TODAY IN PEACOCK BASEBALL… Upper Iowa (7-11, 4-9 NSIC) is coming off a 1-4 week at Robertson Woods Field after falling twice to No. 4 St. Cloud State University and dropping a pair of two-run decisions to Southwest Minnesota State University on Sunday and Monday. UIU will play in Minot, N.D. on Wednesday and then travel to Crookston, Minn. for games on Saturday and Sunday. The Peacocks will line up against the Beavers of Minot State University for a pair of games starting at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and with the Golden Eagles of the University of Minnesota Crookston at 1 p.m. on Saturday for two games and a single nine-inning game at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
KULICK RETURNS TO LINEUP… Emmett Kulick made his return to the Peacock lineup in a big way last week earning the Northern Sun Conference Baseball Player of the Week award. The senior hit .571 (8-14) with a 1.571 slugging percentage. Kulick drove in nine runs with a pair of doubles and four home runs and scored seven times. He posted a .684 on-base percentage thanks to his 8 hits and 5 walks.
GETTING OFFENSIVE… The Peacock bats have produced over six and a half runs per game for the Peacocks this season. This past week, the Peacock bats were silenced in two of the games as UIU was unable to cross the plate, but the Peacocks scored 31 runs in the other three games combined. As a team, Upper Iowa is hitting .301 (56th NCAA/4th NSIC) with 33 doubles, 2 triples and 14 home runs and a slugging percentage of .433 (69th NCAA/5th NSIC). The team's 181 hits along with 74 walks and 18 hit batters has created an on-base percentage of .389 (4th NSIC). Zackary Cain has been a steady influence on the lineup all season with a .453 batting average (6th NCAA), which leads all hitters in the Northern Sun and an on-base percentage of .476 (9th NSIC).
Tony Salato follows closely behind and is 10th in the conference in on-base percentage at .475 thanks to his .397 batting average and 9 walks.
NO REST FOR THE WEARY… The Peacock pitching staff has been stretched thin due to injury already this season. Two arms that have risen to the occasion and have been taking a bulk of the innings are starters
Duncan Snider and
Blake Thiesse. Snider is 1-2, but has an ERA of 2.67 in his 5 starts. The righty has climbed the hill for 27 innings and has struck out an impressive 38 batters while holding opponents to a .206 batting average. Thiesse has appeared in 6 games, but his last two starts have been solid posting a 1-0 record with a no-decision against Northern State University and a win over SMSU. The freshman has thrown 21 innings with an ERA of 3.86; he has struck out 9 and kept opponents to a .211 batting average.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS… Michael Borst leads the Beavers at the plate in hitting (.444), runs (23), hits (36) and RBI (30). Borst is one of 10 players nationally with 200+ career hits. Ryley Humrighouse is hitting .385 with 30 hits and 22 runs in debut season at Minot State. Jaymon Cervantes is 4-0 on the season with a 3.55 ERA in 25.1 innings. Jack Gamba has notched a 1.46 ERA in eight relief appearances.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES Offensively, the Golden Eagles are hitting .273 with 19 home runs and 121 RBI's on the season. The Golden Eagles are currently ninth in the conference in hitting and lead the conference in home runs. Six of those home runs have come from Reed Hjelle, five from Brock Reller and four from Scott Finberg. Travis Conryea leads the team with a .414 average, while Hjelle and Bobby Chu are hitting .338 and .300 respectively. On the hill, the Golden Eagles have gotten excellent starting pitching in the past month or so. Jayden Grover has led the pitching staff with a 3.52 ERA and a 3-2 record and is second on the team in innings pitched at 30.2. Zach Rustad has been great as the number one pitcher for the Golden Eagles.
