Hawkeyes' Rally Falls Short in 6-5 Loss to Omaha

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May 7, 2013

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Nebraska Omaha scored in each of the first four innings before staving off a University of Iowa rally to win 6-5 Tuesday night at Duane Banks Field. The victory gives the Mavericks a series win over the Hawkeyes, winning 3-of-5 games this season.

“We battled back, but came up short,” said UI head coach Jack Dahm. “That has kind of been the theme this year. We had the tying run on in the eighth and ninth innings, but we just didn’t get the job done.”

Omaha plated an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Cory Buckley in the first inning before adding two runs in the second and third innings and a single run in the fourth. Clayton Taylor hit a solo home run to start the second and Alex Mortensen tallied the second RBI with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Trailing 6-0, the Iowa bats got going in the fourth, pushing four runs across the plate on four hits. Sophomore Taylor Kaufman opened with a leadoff single before junior Taylor Zeutenhorst followed with a one-out single to put two runners on. Sophomore Anthony Torres then plated the first Hawkeye run with a single through the left side, making the score 6-1.

Redshirt junior Keith Brand followed with a hit by pitch to load the bases — his school-record tying 20th this season — before senior Dan Sheppard’s RBI infield single made the score 6-2. Torres then crossed the plated on a wild pitch by UNO starter Marcus Ethen before sophomore Nick Day’s RBI groundout plated the Hawkeyes’ fourth run of the frame.

Iowa threatened in the fifth inning, but left Nick Roscetti stranded on second following his leadoff double. The Hawkeyes then cut into the deficit in the eighth, pushing one run across the plate to make it a 6-5 ballgame.

Kaufman jumpstarted the rally with a one-out double down the left field line before junior Bryan Niedbalski followed with an RBI single to center field. With two outs, Torres got plunked to put a pair of runners on base, but UNO reliever Derek Landis induced a Brand ground out to get out of the inning and end Iowa’s threat.

The Hawkeyes wouldn’t go away quietly in the ninth. After back-to-back Landis strikeouts to lead off the frame, sophomore Eric Toole laced a double down the left field line when he was down to his final strike. Landis responded by striking out Roscetti looking to end the contest and notch his sixth save of the season.

The Mavericks pounded out 14 hits in the game, which included a 4-of-4 effort by Taylor out of the six spot. Iowa had nine hits, two apiece by Kaufman and Torres. Reliever Cole Volkers picked up his first win, allowing one run on two hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Martsching suffered the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) in 2 1/3 innings of work. Iowa’s bullpen was effective, allowing one run on nine hits over the final 6 2/3. Senior Ben Bergman allowed one run on seven hits, while sophomores Nick Hibbing and Kaufman pitched a scoreless final 2 2/3.

“I was happy for Ben Bergman,” said Dahm. “I thought he did a really nice job of coming in and giving up just one run. Ben held them right there and allowed us to get back into the ball game.”

Iowa (17-26) hosts Michigan State this weekend for a three-game set in its home finale. First pitch Friday is set for 6:05 p.m. (CT).