Iowa baseball comeback falls short in midweek clash vs. Illinois State

After a weekend series sweep of Indiana (23-21, 12-12 Big Ten), Iowa baseball (31-13, 20-4) sees its non-conference woes continue as the Hawkeyes could not mount a late comeback vs. Illinois State (21-21, 10-8 Missouri Valley) in a 6-5 midweek loss from Duane Banks Field on Tuesday evening.Daniel Wright started on the hill, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out one.

Iowa used seven other pitchers, including Tyler Guerin, who was dinged with the loss.Despite the losing effort, the pitching staff combined for 16 strikeouts (Justin Hackett led Iowa with five punchouts) while giving up five free bases. Redbirds plate six.



M4 | Illinois State 6, Iowa 1#Hawkeyes— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 30, 2025"It was a really strange game in a sense that they had the six runs in the fourth inning," said head coach Rick Heller. "Other than that, I thought we pitched lights out tonight against a really good offense."Iowa got on the board first in the second inning when Blake Guerin hit an RBI SAC fly to score Miles Risley.

Unfortunately, the Redbirds took the lead by plating six runs in the fourth, highlighted by a grand slam.The Hawkeyes were quiet at the plate until they scored four in the eighth inning to cut their deficit to one. The four-run outburst started when Andy Nelson hit an RBI single and then scored on a wild pitch.

Kellen Strohmeyer capped the inning when he brought Iowa within one run bysmacking a pinch-hit two-run homer over the right field wall.THE STROH SHOW!#Hawkeyespic.twitter.

com/eGaYC7jv32— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 30, 2025Despite holding Illinois State scoreless in the top of the ninth, Iowa could not scrape across the tying run in the bottom half of the frame. "We just weren't barreling balls up," said Heller. "There were a couple guys in the middle that were.

Reese Moore was seeing the ball well, and we had a couple line drives that were caught. But for the most part, it was just weak contact."The Hawkeyes collected 10 hits and batted .

303 overall, while the Redbirds totaled seven hits with a .219 batting average.Iowa will now travel to Seattle.

Wash., for a three-game series vs. Washington (25-21, 15-8) from May 2-4.

Game one of the series will start at 9:02 p.m. CT and be broadcast on Big Ten Plus (subscription required).

Fans can also follow along through the Hawkeyes Radio Network alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans.We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee.

USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews.

This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa baseball comeback falls short in midweek clash vs Illinois State.