IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Milwaukee baseball team was unable to dig out of a 9-0 hole as the Iowa Hawkeyes picked up the 11-6 non-conference win on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Kellen Strohmeyer was 3-for-4 and drove in three runs to lead the Hawkeye offense, with all three of his RBIs coming on a home run to increase Iowa's lead to 9-0 in the fifth inning. Four Iowa pitchers kept the Panthers scoreless through the first five innings including two scoreless from starter Jaron Bleeker.
 
"We showed up flat and very passive which resulted in finding ourselves trying to claw back from a big deficit," said head coach Shaun Wegner postgame. "There were a couple of defensive plays we needed to make in order to keep big innings off the board and we weren't able to do so."
 
Iowa's offense scored runs off Milwaukee's first five pitchers to build up the early advantage.
 
"Way too many times we found ourselves behind on the mound and their offense is going to punish some baseballs when you put them in leverage counts," Wegner added. "In the later innings, our arms attacked and were aggressive early which led to more positive results."
 
Aiden Fishnick settled down the fifth inning with a strikeout to end the frame before Parker Bleck pitched a hitless sixth. After the Hawkeyes scored a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, Logan Snow entered in the eighth and held Iowa scoreless.
 
Gabe Roessler led off the game with a first-pitch double before the Panthers were held hitless into the sixth. Charlie Marion had a run-scoring double and Justin Hausser had a sacrifice fly to chip into the deficit.
 
Tate Schmidt connected on a first-pitch home run in the eighth, while Milwaukee added three more runs on another sac fly by Hausser, an error, and a Cade Palkowski RBI single to centerfield.
 
"While we put ups six offensively, we threw away too many at bats early in the game and made it too easy for Iowa," said Wegner on the offense. "I liked how we battled and finished in the box, but we need to be ready to go from the first pitch."
 
Milwaukee will return home on Friday to open a seven-game stay at Franklin Field. The Panthers will welcome Oakland at 5:00 p.m. to open another key Horizon League series.