After suffering a loss in the first game of the series, Hawkeye baseball bounced back to win two in a row to take a 2-1 series lead heading into the final bout on Sunday.

Iowa came back from a 7-3 deficit to take the first game on Feb. 23 before winning the second, 6-4.

“It shows a lot about their toughness,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said in a release. “It was ugly at times and we had to overcome a lot of things, but we found a way, guys stepped up when they needed to. To come out with two wins today, it gives us a chance to win the series [Sunday]. It was outstanding.”

Iowa scored a season-high 10 runs in the first game of the doubleheader, picking up a 10-8 victory over the Rainbow Warriors. The Hawkeyes’ production at the plate proved to be impressive, as five different players recorded multi-hit games.

Hawaii took a 2-0 lead off Jack Dreyer in the first inning, but the Hawkeyes jumped on the Rainbow Warrior pitching from the start, racking up 3 runs of their own.

Hawaii took advantage of its time at the plate after, though, taking advantage of reliever Duncan Davitt and four free bases by scoring 5 runs.

After the outburst from the Hawaii offense, Trace Hoffman entered the game and calmed the waters for Iowa. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and allowed only 1 hit in 3.2 scoreless innings to earn his first victory on the mound for the Hawkeyes.

“You have to come in and throw strikes and do everything you can to stop the bleeding and minimize the damage they had,” Hoffman said in a release. “I try to do my best, limit damage and get out of it as fast as possible.”

Iowa then scored 4 runs in the fourth and 3 more in the seventh to walk away with a victory in Game 2 of the series.

“We overcame a lot in Game 1,” Heller said in a release. “Things didn’t go our way, we had to go to the bullpen early and guys stepped up in the bullpen.”

In Game 2, Iowa came out with a 6-4 win to take the 2-1 series lead.

Hawaii once again jumped out to an early lead, scoring 2 in the second inning off Iowa starter Cam Baumann.

But it didn’t take long for the Hawkeyes to regain the lead. Iowa loaded the bases in the third inning with two outs, and senior Tanner Wetrich unleashed a bomb over the left-field fence to give the Hawkeyes a 4-2 lead on his first-career grand slam.

“I have never hit a grand slam in my career,” Wetrich said in a release. “It’s tough to get one out of this park, but I happened to get a barrel on it and it went.”

Junior Zeb Adreon came through with insurance in the eighth, singling in 2 more runs to give Iowa the 6-2 lead.

Hawaii threatened again in the eighth, adding 2 runs on an RBI single and an RBI triple, but Grant Leonard got the Hawkeyes out of the inning and retired the first three batters in the ninth to earn his first-career save.

“My mindset is I am the best pitcher in the world, nobody can beat me, I have the best stuff out there,” Leonard said in a release. “I have to have that confidence every time and when I do that I feel great. I threw a changeup away; it was a little unorthodox, but it got the job done.”

Iowa will look to take the series in Game 4 in Hawaii at 5:05 p.m. on Sunday.