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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa baseball team completed the midweek sweep, downing Kansas, 3-1, on Wednesday afternoon at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes improve to 10-5 overall.
Seven different pitchers combined to limit the Jayhawks to six hits. Junior Ben Beutel started the game for the Hawkeyes allowing zero hits and only one base runner, while sophomore Drew Irvine (1-2) pitched 1 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season.
Iowa finished the two-game set against Kansas allowing only one run on 10 hits over 18 innings.
“We had seven pitchers that threw today,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We weren’t as sharp as we were yesterday, but we had some guys show some toughness, fought out of some jams and to only give up one run in 18 innings in the midweek, I couldn’t be happier with the pitching staff.”
Offensively, the Hawkeye bats stayed hot in the first inning, plating a run on a Zeb Adreon single that scored freshman Peyton Williams from second. Williams doubled off the right field wall with two outs.
In the fourth inning, Kansas scored its lone run of the series. The unearned run was scored on two singles and a passed ball. The Hawkeyes answered right back, scoring two runs in the bottom half.
With one out in the fourth, four straight Hawkeyes reached base to score two runs and take a 3-1 lead. Junior Dylan Nedved doubled to the deepest part of the stadium to dead center field to score Adreon from first base. Nedved would later to come on to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.
Iowa’s second run of the inning and final run of the game came off the bat of sophomore Brendan Sher. He singled through the right side to score Nedved, and that was all the Iowa bullpen needed.
The Hawkeyes worked around Kansas’ biggest scoring threat in the top of the sixth inning when the Jayhawks had runners on the corners with only one out. Irvine relieved senior Trace Hoffman and induced back-to-back ground outs to let neither inherited runner to score.
“(Irvine) came in and attacked the zone,” Heller said. “He got some decent defense behind him and he wasn’t afraid. That’s the big thing. He came in with a lot of confidence and attacked. I liked that about Drew.”
The ninth inning belonged to redshirt senior Grant Leonard, who needed only eight pitches to secure his fourth save of the season. It’s Leonard’s 20th career save, which moved him into a tie for second with Tim Gudex (1993-97) on Iowa’s all-time saves list. He is only three shy of setting a new school record.
OF NOTE
- Junior Izaya Fullard’s multi-hit game streak was snapped at six games. However, he is hitting .400 in 15 games this season.
- Williams’ hitting streak moved to a team-best 11 games.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes make their second trip to California this weekend, facing CSUN for a three-game series, beginning Friday. First pitch is set for 5 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.
