PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 23, 2022) – The No. 8 Rutgers baseball team fell to Iowa by a score of 12-2 on Saturday afternoon at Bainton Field.Â
The Hawkeyes scored first and kept the pressure on, posting runs in five of their first seven innings at the plate, including 5 in the sixth. The Scarlet Knights were unable to produce on offense against Iowa starter Connor Schultz, ultimately dropping the second game of the series for their first Big Ten series loss of the season.
"It was kind of a carbon copy of yesterday," head coach
Steve Owens said. "The guys at the top of our lineup had some solid at-bats. From that point on, it's been no good. Obviously we're a little shorthanded but we've got to do better than that."
In the first inning, Iowa posted the first run of the game. After Peyton Williams walked and went to second on a wild pitch in the first inning, he came around to score on an error that got into center field.
After a dropped foul ball in the third, Iowa strung together a few more hits to plate 2 runs and take a 3-0 lead.
Nathan Florence got the start for the Scarlet Knights and worked through 4.0 innings with eight strikeouts. He gave up 3 runs, though just one of them was earned.
In the fifth, Sam Petersen dropped down a suicide squeeze bunt with two outs and runners on the corners to push across another run for a 4-0 lead.Â
The Hawkeyes blew the game open against the RU bullpen in the sixth, loaded the bases and scoring 5 runs on a sac fly, walk and back-to-back singles. After adding 3 runs in the seventh and eighth, Iowa took a 12-0 lead.Â
Rutgers would get on the board in the ninth inning, with
Danny DiGeorgio doubling home
Ryan Lasko and then
Garrett Callaghan hitting an RBI groundout to score DiGeorgio.
The Scarlet Knights will look to salvage the series against the Hawkeyes tomorrow at noon at Bainton Field.
"We got punched in the face two days in a row," Owens said. "We've got to turn the tables tomorrow and do what we've been doing for two months."
