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The Upper Iowa baseball team was back at Robertson Woods Field in Fayette on Sunday for the second double header of the weekend with preseason NSIC-favorite Wayne State College. The Peacocks swept Saturday’s double header with victories by the scores of 10-6 and 5-4. While Saturday was overcast and lacked any wind, Sunday was sunny but very windy and both offensives took advantage. The Peacocks hit three homeruns to score four runs in game one, while the Wildcats racked up five homeruns to score eight runs in game two including four round-trippers in the second inning as the Wildcats scored seven. Upper Iowa was swept on Sunday (8-4, 17-7) to even the season series with Wayne State at 2-2.
Upper Iowa struck first with a run in the bottom of the second inning as Lucas Wilsing sent his first homerun of the season over the left center wall. Wayne State was quick to strike back and took a 3-1 lead after the next half inning. The Wildcats scored three runs, all of which were unearned as an error extended the inning and gave the visitors extra at bats. Around the error, the Wildcats did rap out three hits and left one on base. The game remained 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning when Erik Sorensen hit a bomb over the left center field wall to open the Peacock half; the homer was Sorensen’s first of the season. With one out, Dan Berg singled to right and Nick Fjelland followed with a towering homerun to left field. The homerun, Fjelland’s first, gave the Upper Iowa a 4-3 lead. Wayne State broke the game open in the sixth inning with five runs on four hits including the first batters getting hits. The last of these three hits was a three-run homer. After a strikeout and a walk, the Wildcats picked up their final two runs on the Wildcats’ second homerun of the inning. The Peacocks went quietly in their halves of the sixth and seventh innings and lost the game 8-4. Nick Schumacher (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Wildcats, while Peacock starter Greg Polt (0-1) took the loss despite a good effort. Polt threw five innings allowing five hits and five runs, only two of which were earned. Berg was the lone Peacock to have a multi-hit game as he collected two singles. In game two, the wind began to pick up and hard gusts came through the diamond every few minutes. Wayne State jumped on Upper Iowa in the top of the first scoring three runs on three hits to take an early 3-0 lead. The Peacocks quickly came back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the first and it looked like the teams would be in for a shootout. Berg led off the first with a double to get the home team started. After a fielder’s choice left runners on the corners with one out, Mitch Walser hit an infield single that loaded the bases for Nate Mendoza. Mendoza stepped up and delivered a triple off the left center field wall to clear the bases and tie the game at 3-3. T.J. Johnson drove the last run of the inning home with a single to give the Peacocks a 4-3 lead heading to the second inning. The Wildcats blew the game open in the second inning with seven runs on six hits including four homeruns off Upper Iowa pitchers and by the time the Peacock defense left the field the score was 10-4. Upper Iowa scored a run in the bottom of the second, fifth, and seventh innings, but could not hold the Wayne State offense off the board. The Wildcats put two runs on the board in the third and seventh innings and added one in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. In the end, Upper Iowa was defeated 17-7. Berg (2-4), Walser (3-4), and Mendoza (3-4) all had multi-hit games, but the rest of the teams combined to collect two hits in eighteen at bats. Andy Seabrooke took the loss (1-2), while John Snyder (2-0) got the win for Wildcats. The losses dropped Upper Iowa’s record to 9-8 on the season and 2-2 in the Northern Sun. The team will return to action at home on Wednesday, March 28, as they host the University of North Dakota. First pitch is set to be thrown at 1:00 p.m. |
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