The Upper Iowa University baseball team and coaching staff led by Head Coach Brandon Hunt announced its class of recruits for the 2018 season today. The class includes commitments from twenty student-athletes to attend Upper Iowa and compete for the 2018 Peacock baseball team. The group includes student-athletes that signed National Letters of Intent or acceptance letters to Upper Iowa.
 
Included in this class of recruits are seven right-handed pitchers, four infielders, three young men that may play on the infield and pitch, three catchers, a pair of outfielders and a left-handed pitcher. Seven of the signees are from Iowa, while twelve of the remaining thirteen come from three neighboring states; five from Minnesota, four from Illinois and three from Wisconsin. The final recruit will come to UIU from Florida.
 
"I could not be more excited about the 20 young men that we were able to sign for our 2017 recruiting class," said Hunt. "Our goal as a staff every year is to build relationships with our recruits so they truly feel like they can call UIU home for the next four years. I cannot wait to get these 20 young men engrained into the UIU campus and the community of Fayette! Feathers Up!"

2017 Peacock Baseball Recruiting Class

Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/Prev. School	Parent's Names
Hans Alwin	IF	5-9	185	St. Michael, Minn./William Jewell Coll.	Hans and Catherine Alwin
Alex Baker	RHP/IF	6-0	170	Reedsburg, Wis./Reedsburg HS	Scott and Sara Baker
Brenden Butler	IF/RHP	6-0	190	Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn Comm. HS	Drew & Jamie Butler
Angel Cosme	IF	5-8	170	Orlando, Fla./Downey Christian HS	Lissette Cosme and Hector Cosme
Hunter DeSmet	RHP	5-11	170	Holmen, Wis./Holmen HS	Jeff & Jodie DeSmet
Logan DeWulf	RHP	6-0	165	Huntley, Ill./Huntley HS	James & Kelley DeWulf
AJ Friedrich	IF	6-2	240	Waconia, Minn./Waconia HS	Lana and Mike Friedrich
Alex Glick	RHP	6-4	255	St. Francis, Minn./Des Moines Area CC	Sharilyn Erickson and Robert Glick
Kolton Gonnerman	RHP	6-2	195	Cincinnati, Iowa/Missouri State	Kendal & Amy Gonnerman
Conner Klostermann	IF	6-1	200	Dyersville, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC	Doug and Jodi Klostermann
Colin Lacey	LHP	5-9	160	Pleasant Hill, Iowa/Dowling Catholic HS	Mike & Erin Lacey
Jeremy Maschino	RHP	6-3	205	Delano, Minn./Rochester C&TC	Greg and Lisa Maschino
Michael Pascarella	OF	5-11	185	New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way Central HS	Sonny and Debbie Pascarella
Riley Pfiffner	OF	6-0	190	Atkins, Iowa/Benton Comm. HS	Shawn and Tammy Pfiffner
Kyle Routhieaux	C	5-9	180	Casco, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco HS	Dan and Erika Routhieaux
Tony Salato	C	5-10	165	Knoxville, Iowa/Marshalltown CC	Tom & Debbie Salato
Cole Scieszinski	C	5-8	190	Urbandale, Iowa/Iowa Central CC	Doug and Laurie Scieszinski
Nick Taviani	RHP	6-3	165	Downers Grove, Ill./North HS	Greg and Michelle Taviani
Chris Webber	RHP	6-2	190	Adams, Minn./Southland HS	Matt and Kerry Webber
Casey Zarr	IF/RHP	6-2	210	Bondurant, Iowa/Bondurant-Farrar HS	Max & Rhonda Zarr

The Peacocks finished the 2017 campaign with a 19-29 record overall and a 15-25 mark in the Northern Sun. UIU ended the season in 13th place, but their 15 wins in the conference were only three less than Minnesota Duluth's 18; the NSIC's sixth-place team. Pitcher Brett Fanning and shortstop Luis Ravelo earned All-NSIC Second Team honors, while Ravelo also claimed a position on the 2017 NSIC Gold Glove Team.
 
Hunt continued, "We identified very early our need to build depth at every position within our program, but specifically on the mound and we feel that we have done that with this class. In order to get our program to the point where we are competing at the top of the NSIC every year we knew we needed to build depth, and we feel the best way to do that is by giving every guy on our roster the chance to compete in a game setting."
 
Fanning returns to lead the Peacock pitching staff in 2018, but the Peacocks will have to replace quite a few recent graduates. Junior Zackary Cain hit .338 to lead the team in batting average in 2017 and added three wins on the mound for UIU. While three starting infielders and a pair of starters in the outfield graduated, several key players return for Coach Hunt and the coaching staff for the 2018 campaign.
 
"Overall, we knew this was going to be a rather large class and much of that has to do with starting a junior varsity program for Upper Iowa Baseball," stated Hunt. "In addition to our 50 game varsity schedule over the next few years, the players on our roster will have the chance to compete in a junior varsity schedule of 20-25 games to develop their skill set and ultimately give themselves the best opportunity to have success when their number is called in a varsity contest."
 

Alwin	Baker	Butler	Cosme
DeSmet	DeWulf	Friedrich	Glick
Gonnerman	Klostermann	Lacey	Maschino
Pascarella	Pfiffner	Routhieaux	Salato
Scieszinski	Taviani	Webber	Zarr