It may have been cold in Iowa City this evening, but the bats were hot, as they stung the Gophers pitching staff for nine runs on 12 hits. The Hawkeyes picked up the 9-3 win in their first Friday game since March 25th against their northern border rival.

Adam Mazur took the ball with a heavy heart, as he mourns the loss of his grandfather, who passed away earlier in the week. Tonight, he turned in one of the best performances of his career and Adam says he knows his grandfather was watching him.

“I just went out there and played,” said Mazur. “Knowing him, that’s what he would have wanted. I tried to go out there and do the best I could. I knew that he was watching.”

The game didn’t get out the best start, as the Gophers jumped on board 2-0 in the first inning with a two-run double from Chase Stanke. The RBI hit came on the heels of a two-out error. Mazur retired just two of his first six batters faced, but from then on, he was dominate. The redshirt sophomore retired 21/24 through the eighth inning and allowed just one more run in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Brady Counsell.

The final line for Mazur?

Career-high 8.0 innings, three runs, six hits, 11 strikeouts, no walks.

“I thought he was outstanding. He was absolutely dominate,” said Coach Rick Heller. “He shut them down in the second inning and that was a good sign (after a rough first). He was really sharp tonight, really dialed in and maintained his velocity until the end.”

“He was super motivated tonight and out there with a heavy heart.”

Mazur had been dealing with some hip pain after taking a line drive off it earlier in the season, which caused him to run into some trouble at times, but his last couple of outings have been much better. This evening, his fastball stayed in the 95-97 mph range into the eighth inning, despite throwing 98 pitches.

At the plate, Keaton Anthony answered the Gophers early runs with a two-run home run to tie the game up in the bottom of the first inning. The home run was his seventh of the season and tied Peyton Williams for the team lead.

In the second inning, the Hawkeyes took advantage of a couple of free bases from Minnesota to take over the game. Ben Tallman drove in a run with an RBI double, while the big play came later with the bases loaded. Michael Seegers sent a shot to the LF warning track and Boston Merila was in position to make the play, but dropped it, allowing two runs to score. Peyton Williams followed with RBI single to make it 6-2.

Iowa scored four runs on three hits, while Minnesota starter Sam Ireland helped things along with a walk and hit by pitch.

Minnesota cut into the lead in the sixth inning, but Peyton Williams answered with a solo home run just inside the RF foul pole to extend the Iowa lead to 7-3, as well as retake the team lead in home runs with eight.

Iowa added on in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly from Peyton Williams, while Keaton Anthony drove in another run with a double to push the lead to 9-3. Williams and Anthony combined for five hits and six RBIs, while Ben Tallman added three hits of his own.

Dylan Nedved came on for the ninth inning and loaded the bases, but worked out of it with a couple of strikeouts to secure the 9-3 Iowa victory. Despite a tough inning, it was scoreless and Nedved is once again back in the bullpen rotation.

“It was good to get Dylan out there and get back into that frame of mind that he needs to be in when he closes the game out,” said Heller. “Good opportunity to do it tonight and he came through.”

With Nedved back into the bullpen, Coach Heller thinks that it can be a boost to the rest of the guys, but says the rest of the weekend will be a test to see if others can perform.

With the win, Iowa moves to 18-12 on the season and will look to continue their quest towards a series sweep tomorrow with Connor Schultz on the mound. It will be his first weekend start since the end of February.

“We did start him against Milwaukee just to give him an inning, so he could get back in that (starting) mode again,” said Heller. “He was able to go through his normal routine again and get a practice at it.”

The Gophers will go with JP Massey on the hill tomorrow. The game is at 2:05pm and will be streamed on ESPN+.