The Iowa baseball team suffered a seventh-inning rally from Bradley en route to a 4-3 loss Tuesday night in Peoria, Illinois.

It was Iowa’s second loss of the year to the Braves after dropping a 5-2 decision at Banks Field on March 25, and it moves the Hawkeyes to 23-10 overall.

“It’s disappointing to have a lead late and let it slip away,” head coach Rick Heller said. “It would have been a good win against a good team on the road, but it just didn’t happen for us tonight.”

The Hawkeyes led 4-3 after six and a half innings of play, however the Hawks could not close it out. A three-hit, two run seventh inning proved to be Iowa’s undoing, as the Hawks failed to regain the lead.

“We fought back and took the lead and the seventh inning was tough,” Heller said. “They got a couple of two-out hits and we botched a relay that cost us the go-ahead run.”

Early, Iowa completed a comeback of its own through the first three innings.

A 3-run second inning from Bradley chased Iowa starter Nick Hibbing and put the Hawks in the hole early. Up with two outs and two on, Bradley center-fielder Isaac Smith connected on a three-run homer to give Bradley the early advantage.

The Hawks battled back, however, stringing together 2 runs in the fourth before adding 1 each in the fifth and six to regain the lead. First basemen Tyler Peyton and third baseman Kris Goodman paced the Hawks offensively with 2 hits apiece.

Goodman got the rally started in the fifth with a one-out double to right field before scoring on a Bradley fielding error, tying the game at 3; however, the Hawks could not capitalize on some prime scoring chances at the end of the game.

The Hawks stranded two runners in the eight and failed to turn a Peyton leadoff single in the top of the ninth into runs on the scoreboard. They finished with just 7 hits.

The Hawkeyes used five pitchers on the night; Hibbing took the loss. 

The Hawks will return to action today against Cornell College at Banks Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

“Our struggles continued with runners in scoring position,” Heller said. “As poorly as we pitched, we still had a chance, but we just didn’t get it done with runners in scoring position. We have to keep fighting through it.”

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