The Iowa baseball team did not begin its home-opening series perhaps as the players would have liked — the Hawkeyes were swept by No. 19-ranked Indiana this past weekend. Despite that, the Hawks were able to find a few shining moments in an otherwise-gloomy Easter weekend.

Junior Trevor Kenyon was one of those moments.

“I thought Trevor Kenyon was a big plus in our lineup,” Iowa head coach Jack Dahm said. “From an offensive standpoint, it was a tremendous weekend for us. [He] gives us a presence in the middle of the lineup and he had real good competitive at-bats.”

The first baseman began the series by going 2-for-5 with 1 run in the first game. In the second contest, Kenyon reached base four of the five times he went to bat. He hit two doubles — one in the fifth inning and another in the sixth, and his second double drove in two runners.  Kenyon tallied three RBIs that game.

“We showed at times that we could battle and do some things well against a good team,” junior outfielder Taylor Zeutenhorst said. “But when you play good teams, like [Indiana], you have to execute at every single pitch, and that’s just what we didn’t do.”

More than anything in the three losses, Indiana showed Iowa how the game is supposed to be played.

“I think our guys learned that’s a very good team and when I say team, I mean team,” Dahm said. “Very unselfish approach; even though they’re a good offensive team, they do all the little things to be great offensive team.”

On top of playing a tough Indiana team, Mother Nature didn’t make the weekend any easier for the Hawkeyes. High winds kept outfielders Eric Toole and Zeutenhorst busy for most of the contests, but their saves kept the coach happy.

“It was tough out there. I think we handled it all right,” Dahm said. “There were a couple balls Taylor almost got to that without that wind, he probably makes a play. I thought our outfielders handled it well. I think it was tougher on the infielders.”

Winds reached nearly 30 mph, but neither Toole and Zeutenhorst faltered.

“The wind was swirling around; we didn’t know where the ball was going to go,” Toole said. “I thought we tracked down a lot of fly balls, which was really good. We have a pretty fast outfield, a pretty athletic outfield, so it helps.”