Credit to Dylan Nedved. In his first career start on the mound, he did everything he could to get the Hawkeyes a win and it just did not happen.

The redshirt senior allowed just two runs, but that was all UC Irvine needed, as they picked up the 2-1 victory and clinched a series victory over the Hawkeyes.

Nick Pinto had a fabulous outing on the mound for the Anteaters and it set the tone for the entire night. Pinto went 6.0 innings, striking out nine, while holding the Hawkeyes to no runs on four hits and a pair of walks. Despite the performance, Iowa squandered bases loaded in the 2nd and two on, no outs in the fifth inning. That proved to be costly.

As mentioned, Nedved was pretty good on the mound, but on a night where the offense struggled to score, pretty good was not good enough. In the fourth, Justin Torres reached on a hit by pitch and UCI took a 1-0 lead later in the inning on a Ben Fitzgerald RBI single.

The Anteaters brought reliever Gordon Ingebritson in to the game in the seventh, which looked to spell bad news for the Hawkeyes. Coming into the matchup, Ingebritson had posted a 0.53 ERA over 17.0 innings of work, but Michael Seegers had other ideas. Seegers ripped a shot down the RF line for a triple, while an errant throw from 2B Woody Hadeen allowed Seegers to score and tie the game 1-1.

The tie game however, would not last long. Ben Fitzgerald picked us his second hit of the game with a double to begin the bottom of the seventh and Connor McGuire singled to set the table for pinch-hitter Jacob Castro. Castro laid down a good bunt and Nedved lost his footing going for the ball, allowing Fitzgerald to score and regain a 2-1 lead for UCI. Nedved went 7.0 innings, allowing just two runs on four hits, two walks and three hit by pitches. He struck out four UCI batters.

Ben Beutel came out of the bullpen and pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Hawkeyes. The start to his season has been a bright spot during a disappointing part to the season. Ingebritson surrendered a leadoff double to Keaton Anthony in the eighth, but the reliever retired the final six batters of the game to secure the win for UC Irvine.

Keaton Anthony extended his on-base streak to 13 games, with a walk and a double, while Ty Snep had a pair of singles. Brett McCleary reached base twice with a single and a walk, but overall, the Hawkeyes struck out ten times and were 0/8 with runners in scoring position.

Shockingly, Iowa has outhit UCI 22-10 over two games, but free bases are 12-4 in favor the Irvine pitching staff and that has been the story. Seven of the Anteaters eight runs scored have stemmed from free bases, while on the flip side, six of Iowa’s seven runs had to reach base via hits.

With the loss, the Hawkeyes fall to 6-7 on the season and UCI clinches the series victory. With Texas Tech, Central Michigan and Michigan on the schedule in the coming weeks, Iowa is digging themselves quite the hole when it comes to NCAA Tournament chances. The Hawkeyes will finish up the weekend against UCI tomorrow at 3:00pm. Once again, the game will be streamed on ESPN+. The Anteaters will throw Danny Suarez, while Iowa’s starter is still to be announced.