Hawkeyes Rally Past Redbirds

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Illinois State, 8-7, on Tuesday night at Duane Banks Field.

After five innings of play the Redbirds led 4-2 and after six innings led 5-4, before the Hawkeyes would take the lead in the seventh. Gable Mitchell singled with the bases loaded and would come all the way around to score on a throwing error by the catcher on the “little league grand slam”.

Illinois State would plate two runs in the ninth, but the Hawkeyes stifled the comeback attempt.

“It is always good to find a way to get the win,” said head coach Rick Heller. “It didn’t look good for a while, and finally got a rally going in the seventh. Got a big hit out of Gable and had a few free bases and the error ended up giving us what we needed to hold on.”

Ganon Archer started for the Hawkeyes. He threw two innings and struck out three without allowing a hit or a run.

Six Hawkeyes saw action on the mound with Ben DeTaeye having the longest outing. He earned the win closing out the game with 2 2/3 innings of work allowing two earned runs and striking out four.

Davis Cop and Mitchell each had two hits for Iowa and Mitchell tallied two RBIs. Reese Moore scored three runs and had a solo home run.

Illinois State stranded 14 runners on base to Iowa’s four.

“It was an okay performance in all areas,” said Heller. “Wasn’t great offensively, but we found a way to score enough. It got dicey but we held on and hopefully we play better tomorrow.”

The Hawkeyes return to action tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. (CT) at Duane Banks Field against North Dakota State.