April 19, 2006
IOWA CITY — Iowa plated runs in each of the first six innings en route to a 13-8 triumph over North Dakota State Wednesday afternoon at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes had four players record multiple hits in today’s victory.
Iowa was led by Skyler Moss, who entered the game hitting .093. The senior raised his average 45 points, going 3-for-4, with five RBI and three runs scored. Jason White was 3-for-5, with one RBI and two runs and Kevin Hoef went 2-for-2. Kody McManis, who entered today hitless in nine games, was 3-for-5, with one RBI and three runs.
North Dakota State (4-27) had a hot start with its first four batters reaching base and scoring two first inning runs on an RBI triple and single to grab an early 2-0 advantage. Iowa answered with two runs on one hit and a Bison error in the bottom half of the first to tie the game, 2-2.
Iowa (16-18) added four runs in the second on McManis and Moss RBI singles and a two-run RBI double by Hoef to claim a 6-2 lead. The Hawkeyes collected four hits in the four-run fourth. The Bison closed their deficit to two, 6-4, with another two-run inning in the top of the third.
Moss scored on an RBI single to right field by White to stretch the Hawkeyes’ lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the third. The Bison sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning and plated four runs on four hits and a Hawkeye error to claim an 8-7 lead.
Moss recorded his second hit of the game in the fourth when he clubbed a two-out three-run homerun to right field, his first round tripper of the year. The homerun gave Iowa a 10-8 lead and was the third lead change in the first four innings. The Hawkeyes added single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings to build its advantage to 13-8.
After allowing eight runs in the first four innings, Iowa pitchers settled down and combined to silence North Dakota State’s offense and yielded no runs the last five innings. Justin Toole relieved starter David Conroy in the fourth inning to post the victory, his first of the year. Toole yielded no runs and scattered three hits and struck out two in two and two thirds innings. Hawkeye closer Tim Gudex sat down the Bison 1-2-3 in the ninth to secure the win.
Iowa returns to action this weekend when it travels to Illinois for a four-game series starting Friday in Champaign, IL.
GAME SUMMARYNorth Dakota State 202 400 000 -- 8 12 2Iowa 241 311 01x -- 13 15 1WP - Toole (1-0)LP - Bowar (0-1)