Iowa Downs Bradley in Peoria

Stats | Boxscore

April 2, 2014

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By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com

PEORIA, Ill. — Three two-run innings and six Hawkeye pitchers propelled the University of Iowa baseball team to a 6-2 midweek victory over Bradley on Wednesday night at Dozer Park.

Sophomore Jared Mandel (1-0) picked up his first career victory after throwing a pair of scoreless, hitless innings in the fifth and sixth. Junior Andrew Hedrick tossed three innings of one-hit ball to start the game before freshman Matt Allen allowed one hit in the fourth, and freshman Jake Reinhardt allowed a single hit in the seventh.

Bradley tagged junior Brandon Shulista for a pair of runs on a single hit to start the eighth before sophomore Tyler Radtke got the final six outs, allowing a pair of hits and striking out one.

“It was good to see Andrew back out there after being on the shelf for a while,” said UI head coach Rick Heller. “Our bullpen — our young guys that haven’t thrown a lot — went out and did a nice job. Offensively we took advantage of some Bradley freebies early in the game — walks, errors — that we were finally able to take advantage of.”

The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, scoring a pair of runs on one hit and one Bradley error. Senior Taylor Zeutenhorst led off the frame with a walk before junior Nick Day reached via a throwing error with two outs. After moving up a bag on a passed ball, junior Eric Toole laced a two-run single to centerfield to put Iowa on the board.

Iowa doubled the lead in the third inning without tallying a hit. Junior Jake Yacinich and sophomore Tyler Peyton opened the frame with consecutive walks before Zeutenhorst drew a one-out walk to load the bases. The first run scored on a Bradley fielding error on a ball off the bat of senior Trevor Kenyon before Blake Hickman followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to push the lead to 4-0.

The Hawkeyes stretched their advantage to 6-0 with their third two-run inning in the seventh. Toole led off the inning with a single down the left field line before junior Jake Mangler followed with an RBI double to left field to push the advantage to 5-0. After Peyton reached on a fielding error — the Braves’ fourth error of the contest — junior Kris Goodman hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to stretch the advantage to 6-0.

After tallying three hits over the first seven innings, the Bradley matched its hit total in the eighth, which led to a pair of Brave runs. Bradley led off the inning with a single and hit by pitch before Max Murphy delivered an RBI single through the left side to plate the first run. Two batters later, Tyler Leffler ripped an RBI single to center field, making the score 6-2.

Bradley starter David Koll (2-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits over six innings. The right-hander had seven strikeouts to five walks in the game.

The Hawkeyes finished with just six hits against four Brave pitchers, two coming from Toole out of the leadoff position. He was 2-for-5 with one run and two RBIs. Mangler, Goodman, Kenyon and Hickman all tallied RBIs in the game.

Iowa (16-9) will return to action Saturday, hosting No. 24/28 Indiana in the first of a three-game series at 3 p.m. (CT) at Banks Field. The series was pushed back to April 5-7 due to the projected weather forecast Friday in Iowa City.