The Peacock baseball team couldn't overcome their struggle to find the strike zone on a very cold afternoon in Bemidji, Minn. on Wednesday. Upper Iowa pitchers handed out 21 walks and hit a pair of batters, despite allowing only 11 hits to the Beavers in 15 innings. Bemidji State got a walk off win in game one, 2-1, and then followed with an 8-5 win in game two to improve to 5-24 overall and 4-13 in the NSIC. After the two losses, Upper Iowa is now 8-17 overall and 5-15 in the conference.
Upper Iowa is scheduled to face the Mavericks of Minnesota State University, Mankato on Saturday and Sunday for four games. Fans should check in with UIUPeacocks.com as the weekend approaches as changes to the schedule are expected due to a rogue winter storm dropping a good deal of snow in southern Minnesota.
Game One: Bemidji State 2 - Upper Iowa 1
UIU starter
Duncan Snider (1-4) took the hard luck loss in game one after allowing two runs, only one was earned, in his six-plus innings of work. Snider battled through control problems in the first six innings surrendering only an unearned run in the third inning to the Beavers. The first two batters he faced in the seventh reached on singles and the winning run came around to score on the first batter faced after he was relieved. The righty scattered four hits and struck out five, but walked seven Beavers.
The Peacocks tied the game at 1-all during the top of the sixth. With one out, Zackary Cain tripled to right field and
Tony Salato was hit by a pitch to set runners at the corners. A.J. Friedrich drove Cain in with a grounder to the right side. UIU threatened to take a lead in the seventh inning when
Riley Braughton and
Jake Dale both singled, but a pair of strikeouts ended the scoring opportunity.
In the bottom of the seventh, Wyatt White hit a single to left field driving in the game winning run before an out could be recorded in the frame.
Game Two: Bemidji State 8 - Upper Iowa 5
UIU scored a run in the first inning thanks to a leadoff walk to Salato. The Peacock right fielder scored with two outs on a
Riley Braughton single to left. Back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the inning allowed BSU to tie the score quickly at 1-1.
The Peacocks retook the lead, 2-1, in the third inning when Cain singled and stole second base. With two outs, Braughton delivered again for UIU with an RBI-single. Upper Iowa put runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but the Beavers got an out at the plate and the threat ended on a fly ball to center field.
The Beavers scored three runs in the fourth inning without registering a hit. With one out, BSU had the bases loaded thanks to a pair of walks and a misplay of a grounder. Two runs came in during an error at shortstop for UIU and a ground out brought the third run home after a walk reloaded the bases.
Upper Iowa was able to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth when Braughton tallied his fifth hit of day on an RBI-double and
Hogan Penny followed with a run-scoring triple to the gap in left center.
In the fifth inning, the Beavers added three more runs with just one hit and could have gone for more , but a ground out to shortstop stopped the bleeding.
The Peacocks had a runner in scoring position in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't get the train moving in the right direction to cut into the Beaver advantage.
BSU added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but UIU was able to equal that goal in the top of the ninth to cut the final gap to three, 8-5. Penny was able to shoot a base hit through the left side to drive in
Emmett Kulick, who reached on a leadoff walk.
Alexander Morales (2-4) suffered the loss in relief of
Blake Thiesse. Thiesse went 3.1 innings allowing four runs, two earned, on three hits but walked five. Morales threw 1.1 innings of relief and allowed three runs on a hit and three walks.
Cain, Friedrich and Penny all joined Braughton with multiple hits in the game. The Peacocks had 13 hits and 4 walks in the game, but the Beaver pitchers and defenders left a dozen UIU players on the bases.
