On a night where the offense left 13 runners on base, Adam Mazur was Adam Mazur.

That meant the Hawkeyes offense just needed a couple of runs. They got five and picked up the 5-0 series opening win against Michigan State in East Lansing.

“It was good to see the offense get off to a good start, put some runs up and threaten most of the first 5-6 innings,” said Coach Rick Heller. “We weren’t getting the two out hits to break it open, but the way Adam pitched was fantastic.”

Mazur would probably say that he didn’t quite have his best stuff this evening, but even so, the redshirt sophomore tossed 7.0 scoreless innings and racked up seven strikeouts.

Shutdown outings has almost become a routine for Mazur, as he has gone 6+ innings in each of his last seven outings dating back to the beginning of April. Over his last seven starts, Mazur has thrown 53.2 innings and allowed just seven earned runs. Tonight, he scattered six Spartan baserunners and was never in any sort of trouble, but 92 pitches forced him out of the game before he could get into the eighth inning.

“He took the lead and went out and pounded the strike zone. He did a great job. I tried to get him out a little earlier with the short turnaround next week and was able to do that,” said Coach Heller. “Ben Beutel came in and was really good to close it down.”

The Hawkeyes hopped on MSU starter Conner Tomasic in the first couple of innings to build and early lead. Izaya Fullard pushed the game’s first run across the plate with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Then in the second inning, Kyle Huckstorf delivered a two-run double to make it 3-0. Huckstorf added his first home run of the season in the fourth inning and Tomasic was out of the game after 4.0 innings.

Ryan Szczerpaniak came in from the bullpen for the Spartans and did an incredible job of saving arms for the rest of the weekend. Szczerpaniak completed the game’s last five innings and stranded seven Hawkeye baserunners in the process.

Ben Beutel came in for the last six outs and was outstanding. The senior collected a pair of strikeouts and picked off Dillon Kark at first base to end the game. Cade Moss added an insurance run with an RBI single in the top of the ninth and Iowa picked up the 5-0 victory.

It was a good night at the plate for a number of Hawkeye hitters, starting with Cade Moss. The sophomore has provided a spark to the Iowa offense over the last couple of games and collected three hits on the day. Brendan Sher had three hits, while Kyle Huckstorf had two hits.

“Cade continued to swing a hot bat, he had a great night and Kyle had three RBIs and a home run. It was a great way to start the series.”

With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 29-16 on the season and 13-6 in Big Ten play. They currently sit at #68 in the RPI rankings, while a sweep of the weekend could get Iowa up near #60. Connor Schultz will take the mound tomorrow for the Hawkeyes, while the Spartans have not yet named a starter. First pitch is set for 3:05pm, but rain is in the forecast for East Lansing.