Upper Iowa split a pair of Northern Sun Conference games at the University of Minnesota Crookston on Sunday. The Peacocks and Golden Eagles went back and forth in the first game with the home team scoring the 8-7 decision. UIU dominated the second game 14-0 and ended the contest in the seventh inning due to the NSIC run-rule. After the split, UIU is 11-16 overall and 7-9 in the conference, while UMC is now 16-11 for the season and 9-4 in the NSIC.
In the second game,
Zach Carstens (1-3) earned the first victory of his UIU career in style with a complete game, one-hitter. The senior right hander struck out six while working through seven innings on the mound in Crookston.
While Carstens dominated from the hill, the Peacock bats came alive with 14 runs on 16 hits including six extra base hits with five doubles and a triple. Upper Iowa scored four runs in the second inning on a two-run double by
Cody Booker and a two-run single by
Mitch Moser.
Jordan Kearns pushed a run across the plate in the third inning with a single through the left side giving the visitors a 5-0 lead.
Upper Iowa blew the game open in the fourth inning with seven runs on six hits sending 12 batters to the plate. Highlights from the inning included a leadoff triple by
Emmett Kulick, a second two-run single by Moser, an rbi-double by
Anthony Calton, a two-run double by Zach Cain followed by an rbi-double by Kearns and an rbi-single off the bat of Luis Ravelo.
The Peacocks scored their final two runs of the game in the sixth when Ravelo doubled in a run and
Nick Kleitsch plated Ravelo.
In the first game,
Tyus Adkins (3-3), the reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Week, got touched up for five runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Golden Eagles used four hits and a Peacock error to plate their five runs; the final three came on a home run to left.
The Peacocks matched their hosts in the top of the second with five runs on four hits thanks to a two-run triple by Ravelo, an rbi-single off the bat of Booker and a two-run homer by Moser.
In the third inning, Kenny Perez homered to leadoff the inning and give the Golden Eagles a 6-5 advantage. UIU tied the game again in the fifth inning when Ravelo grounded out with the bases loaded to force in a run.
The Golden Eagles broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth with two runs on three hits moving ahead 8-6.
In the seventh, Jacob Stenberg walked with one out and scored with two outs when Ravelo picked up his second triple of the day cutting the gap to just one run, 8-7. UIU's rally came up shy though as the third called strike three of the inning ended the contest with the tying run just 90 feet away.
The two teams will wrap up their series on Monday afternoon with the first pitch of the double header to begin at 12 p.m.
