Iowa baseball drops Big Ten series finale to Nebraska

IOWA CITY – For the second straight weekend, University of Iowa baseball has claimed a series from a Big Ten foe.

On the other side of the coin, the Hawkeyes weren’t able to finish off the sweep on consecutive Sundays.

Nebraska salvaged a win in the series finale at Duane Banks Field, hitting three solo home runs and capitalizing on errors in the two-run eighth of a 6-4 victory over Iowa.

“We had an opportunity to make a big statement today and we laid an egg,” Heller said. “That’s the lesson. You have to show up every freaking day. We know ourselves. We’ve talked about this a million times. If we play like that, we’re going to lose to anybody.”

The Hawkeyes still had a chance, bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth. Pinch hitter Mitch Wood drove a ball to deep center that was caught a couple steps from the wall.

“I thought it had a chance but the wind had died down quite a bit,” Heller said. “You have to hit it pretty good to that part of the field, if the wind has died down. He did. It just wasn’t quite enough. Good effort by Mitch.”

Iowa had won nine of its last 10 with the only setback coming a week ago at Northwestern. The Hawkeyes (23-11, 14-4) aspire for a postseason run and that includes playing on Sunday at the conference tournament.

“The biggest lesson is we feel like we're a team that's going to make a run in the Big Ten tournament and championship day is on Sunday,” Iowa shortstop Gable Mitchell said. “If you're not ready to play on Sunday, you're going to get your butt beat.

“We’ve done a lot of really good things up until now. It just shows that you're vulnerable at any time if you're not all in.”

Iowa opened the scoring in the second inning, getting an RBI double from Jackson Beaman that chased home Kooper Schulte.

Nebraska answered with Josh Overbeek’s solo home run in the second, building a 3-1 lead thanks to solo home runs from Tyler Stone and Dylan Carey in the fourth.

Iowa tied the score in the bottom half, taking advantage of a couple Cornhusker errors and getting a game-tying sacrifice fly from Mitchell to score Andy Nelson. The Hawkeyes had an excellent opportunity to break things open that inning, which has been a trait of this team so far this season, but the clutch hit didn’t materialize.

Iowa also loaded the bases after a Daniel Rogers RBI double in the seventh but two strikeouts ended the inning and the threat.

“We had a few opportunities,” Heller said. “Poor execution. The one inning when they tried to give it to us with the errors, that was the one we needed to break it open that inning. With runners in scoring position, you get two strikeouts and we only end up getting one run that inning.

“I guess that’s the biggest story. We only had a couple of opportunities but we didn’t put a crooked number up there. That’s what we’ve been doing.”

Nebraska pitchers lived in the bottom of the zone all day. Heller said the Hawkeyes were impatient, swinging at low pitches instead of forcing the Cornhuskers to make offerings up in the zone to be able to drive the ball wit the wind. The result were a lot of groundballs that Nebraska took care of.

“They did exactly what you need to do on a day the wind was blowing,” Heller said. “They just didn’t throw the ball up.”

Reece Beuter pitched five innings and allowed three runs on five hits. He struck out seven without a walk, despite plunking two in the first, and settled for a no-decision to remain at 4-0.

“I thought he was a lot better today,” Heller said. “Didn’t like the first inning … I thought he really responded and went out and gave us a good start.”

Mitchell had a hit, a walk and RBI. Nelson reached base three times. Rogers led Iowa with two hits.

“He gets on base at a high clip,” Heller said. “He gives you a good at-bat almost every time up.”

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