Following an error-riddled series opening loss on Friday, Iowa baseball (32-17, 21-6 Big Ten) dropped its non-conference three-game series vs. No. 11-ranked Oregon State (37-12) Saturday evening with a 5-1 loss to the Beavers in Game 2 from Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.
Iowa’s starting pitcher Aaron Savary suffered his first loss of the season after a difficult day on the mound, where he gave up four runs on four hits and four base-on-balls while recording five strikeouts through 4 1/3 innings of action. Unlike most of the season from Savary, pitch command was an issue for the Hawkeyes’ junior right-hander as the four free bases proved costly.
Tyler Guerin and Daniel Wright both served in relief roles with each recording two strikeouts.
Guerin’s lasted only 1 2/3 innings, where he was tagged with one earned run while pitching a hitless seven batter appearence.
Wright closed out the game by pitching the final three frames, only allowing two hits and one base-on-balls on 11 batters faced.
The Iowa pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts, but also allowed eight free bases.
Final | #10 Oregon State 5, Iowa 1#Hawkeyes
As for Oregon State, their starting pitcher threw six innings while giving up one earned run on three hits with 11 strikouts. The Beavers would finished with 16 punchouts, strand a total of eight Hawkeyes on base, and only give up five hits.
“It is always disappointing when the runs they scored weren’t really earned, they were free bases,” said head coach Rick Heller. “They didn’t give us a lot. That is the thing Whitney did a nice job of he just pounded the zone.”
Offensively, Saturday’s contest got off to a rough start for the Hawkeyes as Oregon State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning thanks to a two-run blast over the left-center field wall and a two-run double into the left field corner.
For the Hawkeyes, the recorded their first hit of the game in the fourth frame when Ben Wilmes got aboard through a leadoff single, but was left stranded on base with the hitting woes plaguing the Iowa bats.
Iowa would finally get on the board in the sixth inning when a Caleb Wulf two-out RBI single scored Miles Risley, but the one run was all the Hawkeyes could produce.
Déjà vu? Wulf puts the #Hawkeyes on the board! pic.twitter.com/s2bydKIzkD
Oregon State would tack on another run in the seventh when the Beavers hit into a bases loaded double-play to make it a 5-1 score.
While Iowa had quality scoring opportunities in the eighth and ninth innings, the Beavers’ pitching staff was able to close the door on the Hawkeyes to preserve the Game 2 and series victory.
“When you have two good pitchers on the mound and two good teams playing each other a lot of times it’s going to go like this,” said Heller.
“They are going to have a few opportunities and you are going to have a few. The difference in this game was that we walked the leadoff guy in the fourth and they hit a home run, then we walked a guy, hit a guy and they doubled. There’s four runs right there. We had opportunities like that, not a lot but we did, at least three. With two runners on and two outs where we needed a hit and we didn’t get a hit. They just beat us.”
Wulf was the only Hawkeye to have a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Regarding what the Big Ten standings look like following Saturday’s action, UCLA cut further into the Hawkeyes led atop the conference with a dominant 9-1 victory over Illinois. Iowa now holds a 1 1/2 game advantage over the Bruins for the top spot.
Iowa will look to avoid a three-game sweep today with Game 3 from Principal Park scheduled to begin at 12:05 p.m. CT on Big Ten Plus (subscription required). The game will also be available on the Hawkeyes Radio Network alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa baseball loses series vs. No. 11 Oregon State
Reporting by Scout Springgate, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
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