Iowa Falls to Penn State in Big Ten Opener

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The University of Iowa baseball team dropped its Big Ten opener to Penn State, 11–6, on Friday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

"For the first seven innings we played about as bad as we could play, said head coach Rick Heller. "Penn State jumped on us in the first. We gave them three walks, a hit by pitch and an error. They made us pay with two home runs. Brolan Frost pitched well late to give us a chance to come back. Cole Moore did a nice job coming in to a tough spot. Our offense was silent for seven innings before we rallied for six runs late. A couple more good at bats in the last two innings and it could have gotten interesting. We need to wipe it away and play better tomorrow."

The Nittany Lions (5-11, 1-0) scored five runs in the first inning and added another in the second to take a 6–0 lead against Iowa starter Jaron Bleeker, who was charged with six runs on four hits and five walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Penn State extended the margin with three runs in the fifth inning and two more in the eighth, pushing the lead to 11–0.

Iowa (11-6, 0-1) got on the board with three runs in the eighth inning and added three more in the ninth. Brett White doubled, scored twice and drove in two runs, while Caleb Wulf went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Bryce Phelps added two hits and drove in two runs off the bench.

Iowa relievers Ganon Archer, Cole Moore, Brolan Frost and Ty Mikkelsen combined to allow five runs over the final 4 2/3 innings.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT) to continue the three-game series against Penn State.