May 1, 2016
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By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Kansas State claimed a series victory with a 4-2 win over the University of Iowa baseball team in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader on a soggy afternoon at Duane Banks Field.
Iowa won the opening game of the doubleheader, 2-1, behind a dominant pitching performance from reliever Nick Gallagher.
“Our pitchers did a nice job today in both games,” said UI head coach Rick Heller. “It was a good win in game one; we played good, clean baseball.
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“I had a good feeling going into game two, but I felt like we came out a little flat. I was still pleased with the pitching in game two, but we had a couple of mistakes — one hurt, one didn’t.”
The Wildcats out-hit the Hawkeyes, 10-8, and never trailed in the game. Nick Jones (1-0) earned the victory, pitching 2/3 of an inning in relief of starter Corey Fischer. Lucas Benenati got the final six outs to earn his fourth save — his second of the weekend.
Kansas State jumped out to a first inning lead when Clayon Dalrymple doubled to lead off the game against UI starter Calvin Mathews. Dalrymple crossed the plate on an RBI groundout from Josh Rolette.
The Hawkeyes tied the game in the third inning on back-to-back one-out doubles from Tyler Peyton and Nick Roscetti, but the Wildcats regained the lead in the fourth. Jake Scudder doubled to centerfield to lead off the frame and scored on a Tyler Moore sacrifice fly.
The Wildcats tacked on their third run in the sixth with a two-out rally. Tyler Wolfe singled to right field against reliever Shane Ritter before Quintin Crandall doubled to right center. Wolfed held up at third on the play, but scored on an Iowa error when the wet ball squirted away from Mason McCoy on a relay throw.
Iowa closed the gap to 3-2 in the seventh on an RBI single from Roscetti. Kansas State plated an insurance run in the eighth on RBI single from Cade Bunnell, scoring Josh Scudder, who reached on an error to lead off the inning.
Mathews (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on four hits over four innings.
Iowa finished with eight hits — six coming from the top four players in the lineup. Roscetti (2-for-3, 2 RBIs), Peyton (2-for-4), and Daniel Aaron Moriel (2-for-3) all had two-hit games.
“We weren’t very good offensively this entire weekend,” said Heller. “We only scored six runs on the weekend. We have to be better than that. We can’t have that pressure on our pitching staff, especially as beat up as they are. They handled it well and gave us an opportunity to win all three games this weekend.”
The Hawkeyes (20-21) return to action Tuesday, hosting Western Illinois at 6:35 p.m. (CT).