Poor pitching doomed the Iowa baseball team Saturday at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes lost to the Purdue Boilermakers, 10-6.

 Iowa’s starting pitcher, Connor Schultz, tossed 2.2 innings before he was pulled. The graduate transfer allowed three earned runs on five hits.

Schultz has struggled in each of his last two starts. Against Nebraska on May 1, Schultz gave up eight earned runs in 2.1 innings of action.

“It was more command last week,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said of Schultz. “This week, it was just more location within the zone. Everything was up, and they were hammering it.”

 Dylan Nedved replaced Schultz in the third inning. Though he left the frame unscathed, Nedved had issues in the fourth inning as the Boilermakers notched a solo home run and a two-RBI double to push their lead to 6-0.

 “I felt like getting him in when we did, if he was sharp, we could keep it right where it was and give us a chance to come back,” Heller said. “Just didn’t work out.”

 The Hawkeyes cut their deficit down to 6-4 in the fifth inning. Then, Purdue added another run to its total in the seventh.

 Three Boilermaker runs in the eighth sealed the game, as the Hawkeyes only mustered two runs in the last two innings of the contest.

Big picture

The Hawkeyes dropped to 27-16 overall and 11-6 in Big Ten play with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Iowa is fourth in the Big Ten standings, giving the Hawkeyes a solid shot at making the eight-team conference tournament in Omaha, Nebraska, May 25-29.

The Hawkeyes are on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, as Baseball America projected them as the last at-large bid on May 4.

Anthony smashes a long ball

With two outs in the fifth inning, Iowa designated hitter Keaton Anthony hit a home run to left field that traveled 404 feet with a 102 mph exit velocity.

The hit plated three runs and narrowed the Hawkeyes’ deficit to two. Anthony has hit nine home runs this season. First baseman Peyton Williams leads the Hawkeyes this season with 10 home runs.

Up next

The Hawkeyes will finish their series against the Boilermakers on Sunday, with the first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

If the Hawkeyes win the rubber match, it will be their fifth conference series win of the season. Iowa’s lone league series loss came to Illinois April 9-10.

Ty Langenberg is the Hawkeyes’ probable Sunday starter, and he’s recorded a 3.45 ERA in 44.1 innings in 2022.