Hawkeyes Drop Midweek Contest to Nebraska-Omaha

March 28, 2012

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa baseball team dropped a midweek nonconference game tonight, 3-1, to Nebraska-Omaha at Duane Banks Field.

Iowa (9-12) jumped on the scoreboard first with an unearned tally in the bottom of the first. A throwing error by Nebraska-Omaha’s shortstop allowed senior Mike McQuillan to cross home plate, who reached on a walk to start the contest.

Nebraska-Omaha evened the score on an RBI single in the top of the third off Hawkeye starter Andrew Hedrick. The Mavericks scored their second run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly off Hawkeye reliever Patrick Lala.

Nebraska-Omaha (9-16) tallied a two-out insurance run in the seventh to stretch its advantage to 3-1.

Maverick starter Andrew Reck pitched six solid innings, allowing one unearned run, while scattering four hits in notching his first victory of the season.

The Hawkeyes had their best opportunity to tie the contest in the bottom of the eighth inning. Iowa’s first three batters reached base via back-to-back walks and a hit-by-pitch. However, Nebraska-Omaha called upon reliever Zach Williamsen, who struck out three straight Hawkeyes to silence the scoring threat.

Lala got the loss for the Hawkeyes, yielding the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Also throwing for Iowa tonight was Tim Fangman, Ben Bergman, Taylor Kaufman and Nick Hibbing.

“We had a good weekend, but we weren’t able to sustain that today,” said Iowa head coach Jack Dahm. “We didn’t have the focus needed to win tonight and that’s frustrating. We need to do a better job offensively.”

Four different Hawkeyes accounted for their four hits. McQuillan failed to register a hit for the first time in 15 games, snapping his season-long 14-game hit streak.

Iowa returns to conference play this weekend when it travels to Bloomington, Ind., for a three-game series against Indiana. Game one is set for Friday at 2 p.m. (CT) from Sembower Field.