Sometimes it’s not that you lost a game that frustrates you, it’s the way you lost it.

That was the case today, as the Hawkeyes dropped the series finale to Illinois 9-5. It marks the second straight year that the Illini have boarded the bus on Sunday with a series win in Iowa City. Illinois was able to plate five runs on one hit in the top of the ninth to secure the victory and that is a tough pill to swallow.

“We took a big step backwards with our bullpen,” said Coach Rick Heller. “We went to the guys that were on the board after yesterday and they just didn’t get it done. They weren’t very good. We gave up five runs on one hit, not much else to say. Can’t happen.”

The game started out on good footing with the Hawkeyes using the long ball to get ahead. Ben Tallman launched a mammoth 458-foot blast over the scoreboard in left field in the second inning to give Iowa the 1-0 lead.

Peyton Williams joined in on the fun in the third inning with a solo home run of his own and all the sudden Iowa had a 2-0 lead in the Sunday rubber match.

For 5.0 innings, it looked like Ty Langenberg was going to cruise for the Hawkeyes on the mound and put them in position to win the series. Ty logged four 1-2-3 innings in the first five of his outing, but the sixth inning took a turn, as the Illini dinged the sophomore for three hits. A passed ball brought Brody Harding in for the first Illinois run, while Jacob Campbell delivered a two-run single through the left side to give them the 3-2 lead.

“They’ve had timely hitting (against us),” said Heller on what has made Illinois successful against Iowa recently. “Look what Campbell did to us…Comes around a ground ball that finds a hole. If it had been five feet over it would have been a double play and we’re out of the inning.”

Taylor Jackson extended the Illini lead in the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run, but the Hawkeyes battled back in the bottom of the inning. Iowa worked a couple of walks against reliever Ryan Kutt, while Peyton Williams drove in a run with a ground out to cut the lead to 4-3. One batter later, the game was tied. Keaton Anthony delivered a game tying double off of reliever Ryan O’Hara to left center field to score Ben Wilmes and make it 4-4.

“How we fought back and tied it, it just looked like one of those days where we were going to have a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Feel good, walk it off and call it a tough, hard-fought weekend,” said Heller.

That is not how it unfolded.

Four Iowa bullpen arms took the mound in the top of the ninth inning and each one issued at least one walk to help along the Illinois offense. Over nearly 30 minutes, the game turned from a 4-4 tie to a 9-4 blowout, and it was not because of any type of hot hitting from the Illini.

The Hawkeyes got an RBI single from Izaya Fullard in the bottom of the ninth, but it was not nearly enough. Iowa dropped the series finale 9-5 and instead of a good feeling heading into next week, the team must deal with knowing this series got away from them.

“It stinks when you play really a large part of the weekend and you end up losing two out of three,” said Heller. “It is what it is. The bullpen didn’t pitch well and in tight ballgames, late you have to.”

Ty Langenberg went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, while striking out six and walking two. He was good enough to get the Hawkeyes the win, but it just wasn’t in the cards Sunday afternoon. Keaton Anthony and Izaya Fullard each logged two hits in the losing effort.

The loss drops Iowa to 16-12 on the season and all the way back to #78 in the RPI, while they reached as high as #58 after the win on Saturday. The Hawkeyes will travel on the road to face Milwaukee on Tuesday in some midweek action. The Panthers are 11-13 on the season and got swept by Purdue-Fort Wayne over the weekend. The game is scheduled for 4:00pm and will be streamed on ESPN+.