Upper Iowa earned a doubleheader split against Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon at Robertson Woods Field, winning the opener 4-1 before dropping the second game 8-6. The Peacocks moved to 20-25 and 14-17 in the GLVC after the conclusion of the contests. 

Game One: UIU-4, S&T-1
After a scoreless first inning, UIU jumped on the board in the bottom of the second. Thane Meiners opened the frame with a double to right field and later scored on a double to left field by Paul Safranski. A wild pitch brought home another run, giving the Peacocks a 2-0 lead.

Missouri S&T trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the third inning on an RBI single, but Upper Iowa's pitchers clamped down from there. William Kiburis (4-0) worked five strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits with four strikeouts to earn the win. Gabe Olson entered in relief and tossed two perfect innings, striking out two to notch his second save of the season.

Upper Iowa extended its lead in the fifth. Ethan Sawyer singled, and Bryce Hall followed with a double, setting the stage for another run-scoring wild pitch. Brock Zimmer added a sacrifice fly to bring home Hall, pushing the Peacocks' lead to 4-1.

Sawyer and Hall each posted multi-hit games to lead the Peacock offense, combining for four of UIU's six hits. Defensively, UIU played a clean game with no errors.


Game Two: S&T-8, UIU-6
In game two, Missouri S&T struck first with a run in the opening frame, but UIU quickly answered in the bottom half. Ethan Sawyer singled and Bryce Hall drew a walk to set the table. After Sawyer moved to third and Hall stole second, Thane Meiners came through with a two-RBI single to right, putting the Peacocks ahead 2-1.

After a quiet second inning, the Miners took control in the third, scoring three runs and pulling ahead 4-2.

Sawyer reached the base paths in the bottom of the third with another single, and Hall followed by crushing a two-run home run to left field to tie the game at 4-4.

Missouri S&T answered immediately in the fourth, reclaiming the lead with two more runs. The Miners added another unearned run in the fifth, taking advantage of a Peacock throwing error, leading 7-4
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Upper Iowa battled back in the sixth. Meiners reached on an error, and Jared Grams singled up the middle. After Missouri S&T made a pitching change, Jared Hoodjer delivered an RBI single, and JJ Vargas followed with an RBI double to the gap to make it 7-6. The Peacocks had a runner on third with nobody out, but couldn't push across the tying run.

Missouri S&T added an insurance run in the seventh on a wild pitch, going ahead 8-6.

In the bottom of the seventh, Gunnar Wicklund doubled to lead off and moved to third on a wild pitch, but Missouri S&T worked out of trouble with three straight outs to seal the game.

Sawyer finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the Peacocks. Jared Hoodjer added two hits and an RBI. On the mound, Isaiah Maes started and worked three innings before giving way to Hunter Irons, who was tagged with the loss in relief.

The two teams will conclude their weekend series with a single nine-inning game on Sunday with a 12 p.m. start time at Robertson Woods Field.