Iowa baseball bounced back with a 6-1 win over Bradley on Wednesday night at Duane Banks Field — just one day after the Hawkeyes were run-ruled by Illinois-Chicago on the road.

“Yesterday was a tough day for us,” sophomore Keaton Anthony said. “We struggled offensively and pitching-wise. Today we bounced back and made sure we did the things we had to do to get a win. This was a win we needed tonight.

The Hawkeyes struggled in multiple areas against the Flames on Tuesday, suffering a 14-3 loss in seven innings. Iowa walked 12 batters, hitting three, and struggled to get runs across the board. But head coach Rick Heller was happy with how the team bounced back on Wednesday.

“It was good to see,” said Heller. “UIC beat us up pretty good, and it was nice to see four or five pitchers go out there and not walk a batter. Really pumped on how our pitchers tonight just went out there and accepted the challenge from last night and attacked the zone.” 

The pitchers did just that on Wednesday, giving up only one run on three hits. 

Freshman Aaron Savary started on the mound for the Hawkeyes and pitched two innings, allowing just one hit. 

The Hawkeyes opened up the scoring early with back-to-back home runs from senior Brennen Dorighi and sophomore Raider Tello in the bottom of the first inning.

The Braves got a run back in the top of the fourth with a home run from junior Carson Husmann. But the Hawkeyes broke the game open in the fifth inning, as Tello notched a two-RBI single and junior Kyle Huckstorf brought in another run in the next at-bat.

The Hawkeyes tallied one more run in the eighth inning, as sophomore Sam Petersen — who has missed the last nine games with a finger injury — reached first on an error, stole second, and scored on a single from Anthony.

“You can just see in the short amount of time how dynamic a player he can be for you,” Heller said of Petersen. “It’ll be great to get Sam back in the mix.”

Iowa will play Big Ten leader Nebraska this weekend at Duane Banks Field. The Cornhuskers are coming into Iowa City with a 7-2 conference record, but Heller said the focus is on taking care of themselves.

“We want to get back to being consistent like tonight,” Heller said. “You can live with whatever happens if you play hard like that. The big message is to go out and fight, show a lot of toughness, and be the aggressor.”