IOWA CITY, Iowa — The 10th inning hasn’t been good to the Nebraska baseball team lately.
Iowa catcher Jimmy Frankos, batting .167 entering Sunday, lined a two-out single to left field in the bottom of the 10th that barely eluded a diving Christian Cox to give the No. 19 Hawkeyes a 3-2 triumph in the first game of a Big Ten doubleheader at raucous Duane Banks Field.
In the second game, Iowa was in control from start to finish, prevailing 5-1 to sweep the three-game series.
A sold-out crowd of 2,506 watched Sunday as Nebraska fell to 30-16 overall and 6-9 in the conference. Last weekend, the Huskers dropped a pair of 10-inning games against Ohio State. NU has lost six straight league road games.
Nebraska entered the weekend seventh in the Big Ten and stays there despite being swept. Iowa (30-11, 13-2 Big Ten) outhit NU 26-14 on Sunday.
Never mind past perceptions about the Hawkeyes, Husker coach Darin Erstad said.
“You just look at the product on the field, and they’re very athletic, they play the game right, they have a great approach at the plate, they play defense and they have some very good arms,” he said. “When you face that, you can’t make many mistakes.
“We battled hard the first two games. We had chances to win both of them. And they smelled blood in the third game and put us away.”
In Sunday’s opener, Iowa fell behind 2-0 through three innings against Nebraska senior left-hander Kyle Kubat, who worked 7 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and two earned runs. He struck out two and walked two.
Iowa tied the game 2-2 in the eighth inning on Eric Toole’s sacrifice fly, which scored speedy Joel Booker, who had tripled. The Hawkeyes, who have won seven of their last eight games, won it in the 10th against Husker freshman Garett King (4-1).
With one out, Iowa loaded the bases with a double, walk and infield single. With the crowd on its feet, King struck out Eric Schenck-Joblinske for the second out before Frankos lined a 3-2 pitch to left for the win. Cox appeared to have the ball in his glove momentarily.
Nebraska scored its only two runs on Austin Darby’s sacrifice fly in the second and Ben Miller’s sacrifice fly in the third.
In the second game, Husker starter Derek Burkamper (4-2) allowed 10 hits and five runs (four earned) through 4 1/3 innings. NU’s only run came in the sixth, on third baseman Blake Headley’s RBI double, his 16th of the season.
With a single in the second game, Darby pushed his hitting streak to 12 games. But the Husker offense once again struggled.
“It’s something we’re going to be thinking about,” said Erstad, whose squad faced a five-hour bus ride home. “We’ll talk as a staff and maybe tweak someone’s approach or how we’re attacking certain pitchers. … We’re just going to have to keep grinding.”
Nebraska returns to action Tuesday against Creighton in Omaha.
Asked if he’s concerned about the Huskers’ mindset, Kubat said, “I don’t want there to be panic. As a senior, it’s my job to keep everyone in control. We still have some season left. We’re not out of it yet. We’re going to grind, we’re going to scratch, we’re going to do everything we can these next three weekends.
“Let’s see what happens.”
