THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK BASEBALL… Upper Iowa is on the road for their final double header away from Fayette on Tuesday as they line up against the Golden Bears of Concordia University, St. Paul in the Twin Cities. The two games are scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. The Peacocks will then return to Robertson Woods Field for the regular season's final games. UIU will host the Wildcats of Wayne State College in a three-game series with two games slated to begin at 12 p.m. on Friday and the season finale at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Fans that can't make it to St. Paul, Minn. or Fayette for the games can follow along with a pair of live options provided by the CSP and UIU Sports Communication offices. Live stats and a webcast will be provided for all five games. Fans can follow the links above or visit UIUPeacocks.com/Live on gameday to access the live options.
 
DIGITAL GAMEDAY PROGRAM… Fans can access an interactive, digital gameday program for the final series against Wayne State at any time at UIUPeacocks.com/Programs. The digital programs are available to fans both in Fayette and those at home watching or following the action. QR Codes will be located around the facility to scan with your cell phone's camera that will link you directly to that series' specific digital gameday program.
 
SENIOR SENDOFF… Upper Iowa will be recognizing 14 seniors on Friday prior to game two against the Wildcats. The group of 14 includes Braden Albert, Drew Callon, Hunter Destival, Gunnar Foegen, AJ Friedrich, Jerry Garcia, Race Geesink, Sam Grushkin, Matt Hall, Jason Katz, Nicholas Pica, Tanner Stein, Blake Thiesse, and Casey Zarr.
 
JUST 'GRUSHKIN' IT… Peacock third baseman Samuel Grushkin got off to a slow start, but the third-year player from Mazon, Ill. has been on a tear since tallying four hits in game two against the University of Minnesota Crookston. Since that point, Grushkin has hit .348 with 23 hits including four doubles, a triple and seven home runs for a slugging percentage of .879. He has driven in 23 runs and scored 19 times during the 20-game stretch.
 
LOOKING BACK AT LAST WEEK… Upper Iowa took on the top two teams in the Northern Sun and two of the best teams in the nation in No. 22 Augustana University and No. 16 Minnesota State. While the Peacocks went 0-5 during the week, several Peacocks provided some highlights and rose to the occasion of playing the NSIC's best. Grushkin hit .412 with seven hits including two doubles and two homeruns, while Cael Luzum (.357), Ethan Sawyer (.313) and Nicolas Vite (.294) provided some pop at the plate as well. Jerry Garcia also returned from injury to grab three hits in Monday's double header at Minnesota State.
 
HOME COOKING… The Peacocks are 5-6 at Robertson Woods Field this season and are hitting .306 as a team, while holding their opponents to a .221 batting average. UIU has outscored their guests 80-47 in the 11 games in Fayette with the pitching staff recording a 3.03 ERA on the mound at Robbie Woods. Colin Lacey is 2-0 at home with a 0.00 ERA in 17.2 innings and 23 strikeouts, while four other Peacocks, Nicholas Pica (11.1 IP), Brennan Sefrit, Braden Albert and Brady Stevens, have yet to allow an earned run. Jason Katz has thrown 10.1 innings at home and allowed just one run. At the plate, Luzum is extremely comfortable at home with a .471 batting average, while Tanner Stein (.379, 9 runs, 5 RBI), Grushkin (.378, 20 RBI, 14 runs), Kainoa Torres (.375, 9 runs, 2 RBI), Ryan Hull (.295, 11 runs, 10 RBI) and Garcia (.290, 6 runs, 5 RBI) have all come up big.

CLOSING THE DEAL… The Peacocks are now 3-13 in games decided by two runs or less this season including an 0-7 mark in two-run decisions. The 3-6 record in one-run games includes wins over Rockhurst University (5-4), the University of Mary (6-5) and Sioux Falls (4-3). UIU has lost one-run contests at the University of Missouri-St Louis (4-3), at William Jewell College (7-6), at home to Northern State University (3-2), at St. Cloud State University (3-2) and on Tuesday at home to Sioux Falls (7-6) and Sunday at home to Winona State (5-4).
  
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS… Concordia-St. Paul enters the week with a 17-23 record overall and an 11-17 mark in NSIC games. The Golden Bears are in 11th place in the conference standings, but are coming off a pair of wins at Wayne State on Sunday. CSP is hitting .251 and slugging .360 as a team with 83 extra-base hits including 57 doubles and 22 home runs. Jarod Wandersee is leading the team with a .339 batting average and a .477 slugging percentage. On the mound, the Golden Bears have a staff ERA of 6.86 with 238 strikeouts in 304.1 innings. Luke DeGrammont has thrown 56.1 innings and has a 4-3 record with a team-low 3.51 ERA with a team-high 50 strikeouts.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS… Wayne State comes into the week at 17-23 overall and 11-15 in the conference. The Wildcats sit in 10th place just percentage points ahead of the Golden Bears after dropping a pair of games at home to CSP. WSC hosts Minnesota State on Tuesday in Wayne, Neb. before coming to Fayette for the final games of the season. Wayne State is hitting .267 and slugging .411 this season with 114 extra-base hits including 74 doubles, 12 triples and 28 long balls. Andrew Hanson and Colin Lynam lead the offense with .338 and .331 batting averages and both are slugging over .500. Hanson has 22 singles and 22 extra-base hits including 12 doubles, six triples and four homers, while Lynam has a team-high 48 hits including 10 doubles, a pair of triples and four home runs. As a team, the Wildcats have registered an ERA of 6.36 with 259 strikeouts in 320 innings and opponents are hitting .303 against Wayne State. Andrew Staebell is the ace of the staff with a 4-1 record, a 2.64 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 49.1 innings.