Iowa baseball unable to complete sweep vs. Nebraska, drops series finale

USA Today

14-04-2025

Iowa baseball unable to complete sweep vs. Nebraska, drops series finale
After claiming their sixth conference series of the season with a come-from-behind 11-6 win on Saturday, Iowa baseball (23-11, 14-4 Big Ten) was unable to complete the series sweep vs. Nebraska (16-20, 5-10) as the Cornhuskers would prevail 6-4 in Game 3 from Daune Bank Field on Sunday afternoon.
While the Hawkeyes finished with a slight 8-7 advantage in hits, the Cornhuskers were able to do more damage with their opportunities. Not helping Iowa was the fact that the Hawkeyes left 11 base-runners stranded throughout the game.
"We had a few opportunities and just had poor execution," said head coach Rick Heller. "The one inning where they tried to give it to us with the errors -- that was the one where we needed to break it open. With runners in scoring positon, you get two strikeouts, and we only end up getting one run that inning. I guess that's the biggest story is that we only had a couple oppurtunites, but we didn't put a crooked number up there, and that's what we've been doing. Today it just didn't happen."
Redshirt senior right-hander Reece Beuter (4-0, 4.35 ERA) started on the hill for the Hawkeyes, giving up three runs on three hits and striking out seven Huskers through five innings. Ben DeTaeye (0-3, 4.42 ERA) came out of the bullpen in the sixth in replacement of Bueter, where he surrendered just one hit and punched out three in two innings of work.
Daniel Wright (1-1, 4.02 ERA) then took the mound in the eighth, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings. Wright would be tagged with the loss as a result.
In the top of the ninth, Anthony Watts (2-2, 4.15 ERA) was brought on to extinguish the Nebraska half, which he did so while surrendering just one hit in 2/3 innings of action.
Regarding the offense, Iowa opened the scoring in the second inning when Jackson Beaman hit an RBI double down the left-field line to score Kooper Schulte. Nebraska tied the game in the third with a solo home run and then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth with two more solo shots.
Iowa answered right back in the bottom half of the fourth by capitalizing on a couple of Cornhusker errors and a Gable Mitchell RBI SAC fly to knot the game at three apiece.
The Hawkeyes would take a 4-3 lead in the seventh frame when Daniel Rogers hit an RBI double into the left-field corner, bringing home Reese Moore from second base.
Unfortunately, Nebraska would regain a 5-4 lead in the eighth off two Hawkeye errors and tack on an insurance run on an RBI single in the ninth.
"On the positive side, I thought Reece Beuter gave us a good start," said Heller. "The three solo home runs, with the way the wind was blowing early, it felt like we would give up a home run or two during the day. But that was fine because I felt like we would eventually score some runs, and why wouldn't you with the way we've been going offensively."
Up next for Iowa will be a single-game matchup vs. Bradley (5-26, 1-11 Missouri Valley) at Duane Banks Field on Wednesday, April 16. The Hawkeyes previously defeated the Braves by a 13-3 score from Dozer Park in Peoria, Ill., when the two met on April 1.
The first pitch for Wednesday's game is set for 6:02 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus (subscription required).
As always, fans can listen to the action alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans on the Hawkeyes Radio Network.
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