May 23, 2004

Box Score

Iowa City, Iowa - The University of Illinois baseball team dropped its 2004 season finale to the University of Iowa, 7-3, this afternoon at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, The loss closes the book on the 2004 season for Illinois, which finishes with a 22-33 overall record and 11-21 mark in the Big Ten. Iowa finishes its year 20-35 overall and 12-20 in the Big Ten.

For the first time all series, Iowa scored first Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead after getting a single run in both the bottom of the second and third innings.

Ryan Rogowski got Illinois on the board in the bottom half of the third, blasting a solo home run over the right field wall to close the gap to 2-1.

Illinois tied the game in the top of the fifth, using three straight hits to lead off the inning, from Drew Davidson, Dusty Bensko and and an RBI single off the bat of Ryan Hastings, to knot the game at two.

Iowa regained the lead in the bottom half of the fifth. A leadoff walk followed by an Illinois throwing error put runners on second and third for Andy Lytle, who slashed a two-run single to left to open a 4-2 lead on Illinois and starter Dusty Bensko. Later in the same frame Nate Yoho added a two-run home run to increase the Iowa lead to 6-2.

Illinois closed the gap to 6-3 in the eighth when Chris Robinson hit a one-out double and came home when Eymann followed with a double of his own down the left field line. But Iowa came right back to re-open the four-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, using a one-out triple and run-scoring single to open a 7-3 lead.

Illini starter Dusty Bensko suffered the loss, dropping to 0-2 on the year after allowing six runs (five earned) on four hits in five complete innings of work. Hawkeye starter Andrew Hanson got the win, moving to 2-5 on the year after allowing three runs on nine hits in 7 1/3 innings or work.