April 18, 2009
EVANSTON, IL — The Iowa baseball team ended a nine-game skid with a win against Northwestern this afternoon at Rocky Miller Park, 10-1. In the win, Iowa’s offense took an early first inning lead and never looked back. Iowa starter, Jarred Hippen, tossed a solid seven innings.
“We played a complete game today,” Head Coach Jack Dahm said. “We took advantage of our opportunities and we got a great game from Jarred [Hippen] on the mound today. We got the monkey off our back and hopefully we can learn from this win today and continue to improve.”
Hippen picked up a win, allowing only one run on four hits and striking out four. The Iowa bullpen featured Nick Erdman and Kevin Lee. In two innings, they allowed only one Wildcat hit.
Iowa’s (12-22, 3-8) offense scattered 17 hits, one shy of its conference season-high (18 at Purdue). Nine Hawkeyes recorded a hit, six had multi-hit games and five recorded two RBI. Ryan Durant extended his hit streak to 11 games and went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Durant has gone 4-for-6 this weekend in the cleanup spot. Nick Brown went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Justin Toole had a solid day going 4-for-6 with two RBI. Mike McQuillan went 3-for-4 with two RBI.
Iowa took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. With one out, Kevin Hoef drew a walk and later scored on a Brown triple. Durant took advantage of Brown on third, and drove him in on a sacrifice fly to right.
The Wildcats (10-24, 2-8) plated one to cut down the Black and Gold lead and make it a 2-1 game. Trevor Stevens picked up the lone Northwestern RBI with a sacrifice fly.
The Hawkeyes took command of the game in the fourth, scoring six after sending 12 batters to the plate for an 8-1 lead. Iowa took advantage of three walks and two hit-by-pitches. The inning featured a Toole double to left field to pick up two RBI. Iowa added insurance runs in the sixth, scoring two on three hits for a 10-1 final. The inning featured a McQuillan RBI single.
The Hawkeyes will take on Northwestern tomorrow at Rocky Miller Park in the rubber match of the three-game series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
GAME SUMMARYIowa 200 602 000 - 10 17 0Northwestern 001 000 000 - 1 5 0
WP - Hippen (2-2)LP - Morton (0-5)