“It wasn’t like we played poorly,” said head coach Rick Heller. “We had good enery. We were locked in. We hadn’t had a game like that all season long where a team comes out and just beats you. These guys have hung in there and always given themselves a chance to win. If you were in the dugout, you would’ve felt in the seventh that we still had a chance to win.”

Iowa (32-18-1, 21-7) batted .087 and totaled two hits to Oregon’s 11. The Hawkeyes had five base runners the entire game.

“The first innging when we had two guys on, we needed someone to step up and get a hit, and we didn’t,” said Heller. “After that, [Grayson Grinsell] was pretty tough on us. The key is that we went 3-2 seven times, and we lost all seven. That’s kind of our super power is winning 3-2 counts, finding ways to extend innings, getting the pitch count up and getting on base, and he beat us in all seven tonight.”

The Ducks plated one in the first and extended their lead with a grand slam in the fourth. Oregon (39-13, 20-8) hit a two-run bomb in the fifth and smacked two solo dingers in the seventh to go up, 10-0.

LHP Cade Obermueller started on the hill and was dinged with the loss. He gave up eight runs on eight hits, walked three batters and struck out eight. The lefty recorded his 100th strikeout of the season in the first inning. He is the fifth Hawkeye in program history to record at least 100 punchouts in a single season.

“Cade didn’t have his best fastball tonight. He didn’t have his best slider tonight. He went out and competed for us, and unfortunately, we ran into a team that is seeing it well and hitting the ball,” said Heller. “You just tip your hat. They swung it well tonight.”

LHP Bryson Walker came out of the bullpen. He gave up two runs on three hits and struck out a career-high five batters.

“We weren’t great on the mound, but we competed,” said Heller. “I feel like we can walk out of here and hold our head up that we just got beat and wipe it away with a short memory. You come out tomorrow and give the same kind of effort, the same kind of focus, and I think we’ll be in a lot better shape.”

The Hawkeyes and Ducks will continue the series with game two tomorrow at 6:02 p.m. (CDT). RHP Aaron Savary will start on the mound for the Hawkeyes. He is 7-1 this season with a 3.66 ERA. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network and the Hawkeye Radio Network.