THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK BASEBALL… Upper Iowa heads to Hammond, Ind. to take the diamond against the Pride of Purdue University Northwest. The Peacocks and Pride come into the weekend with identical 1-3 records after their opening four-game runs last weekend. While Upper Iowa was playing at McKendree, Purdue Northwest hosted Northwood University. Originally, the teams were scheduled to play a three-game series, but snow accumulations predicted for Friday have forced the cancelation of Saturday's action. The teams will now get together for a double header on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m. with a seven-inning/nine-inning format.
LIVE OPTIONS... Both live stats and a pay-per-view webcast will be available for fans that can't make the trip into Indiana. Fans can access the live options through the links above or by going to UIUPeacocks.com/Live on game day.
CHECKING THE REARVIEW ON LAST WEEKEND… The Peacocks came up on the wrong end of their series with the Bearcats of McKendree University. Upper Iowa hit .281 with 38 hits including 19 extra base hits with 12 doubles and seven home runs. UIU scored 29 runs in their four games averaging 7.25 runs per game while slugging .526 and posting an on-base percentage of .349. The Peacocks also stole nine bases in 11 tries. The pitching staff put together an ERA of 7.45 over 29 innings with 23 strikeouts. UIU dropped the first game of the series 13-8 and the second 7-4, but bounced back with a dominating 16-4 win in game three. The Bearcats grabbed the series finale by a 6-1 count.
SAWYER'S SWINGING… Sophomore
Ethan Sawyer came out of the gates swinging to lead the Peacock offense with a .438 average thanks to seven hits including a pair of doubles and a home run. The Peacock second baseman slugged .750 and posted an on-base percentage of .438 for an OPS of 1.188. Sawyer scored four times and drove in four runs as well.
HALF-DONZEN HACKERS…. In addition to Sawyer's great start, six more Peacocks tallied at least four hits in the four games including
Ryan Hull (5),
Alex Greene (4),
Cael Luzum (4),
JJ Vargas (4),
Bryce Hall (4) and
Samuel Grushkin (4). Vargas holds the team lead in home runs with two and runs batted in with five, while Vargas and Hall are tied for the most runs scored with five apiece. Hull swiped four bags to lead the Peacocks on the base paths.
ROLLING WITH RAMER… Peacock starter
Jarrett Ramer had a solid first outing picking up a win in his first start of the season. The hard-throwing right hander threw five innings allowing four runs on five hits while striking out four batters. Ramer is tied with
Keaton Parker and
Kyle Hrncir for the team lead in strikeouts with four apiece.
SUCCESS ON THE HILL… Southpaw
Colin Lacey threw a team-high seven innings on the bump at McKendree, but suffered the loss in a 7-4 defeat in game two of the series. Lacey allowed six runs on five hits as he was plagued by three long balls from the Bearcats.
Austin Shingledecker threw two innings without allowing a run, while
Braden Albert and
Thane Meiners each picked up one inning of work without surrendering a run.
PEEKING AT THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE… After this weekend, Upper Iowa will play in eight more non-conference games if all goes as planned. The Peacocks will battle William Jewell College, Truman State University and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside over the first four weeks of the season. The last double header against a non-conference opponent is slated to be played in Fayette at Robertson Woods Field on Mar. 15 against William Jewell. The final non-conference game does not come until April 25, when the Peacocks head to Iowa City to take on Upper Iowa Hall of Famer Rick Heller and his University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO AT ROBERTSON WOODS FIELD… UIU's final run in the Northern Sun Conference begins on Mar. 18-19; the Peacocks will welcome the University of Mary to Fayette for a three-game series. Upper Iowa is scheduled to host Bemidji State University, St. Cloud State University, Minot State University, Wayne State College, Concordia University, St. Paul and Winona State University this season.
WHAT IS UIU PLAYING FOR… The Peacocks are determined to get back to the NSIC Baseball Tournament. Doing so would snap a 13-year streak that has seen the Peacocks fall short of the postseason opportunity since reaching the third round of the semifinals of the tournament in 2009. This year's conference tournament will take the top eight teams in the final NSIC Standings. The eight-team double elimination NSIC Tournament takes place May 10-13, hosted by UMary at Veterans Memorial/Municipal Ballparks, in Mandan and Bismarck, North Dakota.
