By hawkeyesports.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa baseball team overcame a 4-0 deficit to beat Bradley, 12-5, on Wednesday evening at Duane Banks Field.

Iowa (24-11, 14-4) batted .410 overall and .381 with runners in scoring position, totaling 16 hits to Bradley’s seven.

“Bradley played a lot better than they did when we played at their place, and I knew they were going to because they had their best hitters back in the lineup,” said heach coach Rick Heller. “They jumped on top of us. Offensively, it looked like it was going to be one of those nights where things just don’t go your way. You could kind of feel it coming on, but we answered back, and that was really great to see.”

The Braves led, 4-0, after 3 1/2 innings, scoring on a wild pitch and a three-run bomb. Bradley (5-27, 1-11) didn’t score again until an RBI groundout in the seventh inning,

The Hawkeyes tied the game and took the lead with a six-run third inning. The six runs came off of four RBI singles, an RBI double and an RBI groundout.

Iowa scored one more in the fourth when Gable Mitchell hustled from first to home on a Reese Moore RBI double. The Hawkeyes tacked on two more in the fifth frame as Ben Wilmes smacked a 2 RBI double down the left field line. Mitchell earned his second RBI on a walk in the seventh.

Blake Guerin capped off the Hawkeyes’ impressive offensive perfromance with a two-run bomb to dead center in the eighth.

Moore led the offense, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs. Wilmes and Caleb Wulf were the other Hawkeyes who had multi-hit games with two each.

“We had opporutnies to blow it out and maybe get out of here early, but for whatever reason we had some empty at bats at key times scattered throughout the backend of that game that just can’t happen,” said Heller. “Those are things that at this point in the year — it’s nit-picky — but it just can’t happen. You just got to be better than that. You have to hold yourself accountable and to a high standard.”

Seven Hawkeye pitchers saw the mound on Wednesday. Justin Hackett was credited with the first win of his collegiate career.

The Hawkeye pitching staff combined for seven strikeouts and gave up seven free bases. Ben DeTaeye led Iowa with three punch outs.

“We got a lot of guys in the game,” said Heller. “We didn’t have to throw Watts, Hogue or Wright, which was the goal coming in. We made it through with the guys we needed to.”

Up Next

The Hawkeyes will head to Ann Arbor for a three-game series against Michigan on April 18-20. First pitch of the series is slated for 5 p.m. (CDT) on Friday. Game two is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. (CDT), and the series finale will begin at noon (CDT) on Sunday.