May 16, 2010
IOWA CITY, IA – – The Iowa baseball team lost the series finale to Ohio State, 11-6, Sunday afternoon at Duane Banks Field. Despite the loss, the Hawkeyes won the series two games to one. Iowa now stands in a four-way tie for fifth place in the Big Ten standings with Michigan State, Ohio State and Indiana after results from around the league this weekend.
Trevor Willis legged out two triples today, tying an individual game record and putting his season total at four. Teammate Zach McCool tied the record earlier this season against Western Illinois. The Hawkeyes had the same number of 14 hits as the Buckeyes, but were only able to post six runs, while stranding 10 runners.
Ohio State (27-21, 10-11) jumped to an early 5-0 lead in the top of the first frame via a Ryan Dew grand slam to right and never looked back.
Iowa (23-26, 10-11) got on the board in the bottom of the second, 5-1. With one out, Willis connected with a triple to center and crossed home on a Lee single to right.
The Hawkeyes continued to chip away at the Ohio State lead, picking up a pair in the bottom of the fourth for a 5-3 score. Tyson Blaser led off with a double to right center and scored on a Willis triple. Kurtis Muller picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to center.
The Buckeyes extended its advantage to 7-3 in the fifth frame. The inning featured a Michael Stephens solo blast to left center. The Buckeyes padded their lead to 11-3 in the seventh with four additional tallies.
Lee collected his second single and second RBI in the eighth to score Dallas Burke to score Iowa’s fourth run. Andrew Ewing scored Iowa’s fifth run on a wild pitch and sixth and final run on a Burke sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.
In addition to Lee, Ryan Durant and Muller registered two hits today for the home squad.
Starter Phil Schreiber got the loss, pitching four innings, allowing six runs on nine hits two strikeouts. The bullpen featured: Zach Kenyon, Zach Robertson and Patrick Schatz.
The Hawkeyes play their final non-conference game Tuesday against St. Ambrose at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.