Wayne State College earned a pair of one-run decisions, both games ended 4-3, thanks to walkoff hits in both games for the home Wildcats. The home team scored a pair of runs in the bottom of seventh in game one for the win and then hit a homerun in the ninth to claim the day's sweep. After the two losses, Upper Iowa falls to 17-25 overall and 9-19 in the NSIC. Wayne State improves to 22-19 overall and 17-11 in the conference.
In game one, the Wildcats scored a run after a leadoff double in the first inning and added an unearned run in the third frame to take a 2-0 advantage into the sixth inning.
Upper Iowa scratched the scoreboard for the first time in the sixth inning.
Jacob Greco opened the sixth with a single to center and came around to score after a pair of errors on a
Alex George grounder. At the end of the play, George stood on second with no outs and the Peacocks down just a run, 2-1, but three straight outs including a pair of strikeouts closed out the threat.
In the seventh inning,
Josh Blake reached on a walk with one out and the Peacocks then had runners on first and second after
Luis Ravelo singled to left.
Mitch Moser singled to centerfield to load the bases, but a strikeout gave UIU two outs in the inning. George came through with a single to right field to plate two Peacocks before he was thrown out at second trying to move up on a throw home.
With a 3-2 lead, the Peacocks needed three outs to post a victory. Wayne State scored two runs on three hits getting the game-winning hit with one out and the bases loaded.
Mason Buster (3-3) suffered the loss despite his best effort of the season. The senior threw six innings, but left in the seventh after the first two batters reached base. Buster allowed four runs, three earned, on just five hits while striking out three.
Eric Browning (4-4) earned the win for the Wildcats with a complete game while allowing three runs on eight hits. Browning struck out ten Peacock batters.
In the second game, the Peacocks didn't waste any time getting on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the first inning on three hits and a Wildcat miscue. Both runs scored on a single down the rightfield line by George. The inning continued with a single to right by
Eric Cottrell as UIU had runners on the corners with one out, but a strikeout and ground out ended the threat.
Upper Iowa added to their lead in the sixth on a pair of hits to open the inning by Moser and Greco.
The Peacocks took their 3-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but the Wildcats tied the game in the frame with three runs on four hits, but Peacock starter
Zach Carstens got out of the inning with a fly out and ground out to leave a runner at second.
In the top of the eighth, the Peacocks looked to break the tie after loading the bases with one out. The Wildcats second pitching change of the inning took hold though recording a strikeout and a grounder to get out of the jam.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth when Wayne State got a game winning homerun off the bat of Aaron Kreft with one out for the second 4-3 victory of the day.
Carstens fell to 0-4 on the year despite his best outing of the season. The junior threw 8.1 innings allowing four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.
The Peacocks and Wildcats will line up against each other again tomorrow in another Northern Sun double header in Wayne starting at noon.
