Junior Tyler Peyton hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth with one out to give the Hawkeyes a 6-5 win over the Missouri State Bears on Feb. 21.

The Hawkeyes entered the weekend looking for more offense, and they found just that, with 6 runs on 12 hits in the game. The offense made up for struggling pitching staff, ousting Missouri State’s Jon Harris, a 2013 freshman All-American, after 5.1 innings and 111 pitches.

Iowa junior Blake Hickman lasted just 1.2 innings in his season début, throwing just 58 pitches, 33 of them strikes. Junior Connor Grant picked up his first winning after 3 relief innings. Junior Luke Vandermatten, senior Calvin Matthews, and senior Nick Hibbing also saw pitching action.

Peyton led the Hawkeyes in hitting with a 3-for-4 performance. Senior Eric Toole and freshman Austin Guzzo each had 2 hits.

The Hawkeyes were down 2-0 to Missouri State after the first inning, but notched a run in the bottom half to make it 2-1. The Bears added runs in the second and fourth innings to make it a 4-1 game, but a 4-run sixth gave the Hawkeyes the lead.

Iowa took the lead on an RBI single from senior Jake Mangler, then gave up a run to the Bears in the seventh inning. Missouri State’s runner reached on a wild pitch and reached home on a sacrifice fly.

The Hawkeyes struck out eight times at the plate, while the crew of Hawk pitchers struck out only four Bears total.

Iowa also topped Arkansas-Little Rock 3-1 on Feb. 20.

Next up, Iowa will head to Cary, North Carolina on Friday to take on the Cincinnati, Richmond, and North Carolina State in the USA Baseball-Irish Classic.

Follow @IanFromIowa on Twitter for news, updates, and analysis about the Iowa baseball team.