IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa baseball team fell to Illinois State, 6-5, on Tuesday evening at Duane Banks Field.

The Hawkeyes (31-13, 20-4) collected 10 hits and batted .303 overall. The Redbirds totaled seven hits with a .219 batting average.

“We just weren’t barreling balls up,” said head coach Rick 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.”

Iowa got on the board in the second inning when Blake Guerin hit an RBI SAC fly to score Miles Risley. The Redbirds (21-21, 10-8) 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. Andy Nelson hit an RBI single and then scored on a wild pitch. Kellen Strohmeyer brought Iowa fans in attendance to their feet when he smacked a pinch-hit two-run homer over the right field wall.

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.

Anthony Watts tossed a scoreless ninth inning with three strikeouts, but the Iowa offense couldn’t complete the comeback in the bottom half.

The pitching staff combined for 16 strikeouts and five free bases. Justin Hackett led Iowa with five punchouts.

“It was a really strange game in a sense that they had the six runs in the fourth inning,” said Heller. “Other than that, I thought we pitched lights out tonight against a really good offense.”

Iowa travels to Seattle for a three-game series against Washington on May 2-4. All three games will be broadcast on B1G+ and the Hawkeye Radio Network.