Hawkeyes rally from tough loss, beat Cornell

IOWA CITY - Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller was concerned a tough loss at Bradley on Tuesday and a late arrival in Iowa City could spill into a rough outing last night against Cornell.

But the Hawkeyes (24-10) alleviated those concerns with a strong offensive performance in a 9-1 win at Duane Banks Field.

'It went pretty much as planned, and it doesn't always happen that way, especially after a long night last night where we didn't get back until about 1 in the morning,” Heller said. 'I was a little worried about the guys' energy, but they came out with a really good effort ... we were able to accomplish pretty much everything we wanted to.”

Iowa had scored four or fewer runs in its previous six games in a 3-3 stretch. With a 1-0 lead and the bases loaded in the third inning, Iowa left fielder John Barrett doubled into the left-field corner, plating two runs and pushing Iowa ahead 3-0. Right fielder Joel Booker scored one batter later on shortstop Nick Roscetti's sacrifice fly to give Iowa a 4-0 lead.

Cornell (11-12) managed two hits, and former Iowa City Regina prep Nate Streb scored the Rams' only run in the top of the fifth. Iowa then added four runs in the bottom of the inning.

'We've been struggling with the bats lately but (last night) was really good to go out there and get a solid nine runs, double-digit hits (12) and a really good confidence booster going into this weekend against Northwestern,” said first baseman Tyler Peyton, who ranks seventh in Big Ten batting average at .351.

Iowa, the Big Ten co-leader at 8-1, plays host to the Wildcats (9-24, 3-6 B1G) in a three-game series this weekend.

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