THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK BASEBALL… The Peacock baseball team is ready to head south to Memphis, Tenn. to take on the Magicians of LeMoyne-Owen College in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20-21. Last year's meeting in Memphis was cancelled due to an ice storm that rolled through the southern half of the country, but Upper Iowa took three of four games from LeMoyne-Owen when the teams met in 2014. The teams will play a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday and a single, nine-inning game on Sunday.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS... UIU returns starters in eight of the nine fielding positions with the lone hole left by outfield
Adam Budron, who graduated last spring. In addition to the eight returning starters, UIU has a pair of backups from last season that picked up a combined 134 at bats with time at multiple positions.
GOING DEEP... The group with the most depth is the UIU's outfield. The probable starters include All-NSIC performer
Jacob Greco,
Alex George and
Eric Cottrell, but Cal Seehase,
Anthony Calton,
Emmett Kulick and
Nick Kleitsch could all see time in the outfield this season. Greco (.363), George (.358) and Cottrell (.330) combined to hit .351 last season with 197 hits between the trio including 46 doubles, 3 triples and 16 homeruns (Greco had 12) to drive in 130 runs.
AROUND THE HORN... On the infield dirt, the Peacocks will rely on All-NSIC performer
Mitch Moser and Luis Ravelo up the middle, while the corners have seen some great competition for the starting jobs. At third,
Colton Janssen returns after starting 41 games at the hot corner and hitting .292, but the Peacocks have seen solid play from
Jaime Ramos and
Jordan Kearns, who can play multiple positions for UIU, in the offseason. At first base, the Peacocks will look to fill the spot Cottrell played last year with a pair of newcomers;
Logan Bima and
Zackary Cain.
SENIOR BACKSTOPS... Behind the plate, the Peacocks return a pair of seniors with
Jake Stenberg and
Cody Booker, who can also fill numerous positions in the lineup. Stenberg hit .318 for UIU last season with 42 hits including 9 doubles, a triple and a pair of long balls, while Booker had an on-base percentage of .370 thanks to 14 hits and 13 walks in addition to the 10 times he was hit by a pitch.
UP ON THE HILL... Upper Iowa will have to find their most improvement from a year ago on the mound. The Peacocks are confident that the arms they have returning picked up valuable time on the hill and learned a lot through their innings last season. Leading the group of pitchers is redshirt sophomore
Brett Fanning, who threw only 1 and a third innings last season before a ball back up the middle ended his season in the second inning of UIU's opener at Missouri Southern State University. Along with Fanning, the Peacocks will send returners
Tyus Adkins,
Mitch Moser,
Zach Carstens,
Brandon Nicholson,
Jordan Kearns,
Tanner Poor and
Garrison Becker to the mound. Coach Danker will also hand the ball to a set of newcomers including
Zackary Cain,
Collin Thomas and
Miguel Rodriguez. While some of the Peacocks listed above will be starters, others will come out of the bullpen which is led by redshirt sophomore
Ross Kulick. Last season, Kulick recorded a 2-2 record with 8 saves, an Upper Iowa program single-season record, in 17 appearances.
NEXT UP... After the Peacocks return from their opening three-game series, the team will have to wait until Mar. 6 to get back on the diamond. The reward for their patience is their annual trip to Clearwater, Fla. for the Winning Inning Invitational. Upper Iowa will play eight games from Mar. 6-12 taking on Mansfield University (3x), St. Leo University (2x), Cedarville University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Rockhurst University.
