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The Peacock baseball team split with the #9 Huskies of St. Cloud State University in Fayette on Friday.  Upper Iowa won a 2-1 decision in game one, but after clawing back to tie the second game 3-3 in the eighth inning, UIU lost the final game of the series 7-3. 

Game One

Mason Buster earned the complete game victory for Upper Iowa with seven innings of work scattering six hits while allowing only an unearned run in the first inning.  The junior from Rio Hondo College mixed a tight breaking ball with a high octane fastball to stay on top of the Husky hitters.

Upper Iowa jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning when Tyler Adams reached on an error and moved to third thanks to a sac bunt from Cody Booker and a miscue with SCSU's bunt coverage.  Freshman Alex George singled to right field plating Adams.

St. Cloud State got an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the first, but the score was the Huskies only run in the game.

Booker opened the top of the sixth with a single through the right side and moved to second when George laid down a sac bunt.  Jose Aguirre singled to centerfield and set UIU up with runners on the corners and one out.   Jacob Stenberg singled through the right side for back-to-back hits off the SCSU reliever, Reese Gregory.  The run that scored was assigned to the Husky starter Chris Kubitz.

Buster continued to befuddle the St. Cloud State hitters over the final two innings, but he got some help from his defense.  In the seventh inning, after an error put a runner on first with one out, the Peacock left side lost a shallow pop-fly in the sun and it fell to the grass, but the runner on second took off for the uncovered bag at third.  Mitch Moser picked up the ball and threw it to Ryan Citro as he sprinted back to third.  Citro dove and was able to record the second out of the inning on the tag.  A ground out to second ended the game and secured the upset for the Upper Iowa.

Seven Peacocks recorded a hit in the game, while Aguirre was busy at first making 11 putouts.

Game Two

Alex George saw his average climb to .400 during the second game as the freshman from Bloomington, Minn. added four more hits in the second game including three singles and a double. 

St. Cloud State scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first on a passed ball, but Upper Iowa was able to pull even in the second.  Moser walked to open the inning and advanced to second on a sac bunt from John Dobson.  A wild pitch sent Moser to third and a single to right by Stenberg allowed the tying run to score.

The Huskies got back up on top with another unearned run in the bottom of the second when Eric Loxtercamp doubled in a run.

UIU appeared to have the game tied again in the third inning as Adams raced home from second on an apparent rbi-single from George, but Adams was called out at the plate on a late tag by the Husky catcher. 

Peacock starter Dickson Paz and the Peacocks came out fired up in the bottom of the inning working a quick 1-2-3 inning including a pair of strikeouts. 

Still trailing 2-1 in the sixth, Upper Iowa once again thought they had tied the game, but a late overruling erased a second run off the board and started a second argument from the men in blue.  Moser led off with a single and thanks to a hit-and-run off the bat of Dobson, the Peacocks had runners on the corners with no outs.  Once again, SCSU turned to Gregory in relief.  Stenberg stepped in and hit a grounder to the right side beating a return throw to first for a fielder's choice as Moser crossed the plate.  However, an appeal at second ruled that Dobson's slide at second was illegal despite a clean throw coming back to first and nearly doubling up Stenberg at first.

Despite the two set backs, Upper Iowa kept fighting and knotted the score at 3-3 in the eighth inning.  George reached on a bloop single to right and scored on a ground ball off the bat of Moser.  The grounder led to a pair of Husky errors that allowed George to scamper home and Moser to reach third base all with no outs.  Dobson drove in Moser with a grounder to short.

The tie didn't last though.  St. Cloud State exploded for four runs on five hits including four straight with one out highlighted by a two-run single from Loxtercamp. 

UIU came up empty in the ninth as SCSU posted the 7-3 win.

The Peacocks combined for 11 hits at the plate which included six from UIU's pair of freshman, George and Moser.  Paz got the no-decision after 5.2 innings; he allowed 3 unearned runs while striking out four batters.  Anthony Ruden suffered the loss (2-2) with 1.2 innings of relief; he gave up four runs on four hits.

Loxtercamp led the Huskies with four hits, four rbi's and a pair of runs.  Gregory earned the win for SCSU with his relief appearance.

Next Up

Upper Iowa (10-17, 3-11 NSIC) will face the University of Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday next week and Concordia University, St. Paul on Saturday and Sunday.  All six games are scheduled to be played on the road as of right now.