FAYETTE, Iowa - Upper Iowa baseball (6-7) takes on Parkside (Wis.) (8-4) this weekend in a four-game series. After a schedule change, the games have been pushed back a day to Saturday, March 7, Sunday, March 8, and Monday, March 9 at West Liberty High School in West Liberty, Iowa.
The Peacocks and Rangers will square off for a nine-inning game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The two teams will play a seven-inning doubleheader on Sunday at noon and wrap up with a nine-inning game on Monday at noon.
LIVE OPTIONS
Fans unable to attend the games this weekend can stay connected with a pair of live options available at UIUPeacocks.com/Live, featuring access to live stats and a pay-per-view webcast through GLVCSN. Fans can also refer to the links attached to this story for all live options.
In addition to GLVCSN.com, viewers can catch the Peacocks on the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile app, as well as the GLVCSN app on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.
LAST TIME OUT
The Peacocks took one game of a four-game series against McKendree this past weekend. Jared Hoodjer had a three-run home run weekend, smacking two in game one of the series. Brock Zimmer added a team-high six hits with two homers and a double. JJ Vargas also smacked two home runs with four total hits.
UIU won game two, 17-4. Zimmer and Cael Luzum each had three hits in the contest, with Zimmer hitting a double and a homer. Vargas, Hoodjer and Mason Gamboa each had a home run, while Zimmer, Vargas and Luzum led the team in RBIs with three each. Gabe Olson picked up the win after throwing three strikeouts in five innings.
Dylan Hesch had a solid day on the mound in game three, throwing five innings with a team-high four strikeouts. Carson Dupuis, Landon Boisen, Jaxon Valdez, Ethan Bombardier and Luzum all had three strikeouts in their appearances.
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
Zimmer leads the team with a .327 batting average, totaling a team-high 16 hits and four home runs. He has brought in 11 RBIs this season. He's currently tied for third in home runs in the GLVC this season.
Thane Meiners is batting .318 this season with 14 hits, a team-high five doubles and a home run. The senior is tied for sixth in the GLVC in doubles. Cael Luzum is batting .286 with four doubles, a triple and a home run.
Gabe Bombardier leads the team in RBIs with 17. He is slashing .255/.321/.451 with four doubles and two home runs. He ranks fifth in RBIs this season. Vargas has smacked three home runs and Hoodjer is up to four homers this season. Vargas also has 11 RBIs on 11 hits.
Olson leads the Peacocks on the mound with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings pitched with 15 strikeouts. He ranks fourth in the GLVC in ERA and is 16th in strikeouts. Hesch has added a 3.86 ERA in 14 innings pitched with 12 strikeouts. Valdez is third on the team in strikeouts with 10.
AROUND THE GLVC
Rockhurst (Mo.) (11-2) and Quincy (Ill.) (11-5) both have the most wins in the conference. Rockhurst recently picked up wins against Sioux Falls (S.D.) and West Virginia Wesleyan, while Quincy won three out of four against Davenport (Mich.).
Illinois Springfield (9-4) and Drury (Mo.) (8-3) have the third-most and fourth-most wins from the conference so far. Drury won three games against UIndy, Washburn and Missouri S&T at the Drury Invitational this past weekend. UIS competed in West Virginia, winning games against Lake Erie (Mich.) and Walsh (Ohio).
Drury's Jackson Crider was named GLVC Player of the Week after batting .583 with seven hits and eight RBIs in their three-win weekend. Keller Costello of Rockhurst was Pitcher of the Week after allowing only one hit in seven innings with 12 strikeouts.
ABOUT THE RANGERS
Parkside has faced two GLVC teams already, sweeping Lincoln (Mo.) (3-7) this past weekend and winning three of four against Truman State (Mo.) (5-7) the weekend prior. The Rangers scored 10 or more runs in all four games against Lincoln.
Graduate Benjamin Loyd leads the Rangers, slashing .357/.449/.476 with two doubles and a home run. Joe Mrowiec is batting .353 with three home runs and a team-high 12 RBIs. Josh Wicker is tied with him in RBIs with 12 and leads the team in doubles with five.
Parkside has six players hitting above .300, including Lody, Mrowiec and Wicker, along with Nolan Maciejewski, Nathan Hanel and Trace Kirchberg. Mrowiec has the highest slugging percentage on the team at .735, while Maciejewski has the highest on-base percentage at. 521.
On the mound, sophomore Keegan Waters has been the top guy with 14 innings pitched and a 3.86 ERA. Nathan Ciemny is tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 14 while pitching 13 innings with a 5.54 ERA. Senior Brennen Miller also has 14 strikeouts in 11.2 innings pitched with a 3.09 ERA.
Head coach Zac Charbonneau is in his fourth season with the Rangers. He has a 72-91 record entering this weekend at Parkside.
