WINONA, Minn. - The Winona State University baseball team will host a second straight NSIC series at home when Upper Iowa University comes to town on Wednesday, April 28, taking on the Warriors in the cozy confines of Loughrey Field.
The doubleheader will resume a rivalry between Winona State (18-12 / 15-10 NSIC) and the Peacocks (12-20 / 10-15 NSIC) that has not seen the two teams play since April 24, 2019, when WSU swept UIU by 6-2 and 16-2 scorelines
Head coach
Kyle Poock and his team have won the last five meetings between the two programs, and the Warriors are 18-14 against Upper Iowa dating back to April of 2008.
This past weekend, Winona State put together some competitive baseball against Augustana University, one of the best teams in the conference. WSU took one of three contests from the Vikings, winning 5-4, and then dropping a pair to AU, 6-5 and 6-4, but remain in the playoff picture with several important games on the calendar.
On the mound:
In terms of wins and losses, UIU's Duncan Snider leads his team at 3-2 on the season. Jarrett Ramer, Blake Thiesse and Colin Lacey all have notched two wins on the season for the Peacocks, while Chris Webber has been the main man out of the bullpen, collecting four saves so far.
Winona State's Bailey Banaszysnki has earned four wins in eight appearances on the year, including a complete game. Both
Cameron Kramer and
Austin Savary have complete games under their belt as well, while
Mitchell Mueller has made the most of coming out of the bullpen, earning two wins and collecting two saves. Kramer has an impressive 29 strike outs compared to just seven walks in 34.1 innings pitched this year.
At the plate and on the run:
Upper Iowa features one Peacock approaching the .400 mark, with Jake Hilmer hitting .381 while also leading his team in at-bats, with 113. Hogan Penny has a .307 average and leads his team in RBI with 23. Ryan Hull has two UIU two home runs, while Samuel Grushkin has ten doubles and has the most Peacock stolen bases with eight.
Winona State has four Warriors with 20 RBI or more so far this season, as
Derek Baumgartner (24),
Sam Kohnle (23) have fared well with runners in scoring position, as have
Nick Herbst and
Tanner Williams, both 20.
Austin Savary is hitting .308 and has collected 14 walks, tied for third-most on the team. Against Augustana, both Williams and Kohnle surpassed the century mark in at bats; currently Kohnle is at 107, while Williams leads the team with 110. Herbst and
Jake Brill both have five stolen bases on the year.
Extra bases:
Winona State sits sixth currently in the NSIC standings at 15-10, with Minot State in striking distance at 15-19. The Beavers host St. Cloud State on Wednesday as well.
With 12 triples on the season so far, the Warriors lead the league in that statistical category, and have the most saves in the NSIC as a staff with eight.
Upper Iowa head coach Jeremy Ische has been the bench boss in Fayette for two seasons, after first serving as an assistant, beginning in 2016.
Winona State's
Kyle Poock is in his 19th year leading the WSU program, one of the longest tenured coaches in the league. Poock's record is 465-396-2 (.540) since taking over in 2003; only Southwest Minnesota State's Paul Blanchard has had a longer NSIC tenure.
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www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and
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About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words:
Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics.
