April 23, 2005
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa baseball team won two of three games over Penn State played today in cold and windy conditions at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes won the first game 6-5 in the carry over game from Friday night before splitting the scheduled doubleheader. The Nittany Lions rallied to win the first contest 5-4, while the Hawkeye bats exploded for a 13-3 triumph in the last game. Iowa’s 13 runs are the most it has scored in a seven inning game this season.
Iowa won the first game of the four-game series, 6-5, in a contest that was continued from yesterday. The game was postponed due to inclement weather in the top of the seventh inning. Penn State tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the eighth, but the Hawkeyes regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a Justin Petty pinch-hit RBI double the right field line. Tim Gudex pitched the final two innings and collected his sixth victory of the season. Nate Yoho led the Hawkeyes offensively, going 2-4 with two RBI.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first game of the doubleheader as Nate Price scored on an Andy Lytle RBI groundout in the bottom of the first. Iowa added two runs in the fourth inning to go up 3-0. Dusty Napoleon walked to lead off the inning and scored on an RBI triple off the bat of Andy Cox. Designated hitter Travis Sweet followed with a bunt single that scored Cox. Penn State chipped away at Iowa’s lead, scoring two runs in the fifth to cut the Hawkeye advantage to 3-2. Iowa answered in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Yoho, but Penn State scored three unanswered runs in the sixth inning to win the game 5-4. Iowa reliever Kevin Sunderman took the loss, pitching one inning and giving up three hits and two runs.
Penn State got on the board first in the final game of the afternoon, scoring one run in the second inning to take a 1-0 advantage. Iowa exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the third inning, scoring all seven with two outs. The Hawkeyes sent 22 batters to the plate in the third and fourth innings, scoring a combined 12 runs, including five in the bottom of the fourth on five singles and one Nittany Lion error. Iowa pounded out 12 hits in the game, with eight Hawkeyes registering at least one-hit. Andy Cox was 3-4 with three RBI, Jesse Brownell went 2-4 with two RBI, while Price was 2-3 with two RBI.
Iowa improves to 17-17 overall and 10-5 in Big Ten play, while Penn State falls to 22-14 overall and 8-7 in league play. The series finale takes place tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. at Duane Banks Field. Tickets are only $1 for the Hawkeyes’ promotion of “Pack The Park”.
GAME ONE SUMMARYPenn State 400 000 010 - 5 11 2Iowa 201 002 01x - 6 10 1
WP: Gudex (6-3)LP: Ogrodnik (1-1)
GAME TWO SUMMARYPenn State 000 023 0 - 5 11 1Iowa 100 210 0 - 4 6 0
WP: Carroll (1-0)LP: Sunderman (2-2)
GAME THREE SUMMARYPenn State 010 011 0 - 3 5 3Iowa 007 510 x - 13 12 1
WP: Sweet (1-2)LP: Cline (3-2)