Hawkeyes Stave off Black Bears, 2-0

Lincoln -- The Iowa Hawkeyes played small ball to perfection with four bunt singles and four sacrifice bunts to battle their way past the Maine Black Bears, 2-0,  at the NCAA Lincoln Regional at Bowlin Stadium Friday morning.

With the victory, Iowa stayed alive in the double-elimination tournament and will play tonight at 8 against the loser of Friday's second game between Nebraska and Creighton. The Hawkeyes improved to 39-23 overall on the season and ended a four-game losing streak.

Maine was the second team eliminated from the eight-team regional and ended its season with a 28-23 record.

Iowa scored single runs in both the second and third innings to make a winner of starter Lisa Birocci, who improved to 22-13 on the season and notched her third complete-game shutout of the season.

Kylie Murray provided the biggest hit of the game for the Hawkeyes with her leadoff double to open the second inning. Abby Ruff pinch ran for Murray and scored on Birocci's bunt single and a throwing error by Maine third baseman Lauren Dulkis.

Maine starter Sarah Bennis, who slipped to 10-11 on the season with the loss, escaped more damage in the second, but Birocci's bunting success led to a flood of Hawkeye bunts in the third inning.

Iowa's Laura Chipman, who was the only player to record two hits in the game, led off the third inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on Natalie Johnson's bunt single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Amanda Hentges pushed Chipman to third and Johnson to second with a sacrifice bunt, before the Hawkeyes scored their second run of the day as Stacy May followed with another sacrifice bunt to score Chipman.

Bennis kept the Hawkeyes at bay the rest of the way and pitched out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the sixth inning to keep the Black Bears within striking distance.

Maine, the America East Conference champion, continued to battle throughout the contest, but was never able to break through against Birocci. The Black Bears put at least one runner on base in six of the seven innings, including their best scoring opportunity with runners at first and second with two outs in the fifth, before Birocci pitched out of the jam.

Birocci surrendered just three hits on the day, while walking three more and hitting one Black Bear, as no Maine runner advanced past second base. Birocci notched 10 strikeouts to improve her school single-season record to 300 strikeouts on the year.