Upper Iowa completed a three-game sweep of Winona State University on Sunday with a second-consecutive, extra-inning win. The Peacocks edged the Warriors 8-7 in the series finale to close out Senior Weekend with a their first three-game sweep of the season. Prior to this weekend, WSU had won nine straight against UIU dating back to April 2017. With the victory, Upper Iowa improves to 18-26 on the season and 14-18 in the NSIC, while Winona State drops to 20-24 overall and 16-13 in the conference.
With the score tied 7-7, the Peacocks came to the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning. After closing out the top of the frame with a great defensive play at third,
Samuel Grushkin singled through the left side and moved to second base on a wild pitch to open the home team's half-inning. After
Justin Baehler walked, a fly ball to center allowed Grushkin to move to third.
Dylan McVeigh hit a hard grounder to first and the Warriors threw home but the ball came in high and didn't stick in the catcher's glove as Grushkin was sliding across the plate for the winning run.
The Peacocks sent five pitchers to the mound on Sunday starting with senior
Colin Lacey, who threw two innings allowing an unearned run on one hit and a pair of walks.
Isaiah Maes threw three scoreless innings allowing three hits with two strikeouts.
Thane Meiners and
Gabe Olson combined to get the Peacocks through the sixth inning, but the Warriors scored three runs in the frame.
Kyle Hrncir (4-5) scored the victory after throwing the final four innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out five batters.
Cole Stanchina (1-1) took the loss throwing the final two innings and allowing the winning run in the 10th. Chandler Schmidt started and threw four innings allowing three runs, one earned on five hits, while Cody Hundorf gave up three runs and Davis Zeutzius surrendered one run.
Grushkin led the offense with four of the team's 11 hits including a triple down the right field line.
Brock Zimmer registered two hits, while
Ethan Sawyer was one of five Peacocks that added a hit and pushed in two baserunners with a pair of RBIs.
Upper Iowa got started in the bottom of the first when
Cael Luzum and Zimmer singled in back-to-back at bats and Sawyer hit a sac bunt to plate Luzum.
Winona State tied the game with an unearned run in the second inning on a sac fly after a throwing error at shortstop allowed the first hitter to reach.
The Peacocks broke up the 1-1 tie in the fourth inning taking advantage of a leadoff walk and three Warrior errors to score a pair of runs. Hrncir and Hull picked up RBIs on ground balls in the inning.
Winona State came up with three runs on two hits and two walks and a pair of wild pitches in the sixth inning to move ahead 4-3. Sean Menzel picked up the only RBI on a ground out in the inning.
Upper Iowa didn't not the Warrior lead last long. In the bottom of the sixth, Luzum and Zimmer reached with one out thanks to a hit batter and walk and back-to-back RBI singles to left by Sawyer and Grushkin moved the home team back in front. After a ground out, both
Bryce Hall and
Tanner Stein were hit by pitches to force another run across as UIU took a 6-4 lead.
After WSU cut the gap to one run in the eighth inning, Grushkin hit his triple on a ball that raced toward the right field line aided by a heavy gust of wind with no outs. Baehler got Grushkin home to restore the two-run advantage with a sacrifice fly to right center.
In the top of the ninth, Carter Brinkman pinch hit for the Warriors with runners on second and third and one out to tie the game, 7-7. Hrncir got the final two outs of the inning on a grounder and strike out.
Winona State threatened to take the lead in the top of the 10th. With one out, a hit batter and a single to center field put runners on first and second. The Warriors moved to runners on the corners as UIU got the second out of the inning at second base. Hrncir induced a ground ball behind the bag at third base that Grushkin gloved on the foul line and then fired a laser to first to get the runner and end the threat prior to the Peacocks winning in the bottom of the inning.
Upper Iowa has one series left in the Northern Sun Conference regular season as they continue to hunt down one of the postseason spots that go to the top eight teams in the final standings. The Peacocks travel to Aberdeen, S.D. to battle the Wolves of Northern State University with a double header on Friday, May 5 and a single game on Saturday, May 6.
The Peacocks should know what they need to do over the weekend after the mid-week games in the NSIC. UIU currently sits in 10th place with a .438 winning percentage in the conference. Upper Iowa could finish as high as sixth place in the league depending how the final week's games are decided in the NSIC. UIU's current 14 NSIC wins are the most for the team since the team won 15 in 2017 and 2018 and 16 in 2012.
