Iowa rallied with four runs in the bottom of the ninth and handed Illinois State an 11-10 non-conference loss at Duane Banks Field, Tuesday night.
Four ninth inning hits off the Redbirds Dave Macdonald powered the Hawkeye rally, including the triple by Jeff Gremley that scored a pair and a fielding error by Brian Wilkin that allowed Gremley to cross the plate with the game-winnning run. The loss drops Illinois States record to 9-13 on the season, while Iowa improved to 7-16.
The Iowa rally squandered the efforts of Illinois State junior slugger Jeremy Pickrel, who put a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall with the bases full of Redbirds to give ISU a 10-8 lead in the eighth inning. The home run was Pickrels eighth of the season and one of three Redbird homers in the game.
Trailing 7-5 with Iowas closer Tim Gudex on the hill, the Redbirds rallied in the top of the eighth with five runs, powered by Pickrels grand slam. Kyle OBrien led off the inning with a base on balls and moved to second on a single by Nate Whitney. Chris Shepherd drove OBrien home and Whitney to third with a base hit, before Jay Molina drew his third hit by pitch of the game to load the bases for Pickrel.
Iowa broke into the scoring colmn first with a pair of runs in the initial frame despite the inability to record a single hit. Redbird starter Dan Frega hit Iowas lead-off hitter Gremley with a pitch and followed it with a wild pitch sending Gremley to second base. Frega preceded to walk the Hawkeyes second hitter, L.J. Mims, before Gremley and Mims moved up a base a passed ball by Molina. A Frega balk forced in Iowas first run and ground out drove home Mims for the Hawkeyes early 2-0 lead.
Wilkin and Whitney led off the third with back-to-back doubles to give the Birds their first run of the game. Shepherd got on board with an error that pushed Whitney over to third base. The Redbirds loaded the bases with no outs when Molina was hit by a pitch for the second time. But the Birds had to settle for only one run as Pickrel popped up to second and Luke Baughman grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Redbirds conjured up a threat in the fourth, but another inning-ending double play squandered the rally. ISU knotted the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth when the Birds plated a run on Baughmans sacrifice fly after Iowas starting pitcher Casey ORourke walked the bases loaded.
Iowa regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Nate Yoho doubled down the right field line to drive home Jesse Brownell, who drew a base on balls earlier. Kyle Zaleski came in on relief for the Redbirds, but after a strikeout, Iowa tacked on another run to take a 4-2 lead on Justin Pettys RBI single.
Molina cranked his fourth home run of the campaign in the top of the seventh to draw the Redbirds within one, 4-3. But it was Matt Bolts second home run of the season with Pickrel at second that gave the Birds their first lead of the game, 5-4. The lead was short-lived as Zaleski offered up five singles in the bottom of the frame, including a run-scoring single by Yoho and a two-run base rap by Petty that gave the Hawkeyes a 7-5 lead.
The Redbirds return to action on Friday for the first game of a four-game series against No. 10 Wichita State at Redbird Field. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
