Sophomore right-handed pitcher Adam Mazur returned to the Friday night spot for the Hawkeyes in their series opener against Minnesota at Duane Banks Field.

In the Hawkeyes’ 9-3 victory, Mazur allowed just one earned run in the top of the sixth inning. Two defensive errors in the first inning plated two Gopher runs.

“I thought he was outstanding,” head coach Rick Heller said. “He was absolutely dominant, you know, we let him down defensively the first inning … he was really sharp tonight, really dialed in, and maintained his velocity to the end.”

Mazur went a career-long eight innings in the outing. The sophomore from Minnesota notched 11 strikeouts, one fewer than his career high of 12.

He also issued zero walks for his third win of the season. Mazur’s record in nine appearances in 2022 is 3-2.

“I just kind of settled in,” Mazur said postgame. “Really had the defense help me out there, making the plays that we made, we were kind of rolling at that point.” 

Mazur started the 2022 season in the Friday night spot, but a hip injury pushed him back to the Saturday spot for a couple weeks. Now, he’s fully recovered.

“He’s finally healthy,” Heller said “He’s finally 100 percent for the second week in a row where he hasn’t felt anything in his hip since week three. So, you know, he toughed it out for a while.”

Mazur, who threw fewer than 100 pitches, said he could have returned for the ninth inning to have a chance for a complete game his coaches deemed it necessary.

“But I agree with the coaches’ decision [to pull],” Mazur said. “Keep guys fresh and keep guys going. There’s no need to switch one weekend when we got a lot more baseball we’re wanting to play this year.”

Big picture

The Hawkeyes are now 18-12 in 2022 with a 4-3 conference mark. 

According to Baseball America’s April 13 report, Iowa is on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament field of 64. Right now, the Hawkeyes are a part of the ‘first four out’ of the national tournament.

Nedved pitches out of a jam

Senior pitcher Dylan Nedved put himself into a jam at the top of the ninth inning.

The Hawkeyes were leading, 9-3, and the Gophers loaded the bases with no outs with Nedved on the mound.

But the senior, who recently returned to the bullpen from the Friday night starter spot, struck out two straight batters and forced a groundout to end the game.

“It was good to get Dylan out there and get back into that frame of mind that he needs to be when he closes again,” Heller said. “Good opportunity to do it tonight. And, you know, he came through.”

Up next

Iowa and Minnesota will meet again on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. The Hawkeyes and Gophers will wrap up the series on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., and both games will be streamed on BTN+.