The Hawkeyes have now lost four consecutive Big Ten games.
The chilly, windy Friday afternoon at Duane Banks Field caused Iowa baseball's bats to to take a long time to thaw out.
By the time the Hawkeyes' bats awoke, it was far too late. Rival Minnesota's (18-11, 3-7 Big Ten) 7-1 lead was too much to overcome. Iowa (16-12, 3-7) dropped its fourth consecutive Big Ten game.
Right-hander Jaron Bleeker (3-4) took the loss for Iowa on the mound, while Cole Selvig (4-1) secured the victory for Minnesota. The Hawkeye pitching staff yielded 10 walks and continued the growing season trend of leaving their offense in a massive early hole.
What Happened?
Bleeker (4.94 season ERA) got the start for the Hawkeyes, who were desperate to get off the mat after getting swept by UCLA last weekend. Bleeker issued a walk to begin the game, and that was enough to trigger a three-run inning for Minnesota. A one-out, two-strike balk helped set up Davis Hamilton's two-run double, and Charlie Sutherland tacked on an additional run with an RBI groundout.
Gable Mitchell continued his dominant start at the dish with a solo home run to lead off the home half of the inning, but Gopher starter Selvig retired the side after that to preserve Minnesota's lead.
At this point, the small crowd inside chilly Duane Banks Field probably realized they would be seeing a lot of runs on this Friday afternoon. The wind was swirling throughout the ballpark, which favored the batters.
Bleeker was pulled in the third after allowing another double to Hamilton, who came around and scored on another RBI groundout. That tacked a fourth run to Bleeker's tally. Tyler Guerin didn't fare much better, however, giving up two more runs to further push Iowa into a hole, 6-1.
The Hawkeyes had some chances to creep back into the game during the middle innings, but either consistently left runners stranded on base or ran into dominant pitching from Selvig. The junior had little trouble with Iowa's lineup after Mitchell's leadoff homer, recording 6.1 innings of two-run, seven-strikeout ball before encountering his first jam in the seventh.
The Hawkeyes loaded the bases with only one out, and Mitchell delivered a clutch two-out, two-run double to make it a 7-4 deficit. Selvig remained in the game, and settled down to get Caleb Wulf to ground out to second to end the inning.
Minnesota responded with two runs in the eighth, ending Iowa's hopes of making a rally. The crowd at Banks Field slowly began filing for the exits by that point, and that was that.
Up Next
Iowa returns to action on Saturday for the second game of its three-game set against Minnesota. First pitch from Duane Banks Field is set for 2:02 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.
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