May 2, 2010
IOWA CITY, IA – – The University of Iowa baseball team lost game three of a weekend series, 6-1, to Minnesota Sunday afternoon at Duane Banks Field. After winning game one of yesterday’s doubleheader, the Hawkeyes lost the last two contests to lose the series.
Iowa (18-24, 6-9) was unable to generate much offense in today’s defeat. The Hawkeyes nearly scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. Mike McQuillan tried scoring from first on a double to left center by Ryan Durant, who had three of Iowa’s eight hits today, but was called out at the plate on a bang-bang play. McQuillan had two singles on the day, Iowa’s only other player with multiple hits.
“I was disappointed in the way we responded after Mike [McQuillan] was thrown out at the plate,” said Iowa Head Coach Jack Dahm. We had good energy and had a good batting practice, but unfortunately we didn’t carry that over to the game. We have nine conference games remaining and we need to have a better approach than we had today.”
Minnesota (19-25, 8-7) struck first in the top of the third with an unearned run. AJ Petterson reached on a two-out throwing error by Hawkeye second baseman McQuillan. Michael Kvasnicka capitalized on the Iowa miscue, doubling to left center to score Petterson for the game’s first run.
The Gophers padded their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth on three consecutive hits. The inning featured a Matt Puhl RBI double and a Kyle Geason RBI single.
Minnesota chased Hawkeye starter Phil Schreiber in the fifth frame, scoring three runs on three hits, a walk and a wild pitch to make the score 6-0. Schreiber got the loss, his fifth of the season.
The Hawkeyes tallied their only run of the contest in the bottom of the seventh on a Sean Flanagan solo blast over the left field fence, his third homer of the year.
Minnesota starter Phil Isaksson improved to a perfect 4-0 on the year, throwing seven and a third, scattering six hits, walking four and allowing only one run.
Iowa returns to action Tuesday night when it competes against Coe College in the Corridor Classic. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Tickets can be purchased for $7 at the park.