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By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com
HONOLULU, Hawaii — Hawaii handed the University of Iowa baseball team a 7-1 loss in game one of a four-game weekend series Friday night at Wes Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors scored their seven runs on 14 hits; the Hawkeyes were no-hit through five innings and finished with four hits in the game.
“Hawaii had a good night offensively,” said Iowa head coach Rick Heller. “It seemed like every ball they put in play went for a hit.”
After Iowa stranded five runners in the first three innings, Hawaii scored two in the third and three in the fourth to knock Hawkeye starter Cole McDonald from the game. The Rainbow Warriors had three straight hits to start the third, including an RBI triple from Scotty Scott and an RBI groundout from Maaki Yamazaki.
Hawaii scored three more runs on three hits in the fourth with Adam Fogel’s RBI double ending McDonald’s day. The Rainbow Warriors tacked on their final two runs in the fifth against Iowa’s bullpen.
Hawaii starter Jeremy Wu-Yelland (1-0) held Iowa hitless through five innings, striking out five, but he issued five walks and hit two batters. Iowa’s Tanner Wetrich ended the no-hit bid with a one-out single against reliever Cade Smith in the sixth.
Iowa broke up the shutout in the seventh, scoring an unearned run. Sophomore Izaya Fullard reached via a hit-by-pitch and senior Chris Whelan followed with an infield single. Fullard scored on a throwing error by Tyler Best on a tailor made double play ball off the bat of sophomore Tanner Padgett, cutting the deficit to 7-1.
The Hawkeyes had a chance to make things interesting, loading the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Smith got sophomore Trenton Wallace to hit a grounder to third base to end the inning.
QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER
“We had opportunities the first four innings, we just didn’t execute offensively. We did a good job of getting on base all night. They gave us 17 free bases and usually when that happens you’re looking at a win, but we could not get a hit, and we’d punch out with runners at third base and less than two outs. We couldn’t get it going.”
WORTH NOTING
- Senior Mitchell Boe walked four times in five plate appearances, tying an Iowa single-game school record. Former Hawkeye Kyle Crowl had four walks last season against Penn State.
- The Hawkeyes stranded 13 runners in the game and were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
- Juniors Adam Ketelsen and Hunter Lee and freshman Clayton Nettleton made their Iowa debuts on the mound. Ketelsen had two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning, and Lee pitched 1 2/3 scoreless frames.
- Wetrich finished 2-for-3 for his second multi-hit game of the season.
UP NEXT
Iowa returns to action Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 5:05 p.m. (CT).
