“Tough pill to swallow” has been the phrase to sum up the Iowa Baseball teams losses this season and tonight was another instance. Six of UC Irvine’s seven runs reached base via the walk, as they defeated the Hawkeyes 7-6 in a late-night weekend opener.
Once again, Iowa got out in front to begin the game, with three runs in the first five innings of the game. Keaton Anthony knocked in Michael Seegers with a sacrifice fly to open the scoring in the third. Anthony Mangano led off the top of the fourth with a triple and Brendan Sher followed with an RBI ground out to put Iowa up 2-0.
Keaton Anthony kept his hot hitting going in the fifth, with a one out double, while Ty Snep singled to move him to third base. Mangano extended the Iowa lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly of his own and everything was going in the Hawkeyes favor.
Adam Mazur got through four scoreless innings, recording six strikeouts, but unfortunately, he lost his command in the fifth inning. Three straight one out walks loaded the bases and a wild pitch brought the first Anteaters run across the plate. Dub Gleed followed with a two-run single and that tied the game at 3.
Will Christophersen came in out of the ‘pen and hadn’t allowed a walk through three appearances, but walked back-to-back UCI batters to begin the sixth. A poor balk call by the field umpire allowed Irvine to take the lead, while a hit by pitch knocked Christophersen from the game.
Jacob Henderson came in and Nathan Church kept the rally going with an RBI single. Then things really unraveled for the Hawkeyes. A wild pitch scored Woody Hadeen, while Church tried to advance to third and a wild throw from McCleary at catcher allowed him to score. Suddenly, over 40 minutes, the Hawkeyes watched their 3-0 lead turn into a 7-3 deficit.
Duncan Davitt came in and settled things down in the last two innings, striking out four and Iowa tried to rally off of it. In the seventh, Keaton Anthony delivered an RBI single to cut the lead to 7-4, while Brett McCleary drove in two more with a single of his own.
UCI’s Troy Taylor ultimately, was the savior for the Anteaters. He entered in the eighth, with his team clinging to a 7-6 lead and he delivered in crunch time. Taylor faced a tying run in scoring position with less than two outs in the eighth and ninth, but got out of both jams to finish off the win for the Anteaters.
It is the fourth time in six losses, that the Hawkeyes have taken the lead and then faltered down the stretch. Over two innings, UC Irvine scored seven runs on two hits, while six walks and an error helped things along. The pitching staff struck out 10+ batters for the tenth time this season and allowed just five hits, but seven total walks did them in.
Keaton Anthony extended his on-base streak to 12 games, with two hits, a walk and two runs scored, as well as two RBIs. Michael Seegers (3), Peyton Williams (3) and Anthony Mangano (2) each recorded multiple hits in the game. Izaya Fullard went 0-2 in his return to the lineup, and it was clear the coaching staff was easing him back into things, when he left the game in the fifth inning.
The Hawkeyes fall to 6-6 on the season, but still have two chances to pick up RPI resume builders against the Anteaters this weekend. Tomorrow’s game is once again at 8:00pm and will be streamed on ESPN+. The pitching matchup is Dylan Nedved vs Nick Pinto.
