OMAHA, Neb. - A late night of Northern Sun Conference baseball came to an end just before midnight on Tuesday in Omaha, Neb. as the Peacocks travled west for a doubleheader with the Wildcats of Wayne State College. The two teams collied at Mustang Field at North Millard High School, and an entertaining night on the diamond ended with a twin bill split between the two programs. Wayne State limited UIU to just two hits in the opener, but the Peacocks bounced back with a 10-hit performance in game two to earn the split. Upper Iowa moves to 10-15 overall, and 8-11 in the NSIC, while WSC is now 12-18 overall and 10-10 in league play.
UIU will continue their life on the road this spring, as they travel northwest to Crookston, Minn. for a four-game series with the Golden Eagles of the University of Minnesota Crookston. The series takes place Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 21-22, with day one getting started at 1 p.m., and Sunday's action beginning at 12 p.m.
Game 1: WSC 4 - UIU 2
Runs were hard to come by for the Peacocks in game one against Wayne State starter Aaron Ras. The freshman left-hander limited UIU to just two hits in six innings of work, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the process. His offense gave him a 2-0 lead, but Upper Iowa would come back to tie it late in the game.
The roller coaster began in the first, with the Wildcats scoring off UIU starter
Brett Fanning on an rbi-single. WSC led 1-0, and it would stay that way for awhile. Both pitcher dominated, allowing no runs on just a grand total of three hits for the next four-and-a-half innings.
In the top of the sixth, the Wildcats added what looked like an insurance run off Fanning, when a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded pushed the lead to 2-0. Fanning would get out of the jam allowing just the one run, keeping his team in it in the bottom of the sixth. The Peacock offense would finally break through against Ras in the home half of the sixth, and they did all with two outs.
Emmitt Kulick drew a walk to try to start a rally, and after he advanced to second on a wild pitch,
Jacob Greco pushed a single through the left side to put runners on the corners.
Zac Cain then reached on an error by the right fielder, when a fly ball went off his glove in right center to allow two runs to score to tie the game. The game was back on, tied at two headed to the seventh.
Wayne State would go on to take the lead against Fanning, who went the distance in game one. Back-to-back rbi-hits plated a pair of runs to give WSC a 4-2 lead, and Lawson Zenner would close the door in the bottom of the seventh to earn the save for the Wilcats.
Fanning allowed the four runs on 10 hits, and punched out six Wildcats and allowed just one walk in the complete-game loss. Greco and A.J. Friedrich had the only two hits in the game.
Game 2: UIU 6 - WSC 3
The offensive numbers were the opposite in game two Tuesday night, with the Peacocks threatening right away and tallying double-digit hits against the Wildcats. Wayne State used four pitchers, with no one going more than three innings in the night cap. Upper Iowa left-hander
Colin Lacey would go six strong innings on the mound, allowing three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in the win.
Upper Iowa started the home half of the first with a bang after the 1-2-3 start for Lacey. Back-to-back hits got the inning going, with Kulick plating Cal Seehase to give the Peacocks its first lead of the night.
Zac Cain followed with an rbi-single to push the lead to 2-0, and UIU would not trail the entire game.
In the third, the Wildcats got on the board with an rbi-single, and UIU led 2-1, and the game back on. Upper Iowa had something to say about that in the fourth inning, when
Riley Braughton walked with the bases load, and Seehase pushed a two-run single up the middle. The Peacocks now led 5-1, and were in control with their freshman southpaw on the hill. Wayne State tried to get back in the game in the sixth inning, when they scored twice on a run-scoring triple and a sacrifice fly, and UIU led 5-3. But after the sixth, the bullpen took over.
Tanner Poor came in and did not allow a run on two hits in two innings of relief, and he turned things over to senior
Tyus Adkins in the ninth. During that span, however, the Peacocks did add one more run in the eighth on an infield hit by Braughton. The 6-3 was more than enough for Adkins, who earned his second save of the season facing just four batters. The teams earned the split, as the clock was just a few minutes shy of striking midnight.
Lacey earned his third win of the season on the mound, and offensively,
Conner Klostermann was brilliant, going 4-4 for the game, and scoring a pair of runs. Seehase and Cain eached tallied a pair of hits in the win as well.
