April 11, 2006
IOWA CITY – In a wild game, the University of Iowa baseball team fell to the fourth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, 16-14 in 13 innings, Tuesday night at Banks Field. Iowa (14-14, 4-4) got down early, but made a ferocious late-inning comeback to tie things up.
Down three with two down in the bottom of the ninth, Hawkeye leadoff hitter Nate Price drew a walk and Ryan Gryzwa was hit by a pitch to bring the tying run to the plate in Travis Sweet. The sophomore from Cedar Rapids then blasted a three-run home run over the leftfield fence off preseason first team All-American closer Brett Jensen to tie things up and send the game to extra innings.
The homer was Sweet’s first of his collegiate career.
Nebraska looked poised to score in the top of the 11th, getting the bases loaded with one out and the heart of the order up. Hawkeye reliever Chase Stephens got out of the jam by getting Luke Gorsett to line into a double play at second.
Iowa then loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Ben Geelan’s deep fly ball out ended the threat.
Nebraska got a two-out, two-run single from Jake Opitz in the top of the 13th to take a 16-14 lead. Iowa was able to get a runner on in the bottom of the 13th.
Price finished 2-of-6 with three RBIs, while Jason White and Dusty Napoleon each had a pair of hits.
The Cornhuskers jumped out of the gates early, taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with a three-run home run off the bat of Brandon Buckman.
The Hawkeyes took advantage of some wild pitching from Nebraska in the bottom of the second, cutting the lead to 3-2 when Geelan scored on a bases loaded walk of White and L.J. Mims hit an RBI fielders choice to short.
Nebraska came storming back in the sixth, getting six runs off two singles, two doubles, a triple and a two-run homer to take a 9-2 lead.
Iowa clawed their way back into the game in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs. The Hawkeyes loaded the bases with one out for Price, who got the team’s first hit with a single up the middle that cut the lead to 9-3. Iowa added another on an RBI groundout from Gryzwa.
In the fifth, the Hawkeyes kept rolling when Mims hit a two-out, bases loaded double to cut the lead to two. Price then traded places with Mims by ripping a double to left to pull the Hawkeyes within a run at 9-8.
Nebraska took a 10-8 lead in the top of the sixth with a solo home run from Ryan Wehrle, but the Hawkeyes came right back with an RBI double from Napoleon.
Optiz re-gained the two-run lead for the Cornhuskers with a towering home run over the rightfield fence in the seventh, but the Hawkeyes came right back with an RBI groundout from Price in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the eighth, Nebraska pushed a single run across for the third-straight inning. The Cornhuskers loaded the bases with two out, but Hawkeye closer Tim Gudex pitched his way out of the jam with minimal damage. Once again, Iowa responded with a run on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Skyler Moss.
Nebraska added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth on a base hit off the glove of Gryzwa at second and a throwing error by Moss at first.
Iowa returns to action this weekend with a four-game home series against Minnesota. Friday’s game is set to start at 6 p.m.
GAME SUMMARYNo. 4 Nebraska 306 001 112 000 2 -- 16 28 2IOWA 020 241 113 000 0 -- 14 8 3
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