The Peacock baseball team split their double header on Monday to close out a four-game series at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo. Upper Iowa lost the opener 2-0, but bounced back with a 5-4 win in game two after rallying from a 4-2 deficit. After the split, UIU is now 2-2 on the season, while Rockhurst is 6-5.
 
In the opener, the Hawks scored a pair of unearned runs in the third inning on a pair of hits and four Peacock errors. The runs were the only scores in the game as the Hawks held on for a 2-0 win behind their starter Michael Laudando, who threw the complete game shutout. Laudando struck out 10 batters in the game.
 
Jarrett Ramer suffered the hard luck loss with three innings on the mound allowing the two unearned runs on three hits with four strikeouts in three innings. Brennan Sefrit (2.1 innings) and Cael Luzum (0.2 innings) closed out the game without allowing any more runs.
 
At the plate, Jerry Garcia kept up his solid start with two hits in three at bats and a stolen base.
 
In the second game, Ryan Hull hit a sacrifice fly to right in the third inning to break a scoreless tie when Nicholas Vite raced home.
 
The Hawks stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the third stringing four hits together in the frame.
 
Noah Gyldenvand singled up the middle to drive Garcia to the plate in the fourth as UIU pulled back within one run, but the Hawks answered to reset the margin to two runs, 4-2, in the bottom of the inning.
 
After a scoreless fifth inning, Luzum hit a single to right that scored Kaitano Torres from third and Ethan Sawyer followed with a sac fly to center that brought Gyldenvand to the plate to tie the game.
 
In the seventh, the Peacocks took the lead, 5-4, when Samuel Grushkin scored from second on a fly ball to center by Garcia that was caught but then misplayed to allow Grushkin to get two bases.
 
At the plate, A.J. Friedrich, Torres, and Luzum all picked up two hits in the game highlighted by triples off the bats of Torres and Vite.
 
After Blake Thiesse started and threw two innings, Nicholas Pica came on in relief for three innings and recorded five strikeouts. Both pitchers gave up a pair of runs in their time on the bump. Race Geesink scored the win throwing scoreless sixth and seventh innings with one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
 
The Peacocks will take on the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Friday, Mar. 4 before facing William Jewell College in a three-game series Mar. 5-7.