The Peacock baseball team dropped two Northern Sun Conference games at Northern State University on Sunday as the Wolves earned the four-game sweep over Upper Iowa.  NSU won game one 12-6 and then rallied in the late innings of game two to erase a UIU advantage and then run away with a 22-11 victory in a game shortened to eight innings.  Following the rough weekend in Aberdeen, S.D. the Peacocks are now 15-17 overall and 7-11 in the conference.
 
Alex George led the batters for UIU with four hits, while Jacob Greco, Adam Budron and Mitch Moser all had three hits in the two games on Sunday.  All seven of Upper Iowa's pitchers got roughed up by the Wolves, who recorded 56 runs in the four games; no Peacock hurler gave up less than three runs on the day.
 
Upper Iowa opened the game with a pair of runs in the first and second innings to move out to a quick 4-0 lead thanks to a Greco rbi-triple, a sac fly off the bat of Eric Cottrell and a two-run homerun in the second by Colton Janssen.
 
The lead didn't last though.  Northern State scored four runs in the bottom of the second on six hits and then added four more runs on three hits in the third inning to erase the four-run lead for UIU and take one of their own heading to the fourth inning.
 
Upper Iowa got one run back in the fourth inning thanks to a leadoff double from Jacob Stenberg and a single to center by Budron, but Northern State put the game away with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to push their advantage to 12-5. 
 
The Peacocks got one final run in the seventh on an rbi-grounder from Cottrell that scored Moser to set the final count at 12-6. 
 
Charley Cunningham suffered the loss (3-2) after three innings.  He allowed eight runs on ten hits while striking out three.  Zach Carstens worked in relief and went three innings allowing four runs, one was earned, on five hits.
 
In the second game, the Peacocks trailed 2-0 heading into the second inning, but the visitors scored four runs on three hits including a two-run homer off the bat of Budron and a single to center by Moser that scored a pair of runners.
 
While the Wolves scratched a run on the scoreboard in both the second and third innings, the Peacocks kept the pressure on with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning.  The runs in the third and fourth came on a solo long ball by Cottrell, a sac fly by Janssen, an rbi-double from Greco and a run-scoring single through the right side by George.
 
Northern State took a large step back into the game in the fourth scoring three runs on just one hit thanks to four straight walks with no outs to open the frame.
 
An unearned run allowed UIU a little breathing room in the fifth as they took a 9-7 lead, but the Wolves answered with a game-tying homerun to left center to knot the score at 9-9.  Northern State never looked back after tying the game and went on to score four runs in the sixth and seventh innings and then tack on the final five runs in the eighth to end the game just one out into the inning due to the NSIC run-rule after seven innings (10 or more run differential).
 
UIU scored their final two runs on a throwing error by the Wolves in the seventh and on a Stenberg homerun in the eighth.
 
Matt Banks took the loss (0-2) for UIU in relief.  Mason Buster started the game and threw three innings allowing six runs on seven hits and six walks.  Anthony Ruden, Dan Cwiertniak and Jake Barron all climbed the hill for the Peacocks and none escaped without damage.
 
Upper Iowa will be on the road this Wednesday, Apr. 15, at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  The Peacocks and Mavericks will lock up in the midweek, NSIC double header beginning at 1:30 p.m.