DeKALB — The baseball team dropped its fifth consecutive game Tuesday as the University of Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Huskies, 12-8.

“We didn’t get a quality start, we were chasing [pitches] all game,” said Head Coach Mike Kunigonis. “The game’s won and lost in the first inning on, not in the ninth.”

The Huskies (2-10) put the first runs on the board in the top of the first inning as freshman catcher Jacob Dunham singled to center field, knocking in junior catcher Joe Jumonville and senior infielder Tommy Hook.

The Hawkeyes (7-4) responded by adding five runs to the board after a pair of singles and a wild pitch.

In the top of the fourth, the Huskies came back by adding three runs of their own with freshman infielder Tommy Szczasny singling to center field, and junior outfielder Roderick Bynum scored on a throwing error.

In the sixth inning, the Huskies added another run on Bynum’s single, scoring Jumonville. However, it was the Huskies’ junior infielder Brad Woods’s inning as he made a diving catch in the hole for the third out.

From the sixth inning on, the Hawkeyes outscored the Huskies, 7-2, as sophomore outfielder Robert Neustrom knocked in two runs off a single and later scored off freshman infielder Grant Judkin’s single.

The bottom of the seventh was like the sixth as three Hawkeyes scored on singles, which increased their lead to five.

In the top of the eighth, Szczasny launched his first career, collegiate home run for the Huskies, driving in Dunham to cut the lead back to three heading to the bottom of the eighth.

The Hawkeyes broke away by capping off the game with an RBI single from sophomore infielder Chris Whelan to score senior pitcher Sam Norman.

The Huskies went down in order in the ninth as senior Iowa closer Josh Martsching picked up his first save of the season.

The Huskies will face the St. Louis University Billikens (10-1) on the road in a three-game series beginning with a game 6 p.m. Friday in St. Louis, Missouri. Game two will be noon Saturday, followed by a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday.