LIVE STATS: GAME ONE | GAME TWO | GAME THREE | GAME FOUR
AUDIO BROADCAST
The Upper Iowa baseball team returns to the diamond this weekend with games at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo. The Lions will welcome the Peacocks for a four-game series on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14-15, with double headers each day starting at noon. Live Stats and an Audio broadcast will be available for all four games.
The Peacocks are coming off an 11-30 season in 2014 and have been selected 13
th in the Northern Sun Conference Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll. A pair of Peacocks, outfielder
Alex George (.339 average as a freshman) and starting pitcher
Mason Buster (2-6 with 41.1 innings as a junior), were named NSIC Players to Watch for the upcoming season.
"The pitching staff is the strength of the team this season," said Head Coach
Mark Danker. "The group of pitchers that will climb the hill for us this year are tough and experienced and fill the leadership roles on the team this season."
Last year's pitching staff posted a 5.65 earned run average allowing 193 earned runs over the course of 307.2 innings. Opponents hit .311 against the Peacocks last season thanks to 390 hits. UIU's staff did record 1.7 strikeouts per walk they issued, but this year's group of pitchers know that even that advantage must improve against a competitive Northern Sun landscape.
Upper Iowa will send a mix of both returners and newcomers to the mound to start games this season. The returners include
Brett Fanning, Buster and
Anthony Ruden (who may also see time in relief), while the key newcomers in the group of possible starters include
Shimpei Sato,
Garrison Becker,
Zach Carstens,
Brandon Nicholson and
Tyus Adkins. When it comes time for a pitching change, Assistant Coach
Kevin Post and Danker will have quite a few options in the form of veterans
Dan Cwiertniak,
Blake Seehusen,
Jake Barron,
Matt Banks and
Cody Heiman.
"The group of starters know how to compete and they will keep us in every game throughout the season and the relievers are all experienced and have our trust to get the team out of jams," said Post. "If the need arises, it will be easier to move to a reliever this year to give opposing hitters a different look sooner in a game."
Behind the plate, the Peacocks are deep with four solid backstops for the pitching staff. Jacob Stenberg will lead the group after hitting .282 as a sophomore, while
Drew Woods,
Justin Carlyle and
Cody Booker could all see action at the dish. Woods will be placed into the designated hitter role when not behind the plate. Carlyle and Booker may find themselves in different positions as capable utility players; Carlyle can play on the infield, while Booker, who hit .243 last season with a .404 on-base percentage, can handle positions in the outfield.
On the infield, the Peacocks will return their middle infielders, but have shuffled their positions from a year ago.
Mitch Moser (.248 average with 8 doubles in 2014) started 33 games at shortstop in 2014, but will be UIU's starting second baseman in 2015, while UIU will lock
Luis Ravelo (.269 average in 2014) into shortstop for the 2015 campaign after he played second (10), short (7) and third base (8) last season. A pair of newcomers will handle the corners for Upper Iowa; freshman
Tyus Adkins will be at third, while junior transfer
Josh Blake will man first base. Backups on the dirt for the Peacocks include
Jordan Kearns,
Dawson Jones,
Cody Heiman and Carlyle.
The outfield group will be paced by
Alex George, who will start in right field as he did the majority of 2014. George enjoyed a solid freshman campaign and will be looking to improve as a sophomore this season.
Jacob Greco and
Eric Cottrell are the lead candidates to fill starting roles in the outfield, but
Adam Budron,
Nick Kleitsch and
Cody Booker will all see get their feet in the outfield grass. Greco played in three games with two starts in the outfield last year, but an injury put a stop to his first season in Peacock blue, while Cottrell and Booker both started their share of games in left field for UIU in 2014.
The team will have some big holes to fill following the graduation of All-American
Tyler Adams (.401 career hitter with program-record 217 hits),
Jose Aguirre and
Martin Valdez, but the coaching staff, made up of Danker, Post, as well as
Will Loza and
Nick Wills, are looking forward to watching this year's team form its own identity without a big name in the preseason.
"I'm anxious to get the guys on the field and see just who we are," said Danker. "I want to see which of our returners step up and lay claim to their role on the team and which of our new guys step up to the challenge of baseball at the NCAA Division II level and in our balanced conference. Our first goal this season is to return to the NSIC postseason after a few years of just missing out. We'll need to avoid injuries like every other club in our conference, but we're ready to get on the field and start battling."
The Peacocks will travel to Memphis, Tenn. next weekend, Feb. 21-22, to line up against the Magicians of LeMoyne-Owen before their annual trip to the Winning Inning Baseball Invitational in Clearwater, Florida from Mar. 8-14. St. Cloud State will be UIU's first home opponent at Robertson Woods Field in the team's Northern Sun opener on Mar. 21-22.
