March 20, 2010
EDINBURG, TX – The University of Iowa Hawkeye baseball team won the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader, 10-3 over UT-Pan American (UTPA) at Edinburg Baseball Stadium. The win snapped a nine-game losing skid for the Hawkeyes.
After losing game one to the Broncs, Iowa exploded with five runs out of the gate in the first inning. Kurtis Muller scored Iowa’s first run all by himself. The junior led the game off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher and ultimately scored on a pass ball to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead. Four batters later, sophomore Phil Keppler connected on his third career home run to right field, plating Zach McCool, Mike McQuillan and Andrew Host for a grand slam.
The Hawkeyes stretched their advantage to 6-0 in the next frame. Kurt Lee and Muller started things off with consecutive singles. Two batters later, McQuillan recorded an RBI groundout, scoring Lee. Muller has registered at least one hit in 13 of the 16 games he has played in this season.
Iowa (5-12) kept at it in the third inning with another tally to make it 7-0. Dallas Burke started the inning with a single. The sophomore stole second and later scored on a Tyson Blaser RBI fielder’s choice.
The visitors put three more runs on the board in the fifth. Lee registered an RBI groundout and Muller concluded the Hawkeye scoring with a two-RBI triple, scoring Keppler and Trevor Willis.
UTPA (9-5) collected an RBI single in the fourth to make the score 7-1. The Broncs tallied two more in the fifth frame on a two-RBI triple.
Zach Kenyon started his second contest of the season going six strong innings, allowing only three runs on six hits and striking out three. Kenyon earned his first win of the season. Jeff Pacha and Kevin Lee were called upon out of the bullpen, pitching two and one shutout innings, respectively.
Offensively, four Hawkeyes collected multiple hits. Muller had three hits and two RBI. Burke and Lee each tallied two hits, while Lee also had an RBI. Keppler had two hits, including a grand slam, with four RBI.
After playing its first 14 games on the road, Iowa returns to Iowa City next weekend for its home opening series when the Hawkeyes host Western Illinois Friday-Sunday. Game one of the three game series starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Duane Banks Field.