The Upper Iowa baseball team was back in Fayette at Robertson Woods Field for just the seventh and eighth games of the season on Thursday, and the Peacocks took full advantage of playing at home. UIU pitched well, played solid defense and came up with timely hits to post a pair of shutouts over Southwest Minnesota State University, 7-0 and 10-0 (7). The wins pushed Upper Iowa's record to 18-22 overall and 14-18 in the NSIC, while SMSU falls to 13-27 overall and 8-22 in the conference. The two wins have pushed UIU into eighth place in the NSIC standings with eight games to play.
Brett Fanning (6-2) earned his sixth win of the season and recorded his seventh complete game and second shutout of the season in game one. The redshirt junior allowed just six hits and a walk while striking out three Mustangs. Fanning lowered his earned run average to 2.02 (5th in NSIC) for the year in his 10 appearances and 9 starts.
Ryan Munoz (2-4) won his second game of the season and bounced back in a big way from his tough outing at Sioux Falls just four days prior. The complete game was the freshman's second of the season and his first shutout of the year. Munoz allowed only five hits and three walks in his seven innings while striking out eight batters.
In game one,
Jacob Greco and
Luis D. Ravelo-Herrera doubled in back-to-back at bats to plate a pair of runs in the first inning.
Zackary Cain registered UIU's third rbi-double in the third inning and
Colton Janssen added a run-scoring single in the third to give Upper Iowa a 4-0 lead. In the fourth inning a wild pitch allowed the Peacocks' fifth run to score and Cain singled to center to make it 6-0.
Alex George singled to right to drive in UIU's final run in the fifth and Fanning and the defense didn't allow a Mustang past third base over the final three innings.
In the second game, the Peacocks scored runs in bunches and jumped out to an 8-0 lead after just three innings. UIU scored five runs on five hits and a pair of SMSU errors in the second inning highlighted by a Janssen rbi-single, an
Emmett Kulick rbi-single, an
Anthony Calton ground out that pushed a run home and two throwing miscues that resulted in a run.
UIU scored three more runs in the third inning on three hits including an rbi-single to center by Kulick to send
Dominic Hillesheim to the plate. The Peacocks' final two runs came in the sixth inning with two outs when
Jaime Ramos doubled down the leftfield line to push a pair of Peacocks to the dish. The game ended after the seventh due to the NSIC run-rule in 9-inning games.
Cain and George led the Peacock bats with five hits apiece including three doubles for Cain and one for George. Hillesheim and Janssen both tallied four hits, while Ravelo (3), Kulick (2),
Mitch Moser (2) and Greco (2) all had multiple hits on the day. Eight different UIU players registered rbi's in the double header including five with two.
Upper Iowa is headed back on the road this weekend for a four-game series at #16 Minnesota State University, Mankato. Both head coaches have agreed to move up the four-game series to Friday and Saturday due to predicted weather on Sunday in Mankato, Minn. The Peacocks will return home for their final games of the regular season on Friday and Saturday, May 5-6 against Minot State University.
