The Peacock baseball team traveled north and nabbed two wins against UW-Parkside, defeating them 8-7 in game one and 13-7 in game two. Upper Iowa smacked four home runs in the second contest to aid in their six-run victory, two from
Jared Hoodjer and one from both
Gabe Bombardier and
Bryce Hall.
UIU improved to 3-1 on the season after their first weekend of competition. Their next action will take place in Emporia, Kansas as they test Emporia State next Monday and Tuesday, March 4-5.
Game one, UIU-8, UWP-7
During game one, Upper Iowa held an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, but allowed the home team to bring in three runs to make it a tight finish. In the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers trailed by one and had two runners on base with one out.
Steve Marhefke struck out a batter for out number two, and the defense only needed one more stop to close the inning. UWP attempted to steal second base, but was thrown out, giving the Peacocks their first win of the day.
A single from
Justin Baehler in the opening inning with the bases loaded put Upper Iowa on the board right away with the 2-0 lead as he brought two across home plate.
Parkside responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first and an additional run in the third, but this would be the last time they led for the remainder of the game.
The Peacocks opened up the scoring in the third inning as they tallied four runs on two hits, bringing their lead to 6-3.
Neither team added runs to the scoreboard in the 4th and 5th inning.
Connor Greuel ,
Bryce Hall and
Ethan Sawyer each recorded a single in the sixth inning to help aid Upper Iowa's last two runs of the game.
Brock Zimmer went 2-3 at the plate in game one, while Baehler posted three RBI's.
Abraham Sanchez (1-0) earned the win on the mound for the visitors, pitching four innings and giving up two earned runs while striking out four batters.
Game two, UIU-13, UWP-7
Upper Iowa kept the bats hot in game two as they recorded 14 hits and 13 runs in comparison to the Rangers' seven runs on nine hits.
The score was tied up at one apiece going into the third inning before the Peacocks started collecting a handful of runs each inning to slowly build on their lead.
Bombardier tattooed a ball over the left center fence to score two in the third inning, while Hoodjer replicated the long bomb in the fourth inning, contributing another two runs. Upper Iowa put one up one more in the fifth inning before their final two home runs of the game came in the sixth, bringing their advantage to 11-1.
The Rangers showed resilience as they avoided the ten-run rule by bringing two across the plate in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 11-3.
The Peacocks saw their last two runs of the game in the seventh inning on a single to right field from
Gunnar Wicklund.
UWP brought around four more runs in their remaining at bats, but the UIU defense was able to cut them off before they got any closer to catching their lead, securing the 13-7 victory.
Gabe Olsen (1-0) grabbed the win on the bump for the Peacocks. He threw four innings and allowed three hits and two earned runs while striking out five.
Hall, Wicklund and Hoodjer each tallied three hits in the second outing. Hoodjer also brought in a game-high of five RBI's.
