The Iowa baseball team (7-10) had a busy spring break, winning three of eight games in its annual weeklong spring trip.

The Hawkeyes began the week in Lubbock, Texas, and went 1-for-4 against Texas Tech and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Iowa dropped both games to Texas Tech (14-6), falling on March 11, 9-7, and on March 12, 6-4. The team had better luck against A&M-Corpus Christi (13-8), winning in 10 innings on March 13, 10-9, before losing, 5-4, on March 14.

The Black and Gold split four games in the Irish Classic in San Antonio, Texas, during the trip’s second weekend, beating host Notre Dame twice and losing a pair to Gonzaga. Iowa posted a 4-3 extra-inning win over the Irish (7-10-1) on March 17 and an 11-2 score in the first game of a March 18 double-header.

Iowa’s games against the Bulldogs (10-7-1) didn’t go as well. The Hawkeyes were pounded, 9-1, in the March 18 nightcap, and lost 7-2 on March 19 despite outhitting Gonzaga, 12-11.

Head coach Jack Dahm said the length of the road trip may have affected his team’s play down the stretch, but he said that isn’t an excuse for the lopsided scores in the Gonzaga series.

“Our guys are fatigued right now,” Dahm said in a video posted to the team’s Facebook page. “The No. 1 thing is, we have to get a little tougher. We’re going to be tired during the year, and we have to find a way to get it done.”

— by Seth Roberts