Iowa Downs Western Illinois, 14-8

Stats

April 20, 2011

Photo Gallery | Box Score

• 2011 Iowa Baseball Media Guide
• Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
• Take the Hawkeyes With You: Iowa Podcasts
• Iowa and the Big Ten Network
• Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
• 24 Hawkeyes to Watch

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Iowa baseball team defeated Western Illinois, 14-8, Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park. The 14 runs ties the second most the Hawkeyes have scored this season.

“I was excited about the way we played tonight,” said head coach Jack Dahm. “We played with a lot of energy. I like the way we responded after they scored some runs on us. We executed pretty well from an offensive standpoint.”

Iowa’s offense pounded out 14 hits, 13 of which were singles. Five Hawkeyes collected multi-hit games tonight. Junior Kasey Carling tallied three singles. Senior Trevor Willis went 2-for-5, with a triple and three RBI. Kurt Lee, Bryan Niedbalski and Keith Brand all recorded two singles. Brand also drove home two runs.

Western Illinois (11-25) grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Iowa (14-20) answered in the following frame, tallying four runs. With one away in the top of the second, freshman Kyle Haen singled through the left side. With the bases still full of Hawkeyes, Willis laced his conference-leading seventh triple down the right field line, giving Iowa a 4-1 lead.

After the Leathernecks used a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to cut the lead to 4-2, the Black and Gold answered with three runs of their own in the top of the third. Taylor Zeutenhorst grounded out to shortstop to drive home Tyson Blaser from third. With one down, Carling reached on an error, scoring Niedbalski from third. With Carling on third, Haen hit a sacrifice fly to center, pushing the Iowa lead to 7-2.

Western Illinois cut the Hawkeye lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer down the left field line.

Iowa added two runs in the top of the fifth, making the score 9-5. With one away, Brand hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Zeutenhorst. Carling scored with two down in the frame as Haen reached on a fielding error. The Leathernecks added three in the bottom half of the inning, closing the gap to 9-8.

Leading by one, the Hawkeyes scored five unanswered runs, three in the sixth and one each in the seventh and eighth frames, for the 14-8 victory.

Ricky Sandquist started for the Hawkeyes, throwing two and a third innings. The sophomore allowed five runs on five hits. Phil Keppler earned his first career Hawkeye victory. The junior pitched two and two-thirds, yielding three runs on four hits. He struck out four. Tim Fangman, Jeff Pacha and Zach Kenyon silenced the Leatherneck bats, pitching four scoreless innings out of the Iowa bullpen.

Western Illinois starter Garret Bolt took the loss. He gave up four runs on four hits in two innings pitched.

Iowa returns to Big Ten action this weekend when it hosts Michigan in a three-game set at Duane Banks Field. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Friday. The Hawkeyes and Wolverines will also play Friday and Saturday at 1:05 p.m. each day. Admission is $3 for adults, and free for UI students and youths.