Baseball’s youth movement comes up empty against Creighton
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Fielding miscues, ineffective pitching, and four timely offensive spurts by Creighton kept the Iowa baseball team on a five-game losing streak Wednesday night at Banks Field.
Outhit 19-7, the Hawkeyes fell to 14-27 overall with slightly more than two weeks remaining in the season.
Iowa head coach Jack Dahm opted for a younger lineup against the Bluejays, fielding five freshmen, three sophomores, and one junior — right fielder Ryan Durant.
Senior third baseman Kevin Hoef sat out with a thumb injury he suffered on Tuesday against Northern Iowa. Dahm said Hoef is expected to undergo a medical examination today.
Senior first baseman T.J. Cataldo was pulled in favor of freshman Sean Flanagan, a youngster Dahm said is the program’s future at the position.
“We’ve got to get some guys feeling a little bit more comfortable in new positions,” the sixth-year Iowa head coach said. “It’s just come down to that with all the unfortunate injuries.”
After plating one run on a one-out single by Durant in the bottom of the first, the Hawkeyes spotted the Bluejays a 2-run lead almost immediately.
Creighton nearly batted around in the top of the second, tallying three runs on four hits off Iowa starting pitcher Zach Kenyon, who had recorded an 11.42 ERA in just five game appearances beforehand.
After the Hawkeyes posting a second run in the bottom of the frame to make the score 3-2, the Bluejays sent all nine of hitters to the plate and padded their lead with four insurance runs in the top of the fourth.
Following a two-out RBI single, Kenyon surrendered two more two-out hits and a walk to load the bases.
That led to a call to the bullpen, Iowa junior lefty reliever Michael Jacobs inherited the jam and allowed three more runs to score on one hit before a throwing error by freshman third baseman Trevor Willis.
Such blunders seemed to leave the Hawkeyes deflated, but sophomore Kurtis Muller said that wasn’t the case.
“It’s the game of baseball — why would you not play hard?” said Muller, who batted 3-for-4. “I guess it doesn’t look like we are, but we really are.”
Both teams drove in a run in the sixth. Flanagan homered over the right-center field fence with one out to break a three-inning dry spell.
But as Creighton effectively put the game out of reach with a pair of two-run innings in the eighth and ninth, Iowa continued to struggle to put runners on. The Hawkeyes reached base twice in the final three innings on a single and a hit batter.
“We didn’t really come ready to swing the bat,” Flanagan said. “They came hacking, and we just kind of sat back and didn’t really take advantage of our opportunities as well as we should have.”
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