May 8, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – – The Iowa baseball team defeated Penn State, 9-3, Saturday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The win snapped the Nittany Lions’ six-game Big Ten winning streak.
Iowa’s one-five hitters accounted for 12 of its 15 hits en route to victory. Kurtis Muller, Mike McQuillan, Ryan Durant, Phil Keppler and Kurt Lee led the Hawkeyes offensively, collecting three hits, two RBI and scored a run. The junior was only a home run shy of a cycle, hitting a single, double and a triple. McQuillan had multiple hits for the second straight game, hitting three singles and also scored a run. Durant went 3-for-4, with two doubles, a run scored and a stolen base. Keppler went 2-for-3, with a sacrifice fly and a game-high three RBI, while Lee collected two hits, including a triple and an RBI.
“I thought our guys played well today and we made some breaks,” said Iowa Head Coach Jack Dahm. “We continued to tack on once we got the lead in the fourth inning. Nick [Brown] threw outstanding today, which was great to see. He kept their hitters off balance.”
For the second straight day, Penn State struck first in the first inning. Junior Ben Heath, who ranks second in Big Ten RBI, collected his 54th RBI of the year on a single to right field for the early 1-0 lead.
Iowa (20-25, 7-10) plated two runs in the fourth inning to claim the lead, which it would not relinquish. With the bases loaded bases, and no outs, Mike Corbeil grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but McQuillan crossed home plate on the twin killing. Durant, who doubled to center earlier in the inning, came home for Iowa’s second run on a pass ball.
The Hawkeyes added two more runs in the fifth inning. Three straight singles to start the frame, including an RBI single to left field off the bat of McQuillan resulted in Iowa’s third run. Two batters later, Keppler hit a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Zach McCool and make the score 4-1.
Consecutive two-out triples by Lee and Muller in the sixth inning extended the visitor’s advantage to 5-1.
Penn State (21-24, 8-9) notched a two-out run of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Heath hit a triple to right field and later scored on a wild pitch to cut Iowa’s lead to 5-2.
Muller clubbed his second extra-base hit of the game in the eighth, ripping a double off the center field fence to bring home Tyson Blaser to give Iowa a 6-2 lead. Iowa put the game away in the top of the ninth, scoring three runs on a Keppler two-RBI infield single and a Lee RBI single up the middle.
Penn State’s Joey DeBarnardis powered a lead-off solo home run over the center field fence in the bottom of the ninth to close the scoring.
Hawkeye starter Nick Brown had an outstanding day on the mound for the Hawkeyes. The sophomore earned his fourth win of the year, throwing seven innings, allowing only two runs, scattering nine hits, while striking out four. Reliever Zach Robertson pitched the last two innings to preserve Iowa’s sixth road victory of the season.
The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions conclude their three-game set tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 10:05 a.m. (CDT). The contest can be seen live on the Big Ten Network (HD).