Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
The Peacock baseball team was swept by the visiting Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth this afternoon at Robertson Woods Field.  UMD edged their hosts 4-3 in extra innings in the first game and then dominated game two tallying 20 hits for a 13-2 victory.  With the losses, Upper Iowa drops to 12-17 on the year and 4-8 in the NSIC, while the Bulldogs improve to 8-20 overall and 8-6 in the conference.
 
The extra-inning loss in game one was the third loss of its kind in the last eight games; UIU has one won extra-inning game during that span.  The one-run defeat was also the Peacocks fourth loss by a single run in the last nine contests.
 
The Peacocks will play a home-and-home, four-game series with the Warriors of Winona State this Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 27-28.  Both double headers will begin at 1:30 p.m. with Saturday’s action in Winona, Minn. and Sunday’s contests in Fayette.
 
Game One Recap
 
Minnesota Duluth scratched the scoreboard first with a run in the fourth inning taking advantage of a two-base error to the leadoff hitter.  The Bulldogs used a pair of fly outs including a sac fly to push the runner home.
 
In the fifth inning, UIU jumped into the lead thanks to a pair of hits.  Jose Aguirre led off with his second single of the day and Ryan Citro followed two outs later with a homerun over the fence in left centerfield.  The two-run blast was Citro’s third of the season.
 
The Bulldogs were quick to answer with a two-run homer of their own in the top of the sixth inning.  Kyle Comer chased a leadoff walk across the plate with a shot over the wall in left to give UMD a 3-2 lead.
 
Tyler Adams led off the sixth inning with an infield single and moved to second on a sac bunt by Sam Krick.  Adams came home on a single up the middle by Mikey Henrichs to tie the game at 3-3.
 
Neither team crossed the plate in the seventh as the game moved to extra innings.  In the top of the eighth, UMD scored the winning run with the bases loaded and one out.  A pair of singles opened the inning and the runners moved into scoring position on a ground out.  After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Comer hit a ground ball that seemed destined for foul territory.  Unfortunately, the ball bounced against the grass line down the third base line and shot back into fair territory past Henrichs at third giving the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.
 
The Peacocks escaped the inning without allowing any more runs, but came up empty in the bottom of the inning going down in order dropping the contest by a run. 
 
Reliever Jacob Stenberg (0-2) took the loss with two innings of work; he allowed the one run on four hits.  Starter Mitch Luebbe earned a no-decision after six innings on the hill.  Luebbe allowed three runs, two earned, on just two hits, but the Peacock defense committed three errors behind the sophomore hurler.
 
Jordan Smith improved to 3-2 on the year for the Bulldogs with a complete game.  In his 8 innings, he allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits while striking out four.
 
Aguirre and Citro both registered two hits in the game.
 
Game Two Recap
 
Minnesota Duluth jumped all over the Peacocks and a pair of pitchers early in the second contest.  The Bulldogs used thirteen hits in the first three innings to take a 10-0 lead into the fourth inning.  UMD scored two in the first, five in the second and three more in the third.
 
The Peacocks loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, but an inning-ending double play closed out the UIU threat.
 
Upper Iowa put a pair of runners in scoring position thanks to a loss of control from the Bulldogs’ starter Bo Hellquist.  A pair of hit batsmen and a balk gave UIU runners on second and third with no outs.  After a strikeout, Dobson earned a run batted in on a ground out to first and Eric Anderson singled up the middle to plate a second Peacock run cutting the deficit to 10-2.
 
A run in the top of the fifth gave Minnesota Duluth an 11-2 lead on a sac fly after a leadoff double, the team’s fourth two-bagger and 17^th hit of the game.  The Bulldogs added two more in the sixth returning their lead to double digits, 13-2.
 
Hellquist earned the victory improving to 1-2 with six innings of work; he gave up two runs on just four hits while striking out five.
 
Henrichs posted two hits in the game.
 
Rory Kolo (1-5) took the loss after just two innings on the bump.  The senior allowed seven runs on nine hits.  Daniel Riggs threw one inning and gave up three runs on four hits and a walk.  Jordan Kearns came in to slow the scoring allowing just one run in his two innings, and Nick Tuttle saw a pair of unearned runs cross the plate under his two-inning watch.