IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Minnesota, 10-4, on Sunday afternoon at Duane Banks Field.
“Really good effort by our ball club today, and a nice bounce back on the weekend to get the series after a rough Friday night,” said Iowa head coach Rick Heller. “Shows a lot about our team and a lot about its character and toughness.”
The Hawkeyes and Gophers traded runs in the first and second innings with Iowa scoring in the first and Minnesota responding with a solo home run in the second.
Iowa scored a run in the fourth before the Gophers jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the top of the third. Iowa responded with a three-run bottom half and never looked back. A two-run seventh and a three-run eighth put the game away and gave the Hawkeyes a series win.
Marcus Morgan started on the mound for Iowa. The Iowa City, Iowa, native threw 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs while striking out six.
Ben DeTaeye entered and threw 2 1/3 innings and allowed just one hit while striking out four to earn his first win of the season.
Anthony Watts and Jack Young each threw a scoreless inning to close out the game.
“We got a solid start out of Marcus Morgan who was really good for four innings,” said Heller. “He fell behind some hitters in the fifth which cost him a chance to stay in the game a little longer. But Ben DeTaeye came in and did an awesome job. Then Anthony Watts was solid working back from a lead off 3 -0 count to get the 1-2-3 inning. Jack Young did an awesome job closing it out in the ninth.”
Michael Seegers was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two walks on the day. Davis Cop was 2-for-4 and with two RBIs and Raider Tello was 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
Gable Mitchell added three RBIs.
“Offensively, I was really happy with our hitters,” said Heller. “We faced a really good arm in Wietgrefe. He was tough. We ended up getting a run in the first, which I thought was really big for Marcus. And then we stayed after him all day long. It was a very good weekend for us offensively, all three games just competed and gave ourselves chances to score runs in virtually every inning. This game was no different.”
Iowa hit .462 with two outs compared to Minnesota’s .100 and the Hawkeyes had seven two-out RBIs.
Iowa returns to action on Tuesday traveling to Bradley for a midweek matchup in Peoria, Illinois.
