Cal-Irvine starting pitcher Trenton Denholm tossed a gem on Saturday, but the Hawkeye staff was a little better.

Iowa kept the No. 18 Anteaters scoreless for a 1-0 win to take the series for the Hawkeyes’ sixth series victory in a row and their fourth over a top-30 team.

“Sometimes you just have to find a way to get it done,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said. “Today was one of those days.”

On most days, Denholm’s stat line – 1 run on 6 hits in with 8 strikeouts in eight innings – will get a team a win.

But Iowa’s staff, consisting of Cam Baumann, Jason Foster, and Grant Leonard, one-upped the Anteater starter.

Baumann gave up 7 hits in five innings of work and forced himself to work out of jams multiple times. Cal-Irvine had runners on the corners in the first and fourth innings, but Baumann got two groundouts to keep the Anteaters off the board.

Reliever Jason Foster took over in the sixth and posted a stellar outing. The Grove City, Ohio, native retired six-straight Cal-Irvine batters in two hitless innings.

After Foster provided a steady bridge, the closer Leonard came in and did what he does best. Thrust into a six-out situation, Leonard tossed two hitless innings of his own, fanning three batters for his 12th save of the season.

The performances of Cole McDonald and Trace Hoffman on Friday allowed Leonard an extra day of rest. With a 1-0 lead on his side, Leonard never planned on blowing his first save of the season, even against a potent Anteater offense.

“I talked to [pitching coach Tom Gorzelanny] and said that I’m willing to go as long as they need me to go, whenever they want,” Leonard said. “Getting late in the season, if they want to depend on me, I’m absolutely available for that.”

The lone run of the game came in the fifth when designated hitter Tanner Padgett skied a ball to deep right field. Cal-Irvine right fielder Konnor Zickefoose lost the ball in the sun, however, allowing Padgett to reach second.

Lorenzo Elion came in to pinch run and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Then, Tanner Wetrich took advantage and hit a rocket up the middle that ricocheted off Denholm’s hand to give Iowa the only run it needed.

“Knowing that the opportunities are very slim in that game, you want to make the most of that at bat,” Wetrich said. “I feel like I did that.”

Iowa hasn’t swept a team since it took all three games from then-No. 23 Illinois March 29-31, but it’s knocking at the door once again. The Hawkeyes have come out on top in the first two games of their last two series.

A series win over a ranked team like Cal-Irvine is big, but a sweep could do wonders for Iowa’s postseason goals.

“I think it’s a big feather in our cap, obviously,” Heller said. “You play the teams on your schedule, and all the teams we’ve played that have been ranked or high in the RPI, we’ve had a lot of success against.

“Hopefully, we can come out tomorrow and play well like we’ve been doing. If we get another one, that’d be great, but if not, then we just have to keep playing well and give ourselves a chance to win.”