March 12, 2011
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LUBBOCK, Texas – – The Iowa baseball team mounted a late-inning rally, but ultimately fell short losing 6-4 to Texas Tech Saturday night at Dan Law Field. All 10 combined runs were scored with two outs.
Iowa (4-7) jumped on the board first thanks to a couple fielding errors by Texas Tech infielders in the second inning. With two outs, Chett Zeise reached base on a fielding error by the first baseman. Kurt Lee later reached on an error by the second baseman, which allowed Andrew Host to cross home plate for the game’s first run.
Texas Tech (10-6) answered with four unearned runs in the bottom of the second off Hawkeye starter Nick Brown. The Red Raiders scored on a sacrifice fly and a three-run home run off the bat of Barrett Barnes. Texas Tech tallied two more tallys in the fourth and fifth frames on RBI singles to stretch its advantage to 6-1.
Iowa attempted a late-inning comeback, plating three runs in the top of the eighth to cut the deficit to 6-4. Senior Tyson Blaser nearly hit a grand slam, sending a pitch off the top of the right field fence. The ball didn’t clear the fence, but the senior did clear the bases and record a double. Later in the inning, Iowa had the tying runner on first base, but Bryan Niedbalski hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Trevor Willis and Blaser were the only Hawkeyes to register an extra-base hit. Willis roped a double down the left field line to start the game, while Blaser collected his fourth two-bagger of the year in the eighth.
Texas Tech starter Trey Masek allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks in seven and two thirds to earn his first victory of the season. John Neely retired Iowa’s final four hitters to earn his third save. Brown got the loss, allowing six runs (two earned) on seven hits, while striking out three in six innings of work. Tim Fangman retired all six Texas Tech batters he faced in relief of Brown.
Iowa resumes play in the Texas Tech Invitational tomorrow when it faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Noon.
| Texas Tech 6, Iowa 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Iowa (4-7) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Texas Tech (10-6) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| Game Decision | ||||||||||||
| W: Trey Masek (TTU) 1-1 | ||||||||||||
| L: Nick Brown (UI) 1-1 | ||||||||||||
| SV: John Neely (TTU) 3 | ||||||||||||