Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Saturday, the Peacocks split an afternoon twinbill with the Warriors of Winona State. Once again, Martin Valdez dazzled in game one to give the visitors a 9-1 victory. In game two, it was Winona's Chase Blazier who tossed a gem as WSU split the series with 5-1 win of their own. With the split, UIU sits at 13-18 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC. The Warriors are now 16-13 including 10-5 in Northern Sun play.

Next up, the Peacocks have a quick turnaround and will host these same Warriors in a doubleheader Sunday afternoon. That double dip is slated for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch in Fayette.

Game 1 Recap

In the bottom of the seventh, Upper Iowa was leading Winona State 9-1 and Martin Valdez was doing what he does best and going for his fifth complete game of the season. After walking the first two batters, Valdez settled down nicely by striking out two of the next three batters to give him 10 punchouts on the game to just three walks. The Baldwin Park, Cal. native gave up one run on five hits through seven innings to improve to a perfect 5-0. His team-leading ERA dropped to 1.72 with the performance.

Meanwhile, at the plate, the bats were giving Valdez all the support he needed. The Peacocks put up a crooked number in each of the first three innings by scoring two in the first, two in the second and four in the third.

In the top of the first, Tyler Adams led things off with one of his four hits, a single to center field. He would later score along with Jimmy Pinakidis on an two-run single off the bat of Mikey Henrichs.

In UIU's half of the second, Adams collected yet another base knock, this time with one out in the inning. After a single and a walk, the bases were loaded for John Dobson and the first baseman came through. Dobson laced a two-run single scoring both Pinakidis and Adams and gave Upper Iowa a 4-0 advantage.

William Loza and Ryan Citro led off the third with back-to-back singles. In stepped Cody Heiman who brought in both runners with a two-RBI double. Two outs later, Henrichs crushed a two-run homerun that put the Peacocks up 8-0. That homerun is the Hartford, Iowa native's team-leading fourth of the season.

The Warriors got one back in their half of the fourth before Upper Iowa tacked on one more in the seventh. 

To get that run, Heiman walked, stole second, advanced to third on an Adams' single and scored on an error by the second baseman.  

Leading the offensive attack was Adams (4-5, 2 runs) and Henrichs (2-4, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR). The other Peacocks tallying two hits each were Dobson (2 RBI), Eric Anderson and Citro. Heiman also brought in two runs with his double.

Game 2 Recap

In game two, it was a different story for the bats from Upper Iowa. UIU was the first on the scoreboard with a run in their half of the second inning However, that is the only run that Upper Iowa brought across in the second contest of the day.

Andrew Kraus and John Dobson led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Freshman Sam Krick then brought in Kraus with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Winona State put up a five spot in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the eighth. That is how the score would end up as the hosts took game two 7-1. Chase Blazier (5-2) was brilliant on the bump for the Warriors.The sophomore tossed seven innings and gave up one run on four hits while striking out eight and walking only three.

Anderson (5-2) got the ball for the Peacocks and threw seven innings. The senior gave up five runs (four earned) on just five hits while striking out and walking four batters each.

Matt Banks gave up the final two runs on one hit in an inning of relief. Banks struck out two batters and didn't walk any.

The only Peacock with multiple hits was Kraus with two.