The UIU baseball team ran into a buzz saw in the form of tough pitching on Saturday afternoon in St. Cloud, Minn. The Peacocks tallied only six hits on the day and dropped a pair of Northern Sun Conference games against the Huskies of St. Cloud State University. The Huskies improved to 18-6 overall and 10-3 in the NSIC, while the Peacocks fall to 9-11 overall and 5-7 in the conference.
In game one, the Huskies shut out the Peacocks 14-0 behind a solid pitching performance by Cal Giese, who struck out six. SCSU's starting pitcher earned a win with five innings of work allowing just one hit to
Anthony Calton. Three relievers combined to close the game out giving up just one more hit to
Nick Kleitsch.
The Huskies scored a run in both the first and second innings before jumping on Peacock starter
Zackary Cain in the third for six runs and an 8-0 lead. The big inning was highlighted by four-run scoring hits including a pair of doubles. St. Cloud State scored two in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth inning before Upper Iowa was finally able to put a zero on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. In total, the Huskies tallied 14 hits in the game.
In game two, the Peacocks struck first in the top of the third inning when Calton singled to plate
Dominic Hillesheim, who opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a ground out. A leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth came around to score for the Huskies on a sacrifice fly tying the game at 1-1.
The Huskies' Matthew Meyer connected on a two-out, two-run homer to put the home team ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Upper Iowa did not get on base in the final four innings of the game and fell by the two-run deficit.
Freshman
Ryan Munoz (0-2) threw well for the Peacocks allowing the three runs on four hits in his seven innings.
Austin Caspersen (4-0) held the Peacock offense at bay during the game allowing just four hits in the 7.2 innings of work. He allowed just one run to the UIU offense.
Calton, Hillesheim,
Mitch Moser and Luis Ravelo were the four Peacocks that picked up a hit; all four hits were singles.
The Peacocks and Huskies will get back on the diamond at Joe Faber Field on Sunday for a double header beginning at noon.