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A baseball player in a black and yellow uniform dives to catch a ball near the outfield wall.A baseball player in a black and yellow uniform dives to catch a ball near the outfield wall.
Brian Ray
Baseball

Hawkeyes Fall to Spartans, 4-3

The No. 8 seeded Iowa baseball team fell to No. 12 seeded Michigan State, 4-3, on Wednesday evening in the Big Ten Tournament.

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. — The No. 8 seeded University of Iowa baseball team fell to No. 12 seeded Michigan State, 4-3, on Wednesday evening in the Big Ten Tournament at Charles Schwab Field.

“There were just so many things we didn’t do well tonight, both on offense and defense,” said head coach Rick Heller. “That’s the disappointing thing. We were very fortunate the game wasn’t 10-3. But what do you do? You regroup, go play tomorrow and hopefully we can clean it up.”

The Hawkeyes struck first in the opening inning when senior Miles Risley lifted a sacrifice fly to score redshirt junior Ben Swails, who singled and stole second to move into scoring position.

Michigan State added runs in the second and fourth innings to take a 2-1 lead.

Iowa regained the lead in the sixth inning behind a four-hit rally. Swails doubled to start the inning before senior Gable Mitchell drove him in with an RBI single. Mitchell later moved into scoring position and came home on a redshirt sophomore Jaixen Frost RBI single to give the Hawkeyes a 3-2 advantage.

Michigan State tied the game in the seventh inning, taking advantage of an Iowa error to even the score at 3-3.

The Spartans scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to secure the 4-3 victory.

Starting pitcher senior Joe Husak worked into the second inning for Iowa, allowing one run on two hits while issuing two walks before exiting after facing three batters in the frame.

Senior Justin Hackett came on in relief and logged 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run while working around three walks to keep the deficit at one.

Redshirt freshman Kyle Alivo provided a strong effort out of the bullpen but was tagged with the loss, tossing 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out seven.

Swails led Iowa at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Mitchell, Frost and Risley each recorded an RBI.

Iowa finished with three runs on seven hits in the one-run loss.

NOTABLES

  • Caleb Wulf moved into a tie for second all-time in program history for single-season hits with 87 (Joel Booker, 2016; Justin Toole, 2008).
  • The Hawkeyes are now 28-34 all-time in tournament history and 21-18 under Heller.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will face No. 5 seed Purdue in an elimination game Thursday at 2 p.m. (CT).