By Adam Hensley
The Hawkeyes (22-12) pulled off a series win against Nebraska (21-13), winning two out of the teams’ three games this past weekend in Lincoln.
Iowa dropped the final game of the series, 8-6, after Nebraska turned it on in crunch time.After the Hawkeyes took a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Huskers churned out 3 runs, which proved to be too much for Iowa to overcome.
Four of Iowa’s five pitchers gave up at least 1 run, and every pitcher allowed at least 1 hit.
The Hawkeyes went through three pitchers during the Huskers’ rally in the eighth — Nick Nelson, Josh Martsching, and Zach Daniels.
“We didn’t get it done in the bullpen today,” head coach Rick Heller said in a release. “We kept fighting back offensively but couldn’t hold onto a lead.”
A late rally put Iowa on top. The Hawkeyes’ seventh-inning surge came after Matt Hoeg singled down the left field line and reached second base on a fielding error. Both Robert Neustrom and Jake Adams scored, giving the Hawkeyes their first lead of the game.
Hoeg finished 2-for-4 on the day. Aside from him, two other Hawkeyes registered 2 hits — Adams and Neustrom.
In Iowa’s 5-3 victory on April 15, Iowa’s clutch gene came alive in the seventh inning in a game Heller tabbed as “a great ball game.”
“It was very intense; both teams played well,” he said in a release.
Adams connected on a 2-run double into right field, and Neustrom followed with a double of his own. Adams scored, putting Iowa up 5-2.
Iowa’s Ryan Erickson (1-1) and Nebraska’s Derek Burkamper (2-3) each pitched for at least six innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs.
The Hawkeyes fell into a 1-0 hole after the second inning but answered with 2 runs in the fourth.
It took Iowa 10 innings to down the Huskers, 7-6, on April 14.
Mitchell Boe, a hero earlier this season after his late-inning heroics propelled Iowa to victories against UNLV, drove home the game-winning run on an RBI single.
Nick Gallagher, one of the conference’s best on the mound, only allowed 1 run through three innings, then gave up 4 in the fourth.
He concluded his outing by walking in three-straight runs with the bases loaded.
“It wasn’t a clean game, by any stretch,” Heller said in a release. “But our guys found a way to keep fighting.”
After Gallagher’s exit, Iowa’s bullpen flexed its muscles.
Daniels, Nelson, and Martsching allowed 6 hits and only 1 run over 6.2 innings.
Martsching finished as the only Hawkeye pitcher to blank the Huskers in the hitting department. He also struck out three batters in his 2.1 innings in his first win of the season.
Iowa will travel to Peoria, Illinois, to clash with Bradley for the second time this season on Wednesday. The Hawkeyes and Braves met previously on March 22, and Iowa came out on top, 12-1.
