The Iowa baseball team (12-14, 3-3 Big Ten) jumped on Wisconsin-Milwaukee early and often on Wednesday evening en route to a 9-1 victory.

Six pitchers threw for the Hawkeyes, including four freshmen. The staff did not allow its first hit until the seventh inning.

“I was really pleased with the way we came out and played,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said. “I thought we had a lot of energy. I thought the guys were locked in. I’m really happy with the progress of our freshman pitchers. We had four of them go out there, and all four of them did a really good job. I couldn’t be happier about that.”

Freshman Shane Ritter made his first career start for the Hawkeyes after throwing 5.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen this season. Ritter did not allow a hit in two innings of work, striking out 2 and walking 2.

Freshmen Cole McDonald, Sam Lizarraga, and Zach Daniels, along with sophomore Nick Allgeyer and senior Tyler Radtke, combined to allow just 2 hits with 6 strikeouts.

Lizarraga picked up the win for the Hawkeyes, the first of his career.

On a night in which the wind was blowing strongly out to right field, Ritter said the plan was to keep the ball away from a Milwaukee lineup littered with left-handed hitters.

“Coach Brickman told me I needed to keep the ball on the outside corner and keep them off balance with my curve ball and changeup,” he said. “I definitely tried to get them to hit the ball the opposite way with the wind blowing like it was.”

Senior Joel Booker scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first when a Nick Roscetti comebacker to the mound forced Milwaukee pitcher Austin Schulfer into a throwing error.

The Hawkeyes blew the door wide open in the fourth inning, with 5 runs on 4 hits. Junior third basemen Mason McCoy had the big swing of the inning, hitting an opposite field 3-run home run over the right field wall.

“The wind was blowing out there,” McCoy said. “I was just trying to score some runs, I think there was maybe one or two outs there, and I tried to put it in the gap. I’ve felt better swinging it lately, but I got under that one a bit. But it got in the wind.”

Senior first basemen Tyler Peyton added another run in the bottom of the fifth with a solo shot of his own to right field.

The Hawkeyes added two more in the eighth thanks to some patience at the plate. Daniels, senior Nick Roscetti, Peyton, and freshman Luke Farley all walked in the inning, with Daniels and Roscetti eventually coming around to score.

Three wild pitches, a passed ball, and a balk helped the Hawkeyes move station-to-station.

Heller said it could have been a trying game for his team, and he credited his seniors for keeping the squad on the right track.