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Stats - Wednesday vs. Wayne State || Friday vs. Winona State
Stats - Friday at Winona State
GAME NOTESUpper Iowa ||
Wayne State ||
Winona State ||
Northern Sun Conference
NCAA SUMMARIESUpper Iowa ||
Wayne State ||
Winona State ||
Northern Sun Conference
THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK BASEBALL… Upper Iowa will take on Wayne State College and Winona State University this week in their final six Northern Sun Conference games of the year. The Peacocks will host the Wildcats in a double header on Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m. UIU will close out their NSIC slate with a home-and-home against the Warriors. Friday's games will start at 1:30 p.m. in Fayette, while Saturday's games will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Winona, Minn. UIU will recognize their nine seniors between games on Friday.
700 AT THE HELM… Head Coach Mark Danker, who has been with the Upper Iowa baseball program for 25 years, is on the verge of managing his 700th game in a Peacock uniform as the head coach. Wednesday's double headers will mark games 699 and 700 in Danker's tally.
TOUGH WEEK… The Peacock baseball team dropped all seven of its games last week including six by a single run. The pitching staff posted an ERA of 4.25 allowing just 25 runs in 53 innings of work including three complete games by Mason Buster, Dickson Paz and Martin Valdez. Brett Fanning threw 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run and took a no-decision in UIU's 2-1 loss to Concordia on Friday. After an 8-7 loss to St. Ambrose on Monday, the Peacocks lost 4-0 and 5-4 to Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday. The Golden Bears swept UIU on Friday and Saturday in a four-pack of tight games, 2-1 (8), 3-2, 2-1 and 3-2. Poor hitting doomed UIU as the team recorded a .210 batting average and scored just 17 runs.
LAST WEEK FOR THE WILDCATS… Sophomore Curtis Bussard hit a team-best .462 over the weekend in a four-game series vs. #24 Augustana going 6 for 13 at the plate with two doubles, one homer, three RBI's and two runs scored. He was 2 for 2 in a 6-0 win over the Vikings on Friday and finished 3 for 5 with a double and homer in a 5-4 loss to the Vikings in the series finale Saturday. He also made three relief appearances and recorded two saves in Friday's 4-1 win and Saturday's 5-3 win over the Vikings. Sophomore Eric Browning followed up his no-hitter last week at Minnesota Crookston with a two-hit shutout Friday vs. #24 Augustana in a 6-0 win over the Vikings. Browning struck out nine batters while walking three in the outing. For the season, Browning now has all three complete games by the Wildcat pitching staff with three shutouts and is 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA, striking out 69 batters in just 52.1 innings pitched.
LAST WEEK FOR THE WARRIORS… Travis Evanson had a great week at the plate, hitting .455 with a pair of home runs and four RBI in six games for the Warriors. Evanson was 10-of-22 on the week, also scoring five runs. He started his week by going 3-for-8 against Northern State and picked up the pace against Sioux Falls. Evanson had a RBI in each game while going 7-for-14 in the series. The junior started the series by going 3-for-6 on Friday, hitting a solo home run in both contests. He followed by going 4-of-8 on Saturday, including a 3-for-4 performance in game one. Evanson had a double in game one and a RBI in each contest. A pair of walks on the week allowed Evanson to post a .500 on base percentage while slugging .773. Lucas Crimmins earned his first win of the season, throwing a complete game against Sioux Falls on Saturday. Crimmins scattered six hits in seven innings while allowing just a single run. He struck out four in the matchup.
REGULAR SEASON WRAPS NEXT WEEK... The Peacocks will wrap up the regular season next week with a nine-inning affair against the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes will welcome Upper Iowa to Duane Banks Baseball Field for UIU's final contest of 2014 on Wednesday, May 7, at 6 p.m.
