The Iowa Baseball team bounced back from a disappointing loss on Tuesday to Loras College, as they blanked Cornell College 8-0 behind 19 strikeouts from the Hawkeye pitching staff.

“Really happy with the pitching staff today,” said Coach Rick Heller. “They really set the tone for the game. We came out and jumped on them early. That was great to see after yesterday.”

“I think we did a really good job of flushing yesterday’s performance,” said Will Mulflur. “We knew it was bad…Just have got to get better everyday and we came out with a new outlook and just got to work.”

The Hawkeyes jumped on the Rams in the first inning with RBI singles from Brendan Sher and Andy Nelson, as well as an RBI groundout from Brayden Frazier. Freshman Ben Wilmes got his first hit of his career in the second inning and later scored on a passed ball to make it 4-0. Keaton Anthony continued his hot start with an RBI double to make it 5-0 and the Hawkeyes were off and running.

“I thought we had great at bats up and down the lineup. Guys really battled all day long,” said Heller.

In the fifth inning, Hawkeye hitters drew four straight walks off of Rams reliever Chad Dzierba to plate two more runs and make it 7-0. Tacoma CC transfer Will Mulflur lit up the scoreboard one more time in the eighth inning with a solo home run for his first career hit as a Hawkeye.

“Second at-bat (of the year), first one didn’t really go my way. Been in the back of my mind for a couple weeks,” said Mulflur. “Looking for something straight, got it. Kind of middle-in and I put a good swing on it.”

Duncan Davitt started on the mound for the Hawkeyes and threw three scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out six, while walking just one. Freshman Chas Wheatley threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his first career outing. Tyson James, Ben DeTaeye and Brody Brecht each threw scoreless innings, while racking up seven strikeouts. Then, Keaton Anthony closed out the game, with two scoreless innings and four strikeouts.

“If we limit free bases and we really battle offensively, I feel like our pitching staff, most of the time, is going to give us a chance to win,” said Heller. “That’s who we have to be. We have to be super stingy with the freebies and our pitching staff has to pound the strikeout. Then offensively we just have to figure out a way to score enough runs.”

15 Iowa players got at bats in the game and 11 of them got on base at least once, while Andy Nelson had a pair of hits.

The Hawkeyes are back in action on Friday, as they take on Wichita State in the Frisco Classic. Iowa will look to get revenge on the Shockers, after dropping the Sunday game in Corpus Christi 8-7. The game is at 1:00pm and will be streamed on FloBaseball.

Notes

- The Iowa pitching staff has struck out 114 batters in 102 innings of work

- Chas Wheatley and Mitch Wood made their Iowa debuts

- Will Mulflur and Ben Wilmes each recorded their first hits as Hawkeyes

- Keaton Anthony has reached base in all 8 games