April 22, 2008
IOWA CITY — The Iowa baseball team was defeated Tuesday evening, 13-5, by UW-Milwaukee (UWM) at Duane Banks Field. In the Iowa loss, the Hawkeyes scored one run in five different innings and took advantage of six walks.
Senior Joe Singer made his second career start as a Hawkeye and got the loss. He allowed five runs on six hits in four innings. Other pitchers in the Hawkeye bullpen were junior Matt Douglas, senior David Conroy, freshman Jeff Pacha and freshman Kevin Lee.
Junior Wes Freie led the Iowa offensive effort, going 3-for-5 with two RBI, a double and a run. Junior Justin Toole continued to swing the bat well going 2-for-4 with an RBI, run and stolen base. Junior Kody McManis went 1-for-1 with a run and walk.
“Unfortunately, we created their big innings tonight,” said Head Coach Jack Dahm. “Joe did a nice job for us tonight, but our fundamentals let us down, defensively. Offensively, we tried to do too much with runners in scoring position.”
The Hawkeyes scored first, plating one run in the bottom of the second to take an early 1-0 lead. Freie started off things with a single to center, followed by a freshman Kurtis Muller hit-by-pitch to put two on for junior T.J. Cataldo. Cataldo reached base on an error, after laying down a sac bunt to load the bases. One out later, freshman Trevor Willis drew an RBI walk to put Iowa on the board. With the bases loaded, the Panthers got a double-play ball to get out of the jam. For the game, Iowa grounded into three double plays.
UWM (13-24) countered in the third, to tie it up 1-1. Nick Wischer hit in the lone run with a sac fly to right field.
Iowa (14-22) took back the lead in the bottom of the third, 2-1. Freshman Zach McCool got the Hawkeye bats going with his second double of the season. Two-outs later, Freie delivered with an RBI single to left.
The Panthers tallied fourth runs in the fourth to make it, 5-2. The Panthers scored their four runs, on four hits and only left one Panther on base. UWM kept at it in the fifth, to add to its lead and make it an 8-2 ballgame. The inning included three Panther hits including an RBI-double, single and sacrifice bunt.
The Hawkeyes chipped away at the Panther lead, plating one in the fifth. Toole got a two-out hit to start the Hawkeye effort, and stole second base. Freie took advantage with an RBI double down the left field line. UWM added another insurance run in the top of the sixth to make it 9-3. The Black and Gold kept at it in the seventh, to trail it 9-4. Senior Matt Mossey got a leadoff single to center and advanced to second on a pass ball. He moved over to third on a ground ball. Toole came through with a one-out single to score Mossey.
Iowa closed within four runs (9-5) in the bottom of the fifth. Iowa took advantage of three two-out walks and a sophomore Nick Muhlenbruch pinch-hit single to bring in a run. UWM put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth scoring four unearned runs.
“We want to play well tomorrow at Northern Iowa and get a win,” said Dahm. “It will be an exciting environment up there.”
Iowa will take on Northern Iowa tomorrow at Riverfront Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
UW-Milwaukee 001 431 004 -- 13 18 2
Iowa 011 010 110 -- 5 10 1
WP - Franzke (3-0)
LP - Singer (0-1)