Upper Iowa opened their 2022 baseball season on Sunday in Kansas City when they took to the diamond against Rockhurst University in a non-conference double header. The Peacocks split the two games with a 6-0 win in game one and 4-1 loss in game two. While UIU is now 1-1, the Hawks are now 5-4 on the season.
In game one,
Colin Lacey and
Sam Marhefke combined for a shutout win in Upper Iowa's opener. Lacey threw five innings scattering six hits while striking out five, and Marhefke worked the final two innings allowing just one hit to the Hawks and registering one strikeout.
Upper Iowa scratched the scoreboard first in the second inning when
Ethan Sawyer singled through the left side to score both
Tanner Stein and
Jerry Garcia. The Peacocks added a run in the third when
Ryan Hull raced home on a ground out off the bat of A.J. Friedrich to push their lead to 3-0.
Noah Gyldenvand drove in Garcia in the fourth with a RBI-single and UIU added runs in the sixth and seventh innings on sacrifice fly balls by Stein and Friedrich.
Garcia had two of UIU's six hits, while Sawyer and Friedrich each recorded a pair of runs batted in.
In the second game, the Peacocks got a run in the top of the first thanks to a hit and a pair of errors by the Hawks. The lead held up until the third inning when Cole Wagner hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Hawks scored three runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batter. The three runs spoiled what had been a good outing by
Keaton Parker on the mound.
Parker threw five innings but suffered the loss with three runs allowed on just two hits while striking out six Hawk batters.
Ethan Kulpinski got the win for Rockhurst after six innings of work; he allowed one run on four hits and a pair of walks. Thomas Jones threw a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save.
Friedrich had two of the team's four hits, while Sawyer and Garcia accounted for the other two hits for the Peacocks.
Upper Iowa and Rockhurst will get back on the field tomorrow for another double header beginning at 1 p.m.
