The Peacock baseball team swept a pair of critical Northern Sun Conference games on Friday at Robertson Woods Field in Fayette. Upper Iowa defeated Minnesota State 5-3 and 7-5 to keep their playoff chances alive for the NSIC Baseball Championships. UIU got past two of the best arms in the league in the form of MSU starters Dalton Roach and Aaron Rozek on Friday as Ryan Munoz, Colin Lacey, Parker Kray and Tyus Adkins stood tall on the mound for the challenge. Jacob Greco blasted a pair of homers in game one, and Hans Alwin and Tony Salato came up with big hits in game two to lead the home team to the sweep.
 
Upper Iowa will continue fighting for a spot in the postseason tournament on Saturday with another two games against the Mavericks. The Peacocks will honor their nine seniors between games at Robertson Woods. UIU and MSU are scheduled to throw the first pitch at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Game One: Upper Iowa 5 - Minnesota State 3
The Mavericks got on the board in the top of the first after three singles including an infield single which resulted in a close play at first and a subsequent run scored when Teddy Petersen didn't stop running from second on the contact.
 
Upper Iowa tied the game in the bottom of the first. Callahan Seehase and Emmett Kulick opened the game with a double and single to put runners on the corners with no outs. A ground ball out by Zac Cain plated Seehase to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Minnesota State broke the tie in the third inning with a pair of runs on two hits. The hits put runners on second and third with two outs, but it was an error in the outfield that allowed the runs to cross the plate.
 
Jacob Greco cut the gap in half with a solo home run to left in the bottom of the third and then put the Peacocks ahead 4-3 in the fifth inning with a two-run blast to leftfield. Kulick, who doubled with one out, scored on the second homer.
 
UIU added an insurance run in the sixth inning thanks to a two-base Maverick error, a sac bunt by Riley Braughton and an rbi-single by Hans Alwin. Alwin's hit, a fly ball lost in the sun by the center fielder, would have been deep enough for a sacrifice fly as well.
 
Tyus Adkins came on in the seventh to put the down in order to earn his fourth save. Ryan Munoz (5-2) scored the win with 6 innings of work on the hill. The Peacock lefty allowed three runs, only one was earned, on eight hits while striking out three.
 
Dalton Roach (8-1) suffered his first loss of the season with five innings on the hill. Roach allowed four runs on six hits while striking out ten Peacocks.
 
Game Two: Upper Iowa 7 - Minnesota State 5
The Peacocks got the scoring started early in game two with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Seehase was hit by the first pitch he saw, stole second, moved to third on a grounder and came home on a sac fly to center by Greco.
 
UIU's 1-0 lead held up into the third inning when the Mavericks tied the game thanks to a double from Teddy Petersen and an rbi-single from Jordan Hart.
 
In the fourth inning, the Peacocks pushed back ahead 2-1 when Tony Salato singled with the bases loaded to plate Hans Alwin, who singled to start a two-out rally.
 
The Mavericks scored an unearned with two outs in the sixth to tie the game at 2-2 due to an error on the Peacock infield.
 
Upper Iowa didn't let the momentum turn though keeping the pressure on MSU's ace Aaron Rozek. UIU used a pair of singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. A second stolen base for Seehase and an rbi-single for Salato put UIU back ahead 3-2. In an attempt to intentionally walk Greco, the Mavericks through a wild pitch and Seehase beat the play at the plate to give UIU a two-run lead heading into the seventh.
 
MSU scored a run in the seventh with three straight singles after a pair of quick flyouts. Hart delivered the run-scoring hit and pulled the Mavericks within one. A solo home run by Luke Waldek in the eighth tied the game again and chased freshman lefty Colin Lacey after a great 7.1 innings. Parker Kray got UIU out of the eighth without any more runs to keep the game tied.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Upper Iowa exploded for three runs on three hits and a Maverick error on the infield. Alwin highlighted the inning with a two-run double and then scored on a Seehase single to center.
 
Adkins came out to the mound in the ninth and got his fifth save of the season and second of the day. The senior righty did have one hiccup with a solo homer to left center by Petersen, but got his second three outs of the day in just four batters ending the game on a called strike three.
 
Kray (2-0) earned the win with his two-thirds of an inning, while Lacey got the no-decision after 7.1 innings on the mound. The southpaw allowed four runs, three were earned, on twleve hits while striking out five batters.
 
Carlo Graffeo (4-3) took the loss for MSU allowing three runs on two hits in an inning, while Rozek got the no-decision in 6 innings after allowing four runs on six hits and six strikeouts.
 
In game two, Alwin, Seehase and Salato all came up with two hits.