Hawkeyes Fall to Cougars, 6-4

CLEBURNE, Texas – The University of Iowa baseball team fell to Washington State, 6-4, on Saturday afternoon at La Moderna Field.

The Hawkeyes held a lead after seven innings of play but an eighth inning rally from the Cougars would prove to be too much.

“Today we played better but didn’t get the win,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Savary gave us a quality start and left with a lead. He battled through some control issues but worked out of it. Our defense played well. Offensively, we had consistent quality at bats all game long.”

Aaron Savary got the start on the bump for Iowa. He threw 5 1/3 innings while striking out six, he allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. Ben DeTaeye relieved Savary and threw 1 2/3 innings allowing four runs on four hits, he was tagged with the loss.

Daniel Wright threw the final inning for the Hawkeyes and allowed one hit while striking out one.

“We took a 4-1 lead into the sixth before Washington States bats came to life when we went to the bullpen,” said Heller. “A two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh cut it to 4-2 and things went bad fast in the eighth with a single and two doubles. Dan Wright came in and got us out of the jam.  It happened so fast we couldn’t get Dan ready quick enough. We had a two-out rally that brought the go ahead run to the plate but ended with ground out.”

Ben Wilmes and Caleb Wulf each had two hits for Iowa on the offensive side. Jackson Beaman had a solo home run for an RBI, joining Wulf, Miles Risley and Mitch Wood as the Hawkeyes that plated a run.

Iowa had seven hits to go along with six walks while striking out five times. The Hawkeyes left 11 runners stranded in the contest.

“WSU has played well this whole series,” said Heller. “I thought our guys played hard and fought today. We haven’t caught any breaks to this point. That’s baseball. Our guys will come out give a great effort tomorrow”

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will close out the series with Washington State at Noon (CT) tomorrow. The game was previously scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT). Reece Beuter will get the start for Iowa.