THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK SOFTBALL… Upper Iowa (20-15, 12-8 NSIC) will continue its homestand on Friday and Saturday afternoon with another pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheaders. The Peacocks will take on the St. Cloud State University Huskies on Friday at 1 p.m. before hosting the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Saturday at noon. All three teams are ranked in the top-5 of the conference while UMD and SCSU are also ranked 7^th and 8^th, respectively, in the first of three NCAA Division II Softball Regional Rankings.

LIVE OPTIONS… Fans who can't make it to the game have several options to follow the action from home or on the go through the links above or UIUPeacocks.com/Live. Webcast and live stats will be available for the doubleheader. Both games can also be broadcast on KCRG-TV 9.2 or streamed live on the NSIC Channel through Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple and Android TV's.

LAST AT BAT… The Mavericks of Minnesota State University-Mankato swept a pair of NSIC games in Fayette on Tuesday to snap Upper Iowa's nine-game win streak. The Mavericks, fueled by dominant pitching and timely hitting, posted wins by counts of 8-2 and 4-0. Upper Iowa registered 10 hits on the day with five in each game. Kennedy Newell, Payton Kastenschmidt and Kaylee Frenette all had two hits apiece for UIU on the afternoon. Katie Crogan and Erin Drahozal each drove in a run in the opener.

ROAD TO ROCHESTER… The Peacocks currently hold the fifth spot in NSIC standings with a 12-8 conference record, three wins behind their weekend opponents but two games ahead of a four-way tie for sixth place. With 10 games to go, the Peacocks are looking to stay within the top-10 in league standings in order to participate in the NSIC Softball Tournament on May 2-4 in Rochester, Minn. for the first time since 2016 when Upper Iowa won the tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.  

ABOUT THE HUSKIES… St. Cloud State (33-11, 15-5 NSIC) is currently riding an 11-game win streak and has tallied five consecutive sweeps over conference opponents. The Huskies received the No. 8 ranking in the Central Region thanks to their 33-11 overall record and 22-9 mark in regional play. SCSU is batting .348 as a team with 415 hits, 304 runs scored, 271 RBI, 62 doubles, 12 triples and 42 homeruns. The Husky pitching squad holds a 2.35 ERA with 204 strikeouts and 40 walks.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS… Minnesota Duluth (21-14, 15-5 NSIC) has gone 5-3 over the last eight games, splitting three straight league contests prior to sweeping Bemidji State University earlier this week. The Bulldogs ranked No. 7 in the initial Central Region poll with a 21-14 overall record and 16-8 mark against regional competition. The Bulldogs are hitting .259 as a unit with 263 hits, 179 runs scored, 169 RBI, 50 doubles, 10 triples and 37 homeruns. The UMD pitching staff posts a 2.93 ERA with 145 strikeouts and 98 walks. Minnesota Duluth is set to face No. 7 Winona State University on Friday.

UP NEXT… The Peacocks have just one week left of regular season action. UIU will hit the road one last time to face No. 17 Augustana University on Wednesday before returning home to host Minot State University and the University of Mary on Apr. 27-28.