (8 doubles, 3 homeruns), while holding the Warriors to a .258 average (16-62) and a slugging percentage of .403 (5 doubles and 2 triples).
The Peacocks will host the Beavers of Bemidji State this Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11. The games were originally scheduled to be played in Bemidji, Minn. However, due to snow on the ground in Northern Minnesota, the games have been moved to Fayette. Friday's double header will begin at 1 p.m. and Saturday's will start at 12 p.m.
