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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The University of Iowa baseball team dropped its third and final game of its Big Ten opening series to Indiana, 7-1, on Sunday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field.
Junior Grant Judkins (2-2) took the loss, allowing four runs — two earned – on five hits and two walks. The right-handed pitcher struck out four batters, but junior Lorenzo Elion’s error at third base in the second inning proved costly.
Grant Richardson homered to left three batters later, scoring Ryan Fineman who reached on the error.
Iowa was able to get 11 runners on base with two outs, but only scored once off a double by sophomore Trenton Wallace in the third.
Indiana added runs in the fourth and fifth to lead 4-1 after five innings before tacking on three runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach.
The Hawkeyes had nine hits — the most in any game of the series — spread throughout the batting order, but Iowa only had multiple hits in two innings.
Base running miscues hurt the Hawkeyes early as senior Mitchell Boe was picked off first base in the first, Elion was picked off second base in the second, and senior Chris Whelan was hosed trying to steal second.
Justin Jenkins (2-for-3), Austin Martin (1-for-2), and Trenton Wallace (1-for-3) all reached base three times.
QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER
“It was a tough weekend and it was a tough day again today. We were better, but squandered opportunities early. We ran ourselves out of some innings when they were giving us freebies. Grant Judkins gave us a quality start. Unfortunately, if you look at the scoreboard it’s the story of the weekend; nine hits to nine hits, but they hit the two big home runs to give them the lead.
“We aren’t driving the ball. We’re not in a great place. Some of the guys that need to carry us and come through with runners in scoring position are in a funk right now. We have to get out of here and go home. We have a nine-game home stand and hopefully we can get some things fixed this week before we face Illinois next weekend.”
OF NOTE…
- The Hawkeyes never led all series.
- It was the first time Iowa was swept in a Big Ten three-game series since May 9-11, 2014, against Illinois.
- Judkins has recorded three quality starts this season, including two straight. He has allowed three earned runs or less in all six of his starts.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes play a midweek game against Bradley at home on Tuesday with a first pitch set for 4:05 p.m. (CT).
FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Stay up-to-date on all the happenings with the Iowa baseball program on social media via Twitter (@UIBaseball), Instagram/UIBaseball, and Facebook/IowaBaseball.
