Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Records
 
Minnesota State (21-4, 9-1 NSIC) || Upper Iowa (8-9, 1-3 NSIC)

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The Peacocks lost a pair of nail-biters Wednesday in Fayette against the #4 Minnesota State University, Mankato Mavericks.  Upper Iowa lost game one 3-0 despite a solid performance on the mound by freshman Brett Fanning.  In the second game, UIU rallied to tie the game at 4-4 in the eighth inning, but the Mavericks scored three in the tenth to get the 7-4 win in extra innings.
 
Game One Recap
 
The Peacocks and Mavericks locked up in a pitcher's duel in game one.  Minnesota State put an unearned run on the board in the fourth inning thanks to three Peacock errors that came with two outs.  Upper Iowa threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth after Mitch Moser reached on a single to right field.  Tyler Adams shot a line drive down the left field line with Moser on the move and Peacock fans thought UIU would tie on the play, but the ball just missed the foul line and Moser had to return to first base and Adams to the plate.  The inning ended with a pair of ground outs.  In the seventh, Minnesota State added a pair of insurance runs and held Upper Iowa off the scoreboard in their final at bat to claim the 3-0 win.
 
Brett Fanning (1-1) took the loss despite a very solid outing against the nationally-ranked Mavericks.  Fanning threw 6.1 innings allowing two runs, one was unearned, while striking out 8 Mavericks and giving up just 5 hits. The freshman was able to record the final out in four innings with a strike out as he worked in on the hands of the hitters.
 
Mathias Bulata outdueled Fanning in the end posting a complete game shutout with 5 strikeouts in his seven innings of work.
 
Game Two Recap
 
Upper Iowa put a run on the scoreboard in the first inning with one out thanks to back-to-back hits from Mitch Moser and Jose Aguirre.  Moser singled through the right side and scored from first when Aguirre doubled to the wall in right centerfield.
 
Upper Iowa threatened to extend their lead in the bottom of the third inning.  The Peacocks loaded the bases with one out after a pair of walks surrounded a bunt single by Moser.  Minnesota State squashed the opportunity turning two on a ground ball to short.
 
With two outs in the fourth inning, the Mavericks strung together four straight hits driving in three runs to chase UIU's starter Tanner Funke.  Anthony Ruden walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, but the freshman from Dubuque, Iowa struck out MSU"s clean-up hitter to strand three on the bases.
 
The Peacocks loaded the bases with one out again in the fifth inning.  A groundout by Aguirre pushed one run across the plate and left a pair of Peacocks in scoring position with two outs, but a strikeout ended the UIU opportunity to tie the game.
 
Minnesota State loaded the bases in the sixth thanks to a hit batsmen and two walks with two outs, but reliever Dan Cwertniak closed down the trouble and kept the Peacocks within one, 3-2.
 
Upper Iowa put runners on first and second with no outs but MSU's starter Josh Matheson got three straight outs including two strikeouts around a flyball to shallow right field.  The stranded runners marked the sixth and seventh left on the bases in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
 
Minnesota State upped their lead to two runs with a score in the top of the seventh, but UIU rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a run-scoring single from Luis Ravelo and an rbi-groundout off the bat of pinch-hitter Jacob Stenberg.
 
MSU put two runners on with one out when Martin Valdez relieved Jordan Kearns on the mound. Valdez struck out his first batter, but walked the next hitter to load the bases.  Valdez got the final on a fly ball to left.  UIU came up empty in their half of the ninth and the game moved to extra innings.
 
The Mavericks scratched three runs on the board in the top of the tenth.  A two-out single drove the first run in from third, but the flood gates opened on an error in left field that allowed an unearned run across.  A triple by Max Waletich scored a second unearned run before the Peacocks closed the inning with a fly ball to left.
 
The Peacocks got one on base in the tenth on an Alex George single, but couldn't rally as Minnesota State posted the 7-4 extra inning victory.
 
UIU's bats were on fire in the second game coming up with 13 hits including three each by Moser and Ryan Citro; Aguirr, George and Ravelo each had two hits apiece.  Tyler Adams went 2-8 on the day, but with the hits, the senior from Onalaska, Wis. has registered a hit in all 17 of UIU's games and has a hitting streak of 25 games that reaches back 8 games into last season.
 
Upper Iowa used seven pitchers to get through the ten innings.  Funke allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in his 3.2 innings.  Cwertniak threw 2.2 innings of relief allowing just a run without giving up a hit, while Kearns did not allow a run in his 1.2 innings and Valdez worked out of a jam in his .2 of an inning.  Matt Meulemans took the loss for UIU allowing three runs, only one was earned, in the tenth.
 
Next Up
 
The Peacocks will have the weekend off with no games on the schedule until next Thursday, Apr. 10, at Northern State University.