One sacrifice fly off the bat of senior catcher Brett McCleary proved to be the deciding factor in Iowa baseball’s 9-8 win over Bradley Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes and Braves battled for 11 innings at Dozer Park in Peoria, Illinois.

To get through the contest, Iowa head coach Rick Heller called upon 10 different pitchers. The Hawkeyes’ starting hurler, Cam Baumann, pitched one inning, surrendering three hits, four runs, and two walks.

No Iowa pitcher threw more than two innings Wednesday. Junior reliever Duncan Davitt was credited with a win at the conclusion of the four-hour, 37-minute affair.

The Hawkeyes trailed the Braves, 6-3, early in Wednesday’s contest. But Iowa scored five runs across the eighth, ninth, 10th, and 11th frames to win the game. The Hawkeyes have now won seven games this season in come-from-behind fashion.

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Iowa is now 15-10 on the 2022 season. The Hawkeyes have trailed in just under half the games they’ve won.

Iowa is currently in fifth place in the Big Ten Conference standings behind Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland.

Up next

The Hawkeyes will return to Duane Banks Field this weekend to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini. The three-game series was originally scheduled to be played across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Due to Friday’s weather forecast, however, the series will be contested on just Saturday and Sunday. The Hawkeyes and Illini will take part in a doubleheader on Saturday and single game Sunday.

A start time for Saturday’s action has yet to be announced. Per an Iowa Athletics release, Saturday start times will be dictated by weather and announced later this week.

All three of this weekend’s Iowa-Illinois games will stream live on BTN+.