Hawkeyes Pounce on Nittany Lions in Series Opener

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May 6, 2011

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Iowa baseball team defeated Penn State, 11-4, Friday night at Duane Banks Field in the first of a three-game set. It marks Iowa’s third-straight win over the Nittany Lions, dating back to last season.

“(Jarred) Hippen and the pitching staff did a great job,” said head coach Jack Dahm. “(Zach) Kenyon was outstanding out of the bullpen. The offense was very impressive as well; we had a number of big two-out hits and hit a lot of balls hard. We had a lot of good energy tonight. It will be another battle tomorrow.”

Iowa, 12-4 when outhitting its opponent, recorded 12 hits and took advantage of eight Penn State errors to pound out 11 runs. The eight miscues are the most by a Big Ten team this season. Each Hawkeye in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit in the victory. The last time Iowa accomplished the feat was a year ago (May 9, 2010) at Penn State.

Mike McQuillan and Taylor Zeutenhorst had multi-hit games for the Hawkeyes. McQuillan had a game-best three hits to go along with two RBI, while Zeutenhorst had two singles and an RBI. Senior Tyson Blaser had a single to extend his hitting streak to eight games.

The visitor’s took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of a Hawkeye error.

Iowa responded in the bottom half of the first. The Black and Gold tallied three runs on four hits and took advantage of two Nittany Lion errors to grab a 3-1 lead.

Penn State (25-17, 7-9) tied the contest with two runs in the top of the third. The Nittany Lions took advantage of three hits to even the score 3-3.

The visitor’s reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth with a solo home run to left field. Iowa answered in the bottom half of the inning, reclaiming the lead at 6-4 with three runs of its own.

Iowa (17-26, 6-10) extended its lead to 10-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Iowa used three hits and three Penn State errors to post a four-run frame.

Jarred Hippen started and recorded the win, his third of the year. The junior pitched six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits. He struck out six. Zach Kenyon and Jeff Pacha saw action out of the Iowa bullpen, throwing a combined three scoreless innings.

Penn State’s Steven Hill took the loss. He pitched four innings, allowing six runs (zero earned) on eight hits.

The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions continue their three-game set tomorrow. First pitch of game two is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. It will be televised live on Big Ten Network (HD).