The Peacock baseball team was swept on Friday afternoon in Mankato, Minn. by the No. 12 team in the country, the Mavericks of Minnesota State University. The home team used a big eight-run third inning to break game one open before mounting a late comeback in game two. MSU tallied 23 runs on 26 hits for the day to hault UIU's two-game winnings streak. With the losses, Upper Iowa drops to 18-24 overall and 14-20 in the Northern Sun Conference, while MSU improves to 36-7 overall and 31-3 in league play.
The two teams will match up on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the series with games three and four. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. in Mankato. The Peacocks will then wrap up their regular season on Friday and Saturday, May 5-6, in Fayette for Senior Weekend against Minot State University.
GAME ONE: #12 MSU 17 - UIU 7
Upper Iowa struck first in the opener behind a two-run second inning.
Mitch Moser doubled down the left field line to plate Zach Cain to get the scoring started, and
Emmett Kulick followed with a sacrifice fly to give the visitors the early advantage. The Mavericks then answered in the bottom half of the inning with an rbi-goundout and a run-scoring single. Cain got the start on the mound for UIU, but would only make it through 2.2 innings on the day.
MSU broke the game wide open in the third inning with eight runs on five hits, highlighted by a grand slam with two outs to push the lead to 10-2. The Mavericks plated three more in the fourth to lead 13-2 before Upper Iowa answered with an
Alex George two-run single in the fifth. Trailing 13-4, the pitching staff tried to get through the remainder of the game, but the home team put more offense together. Minnesota State scored four more in the bottom of the fifth to lead 17-4 to take their largest lead of the game.
UIU cut the deficit to 10 runs with a
Dominic Hillesheim single and a pair of sac flies by Kulick and George in the sixth, but would get no closer. MSU took the opener 17-7 despite the visitors tallying 11 hits. Cain,
Mitch Silberstein,
Parker Kray, and
Mac Wolfe combined to get through seven innings on the mound. At the plate, Hillesheim went 3-3 to lead Upper Iowa, while Cain and Moser each tallied a pair of hits as well.
GAME TWO: #12 MSU 6 - UIU 4
Game two started as a pitcher's duel between Tyus Adkins and MSU's Mitchell Bauer. Adkins tossed seven innings, and would not allow a run until the fifth, while Bauer tossed 5.2, not giving in until the sixth frame.
MSU got the scoring started in the bottom of the fifth inning with an rbi-single, but Adkins would escape the jam to keep the deficit to 1-0. UIU would bat in the sixth inning and answered at the plate to take the lead.
Jacob Greco singled through the left side to plate
Anthony Calton to tie the game, and
Colton Janssen followed with a double to left field to score Greco to take the lead 2-1. A few batters later, Moser would lace a two-run single to take the 4-1 lead, pushing Bauer out of the game on the mound.
Adkins allowed a solo shot in the home half of the sixth to cut the Peacock lead to 4-2, but the right hander again got through the frame with the lead. That would change in the seventh inning when Minnesota State rallied back to take a late lead from UIU.
A two-run double and a two-run single highlighted the big four-run inning for MSU, as they sent eight batters to the plate in the frame. The four runs on three hits and one Peacock error gave the home team a late-inning lead, and pushed Adkins out of the game as well.
Tanner Poor pitched the bottom of the eighth inning, and loaded the bases before getting out of danger. UIU could not push across another run, and dropped the matchup 6-4.
Adkins takes the loss allowing six runs in seven innings, while on offense Calton and George each tallied two hits to lead Upper Iowa.
