WATERLOO - An air of depression has lingered in and around Waterloo's Riverfront Stadium this spring.

This is, after all, the final season of Northern Iowa baseball. Sunny, 65-degree evenings at the ballpark, like Wednesday, will be noticeably absent next April.

"It'll be sad," said Bill Dodd, a former 1950s-era batboy for the college located in his native Cedar Falls. "If I were playing now, I would certainly wanna go out and do the best job I could. There's a lot of heritage with this baseball team."

Fortunately for Dodd and the 185 other fans at Riverfront Wednesday night, the host Panthers released a little angst while beating Iowa Wesleyan, 10-5.

"It felt good to get back on the winning side of things," noted leadoff man Deric Manrique, who provided a key, two-run double late.

UNI's Jeff Taliaferro unleashed a little anger in the home half of the first, launching a three-run homer out of the ballpark. The catcher ended the night 2-for-5 with a game-high five RBIs.

Wesleyan (25-17), an NAIA school located in Mount Pleasant, entered the night hitting .327 as a team. And the Tigers, who feature seven players from Puerto Rico, looked quite legitimate early in this contest, particularly when senior Fran Cruz tattooed a go-ahead double to the wall in the fifth. Wesleyan soon led, 5-3.

"With us throwing eight pitchers, I knew we'd have to score some runs," UNI coach Rick Heller said after the non-conference contest.

The hosts promptly restored order in the home half of the fifth, tacking five runs onto the scoreboard thanks to erratic Wesleyan pitching (Tiger hurlers produced five hit batsmen on the evening).

Manrique officially put the game out of reach in the seventh, as he belted a two-run double high off the fence, handing the hosts a decisive, 9-5 advantage.

"We just had to match their intensity," said Manrique, a senior from Sioux City. "Once we did that, we were fine."

UNI faces a key, three-game set with Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State this weekend. Heller hopes to see his club bow its collective back.

"I feel like the mood of the team's really good right now," said the veteran skipper. "I think having some closure (about UNI's program being dropped) has been a positive as far as them being able to focus on playing baseball."

Just three total home series remain for the 15-18 Panthers in this, their swan-song season.

The overall objective is simple:

"Enjoy playing baseball on a Division I level," suggested Dodd. "Go out strong."

Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com

Ia. Wesleyan ab r h bi N. Iowa ab r h bi

Zueck,rf 4 1 1 0 Manrique,cf 4 1 1 2

York,dh 3 2 1 0 Grgurich,2b 3 2 1 0

Cruz,2b 4 1 2 2 Douglas,rf 4 2 2 1

Olson,3b 4 0 1 2 Summers,1b 4 1 1 0

Diaz,3b 4 0 1 2 Taliaferro,c 5 2 2 5

Starkey,1b 3 0 0 0 Ege,ss 3 0 2 0

Morales,ss 3 1 1 1 Steichen,3b 3 1 1 1

Marquez,c 3 0 0 0 Dinizo,dh 3 0 1 0

Hernandez,ph 1 0 0 0 Ferguson,lf 3 1 0 1

Jimenez,lf 3 0 0 0 Rea,p 0 0 0 0

Barcelo,ph 1 0 0 0 Macek,p 0 0 0 0

Smith,cf 2 0 0 0 Airey,p 0 0 0 0

Klosterboer,ph 1 0 0 0 Worner,p 0 0 0 0

DeVoe,p 0 0 0 0 Gibbs,p 0 0 0 0

Garcia,p 0 0 0 0 delaTrrnte,p 0 0 0 0

Hernandez,p 0 0 0 0 Lopez,p 0 0 0 0

Barnes,p 0 0 0 0 O'Rear,p 0 0 0 0

Totals 32 5 6 5 Totals 32 10 11 10

Iowa Wesleyan 200 120 000 - 5 6 0

Northern Iowa 300 050 20x - 10 11 0

LOB - Wesleyan 4, UNI 11. 2B - York, Cruz; Manrique, Taliaferro. HR - Morales; Taliaferro. SB - Smith; Grgurich, Douglas, Ferguson. SH - Grgurich.

Pitching summary

Ia. Wesleyan IP H R ER BB SO

DeVoe 4.0 4 3 3 3 5

Garcia (L,1-2) 0.0 1 3 3 2 0

Hernandez 2.0 4 2 2 2 1

Barnes 2.0 2 2 2 1 0

N. Iowa IP H R ER BB SO Rea 1.0 3 2 2 0 2

Macek 1.0 0 0 0 1 0

Airey 2.0 1 1 1 0 1

Worner 0.2 2 2 2 1 1

Gibbs (W,1-0) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0

delaTorriente 2.1 0 0 0 0 3

Lopez 0.2 0 0 0 0 0

O'Rear 1.0 0 0 0 0 1

HBP - Starkey; Morales, Manrique, Steichen, Dinizo 2. WP - Rea.

T - 2:43. Att. - 186.