A sea of purple rained over the Duane Banks Field pitcher’s mound after the Loras College  baseball team struck out the final Iowa batter in its 3-1 victory Tuesday.

The Hawkeye fans in attendance left the ballpark in shock, while those sporting DuHawk attire applauded joyfully as the visiting team celebrated on the field.

On paper, it seemed like the Hawkeyes would plow through their 2022 home-opener. The DuHawks rolled into Iowa City with a 2-0 record, but as an NCAA Division III program, they weren’t expected to compete at the same level as the Division I Hawkeyes, who stepped on the turf with a 4-2 record.

Behind 6.2 innings of shutdown pitching from DuHawk Davis Pasco and a bullpen that allowed just one run, Loras pulled off an improbable upset. The Hawkeyes failed to score until the ninth inning, when first baseman Peyton Williams hit an RBI single.

“That just can’t happen,” Hawkeye second baseman Brendan Sher said. “We had two weekends to play. We came out here on our home turf, beautiful weather, we have no excuses to play like that. We’ve prepared as hard as anybody in the country, and to play like that on all levels is just not acceptable.

“There’s no excuses for that, and we can’t be doing that, and that’s not the team that we are.”

Iowa’s offense struggled for most of the night. Though the Hawkeyes outhit the DuHawks, 9-7, they left 13 runners on base.

Iowa baseball head coach Rick Heller said the Hawkeyes had good energy before the game, but every mistake cost them.

“For most of the game, they pushed us hard, and we just didn’t hit,” Heller said. “Simple as that. A night like tonight, we just got to see the ball up, you got to barrel it up, and we just didn’t do that.”

Big picture

The Hawkeyes lost their third consecutive game and fell to 4-3 on the season.

Loras College recorded just its second victory over Iowa in the past 17 meetings between the two teams. 

Relief pitching superb

Hawkeye starting pitcher Jared Simpson left the contest after surrendering two earned runs and five hits in three innings.

Iowa’s relief pitchers — Luke Llewellyn, Ben Beutel, Jacob Henderson, and Casey Day — allowed zero runs and two hits while striking out eight batters.

“I was happy to see that,” Heller said. “Some guys were in some tough spots, and they worked it out. Saw some positive things from the guys that threw.”

Up next

The Hawkeyes will return to Duane Banks Field on Wednesday to face Cornell College, another NCAA Division III program.

The contest will count as a regular season game for the Hawkeyes but as an exhibition matchup for the Rams. The Rams are 0-2 in the 2022 campaign.

First pitch is at 4:05 p.m., and the game will be streamed on Big Ten Network+.