THIS WEEK IN PEACOCKS BASEBALL… Upper Iowa will begin the week's slate with a doubleheader at home versus the Bemidji State University Beavers on Tuesday, Mar. 30. First pitches are set for 1:30 and 3:30. Attendance is welcomed, but for those who can't attend, an audio broadcast and live stats are available at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE. Gameday programs have gone digital and can be accessed at UIUPeacocks.com/Programs. UIU's weekend series will take place at the University of Minnesota Duluth. A pair of doubleheaders are scheduled for Friday, Apr. 2 and Saturday, Apr. 3. Start times on day one are slated for 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. while first pitches come at 12 and 2 p.m. on Saturday. The final game of the series will count as a non-conference bout. Fans can follow along with the road series with live stats produced by Duluth which can be found at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE.
GOLDEN EAGLES STAY GOLDEN… The University of Minnesota Crookston remained undefeated following their weekend sweep of Upper Iowa. The Peacocks did not go down without a fight, however. Sunday saw a narrow 1-0 loss prior to 6-1 defeat. On Monday, UIU fell in a high-scoring affair, 10-6. All six of the Peacocks' runs came in the bottom of the fifth which claimed the lead 6-5 before UMC battled back with five unanswered runs. The Peacocks are just the second team to hold the Crookston offense to under 10 runs in a game, a feat UIU accomplished twice during the series.
"DUNCAN DONUTS"... Duncan Snider posted a donut in the run column in Saturday afternoon's matchup with Minnesota Crookston. The senior held the NSIC's highest-scoring offense (140 runs through 12 games) scoreless through six innings of work allowing just one hit and four walks while striking out four Golden Eagles. Snider's ERA sits at 2.60 through three games, the best of any Peacock starter. The Muscatine, Iowa native also leads the team with 15 strikeouts and is tied for the lead with one win.
LEADERS IN THE LINEUP… Jake Hilmer and Adrian Trujillo were the lone two Peacocks to register four or more hits in UIU's last four contests. Hilmer had five, Trujillo had four while Ryan Hull, Alex Greene, and Noah Gyldenvand registered two hits apiece. In addition to five base knocks, Hilmer scored three times in the series. Trujillo on the defensive side of the ball picked off a pair of runners from behind the dish. Greene picked up a pair of RBI in the series finale versus UMC while Hull pummeled his second home run of the season. Gyldenvand scored once and drove in a run during the week.
TAKE YOUR BASE… The Peacocks saw a plethora of free passes in their last four matchups. Greene had two walks in the Peacocks lone matchup versus Minot State University while Hogan Penny and Samuel Grushkin each picked up an RBI without swinging their bats against the Beavers. Penny scored first after taking ball four, Grushkin followed forcing Hilmer home as he was hit by a pitch. The two scores came in the sixth inning and allowed UIU to get within one run of Minot but neither team would score from that point forward resulting in the 3-2 loss. Kyle Routhieaux registered an impressive four free passes on Monday, the right fielder was hit-by-a-pitch twice and walked on two occasions. Grushkin walked three times in the series finale with UMC as well.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS… Upper Iowa holds the career series 13-9. Bemidji State has a 2-11 mark on the season, 1-7 in NSIC action. Bemidji recently picked up its first conference win 18-11 over the University of Sioux Falls before dropping a pair of games to the Cougars. Parker Borg is the Beavers' best contact hitter. The junior is hitting .313 (10-32) through 10 starts and has scored five times. Bemidji's big bat is Tom Keohen. The sophomore has driven in 13 runs and collected 11 hits, five of which have gone for extra bases. Kenny Morris is BSU's workhorse having gone a team-high 14.2 innings with a team-low ERA of 5.52. As a team, Bemidji's ERA sits at 13.31 while their opponents have registered a 3.67 mark.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS… Duluth holds the career series 22-7 although Upper Iowa has claimed a win in each of the team's last two meetings. The Bulldogs are 3-8 overall, 1-7 in conference. Duluth started the season with a two-game sweep of Northern State University but has struggled since winning one out of four versus Concordia University-St. Paul before being swept by Minnesota State University Mankato and Winona State University. Tim Pokornowski leads the Bulldogs with a red hot .422 (14-33) batting average. Pokornowski has four extra-base hits on the year, two home runs and two doubles en route to seven RBI and four runs scored. Henry George and Brandt Kolpack are the other two Bulldogs who are batting over .300 and have started at least eight games. Leading the rotation for UMD is Russ Tanner who possesses a 0.93 ERA. Tanner has fanned 14 over 9.2 innings of work over two starts but has yet to reach a decision. Liam Blaschko is the Bulldogs' go-to reliever. In four appearances, Blaschko has allowed one earned run on eight hits and a walk while setting down seven on strikes. As a unit, Duluth is batting .224 while their opponents are hitting .278.
