The Parkside baseball team got their two first wins of the year Saturday afternoon, taking down Upper Iowa in back-to-back games. Senior Aaron Cusimano got the win in game one, and sophomore Matt Helwig did the same in game two.
 
GAME 1: Parkside 13, Upper Iowa 5
The Rangers opened the scoring in the second inning on a home run from junior Dominic Esposito that gave them a 2-0 lead. Before the inning ended, they tacked on another when graduate student Casey Oliver tripled to right center and scored freshman Bryce Brogni.
 
The Green & White blew the game open in the third inning with a seven-run, six-hit inning highlighted by two, two RBI doubles from Noah Tyrell and Austin Emanuel that put the Rangers up 10-0 .

Upper Iowa got their first run of the day in the third inning, courtesy of a solo home run. Parkside responded in the fifth with their second homer of the game, this time a three-run shot from junior Hunter Weddel. The Peacocks put across a few late inning runs, but didn't come close to threatening the outcome.
 
Weddel led the offense and went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Brogni also had three hits (3-for-4) and scored two runs. Esposito hit the other Ranger home run, and also had three RBI. Cusimano got the win for Parkside in a complete-game effort. His full line was 7.0 IP, five strikeouts, eight hits, four walks, and five earned runs.
 
GAME 2: Parkside 5, Upper Iowa 2
Helwig was on the bump to start in game two, and opened the game by throwing three scoreless frames. Parkside used those innings to grab and build a lead starting in the first. Their first run came on an RBI double from Emanuel, that scored junior Garrett LaBreche. The Rangers doubled their lead on a second inning leadoff home run from redshirt-junior Nicholas Eisenmenger. Esposito then hit his second home run of the day to give the visitors a 4-0 lead in the third inning. The Peacocks first got on the board in the fourth inning on the games third home run, to bring the game to 4-1.
 
Pitching took over in the middle of the game, and neither team scored in the fifth or sixth innings. Upper Iowa cut the lead to 4-2 in the seventh inning on their second solo home run of the game. The Rangers responded and got the lead back up to three on an RBI single from Emanuel, his fourth hit of the game. Senior Ricky West pitched the final three innings for Parkside, yielding only one run and getting the first save for the Rangers on the year.
 
Esposito and Eisenmenger went deep, but Emanuel also led the way going 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Weddel and LaBreche also had hits in game two. Helwig put in a strong performance in his second start of the year, striking out eight in six innings, while giving up only four hits and one earned run.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Green & White will look to take two more games from Upper Iowa tomorrow at Noon & 2 p.m. Following, the team will head to Hillsdale, Mich. for some midweek action on Wednesday, March 11 at Noon & 2 p.m.