It was a slow day at the plate for the baseball team Wednesday, with the Bulldog bats going ice-cold after a solid weekend performance.

Hitting a paltry 6-for-32, the Elis (6-15) dropped an 8-2 non-league contest to Iona College (13-13) Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y.

With five of Yale’s nine starters hitless on the day, it was no surprise that the Bulldogs returned to New Haven with a loss.

“We didn’t play that great,” said center fielder Chris Elkins’03, whose 2-3 hitting was a rare bright spot for the Yale offense. “It was a rough day and we all came out flat.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Yale gave up the first of eight runs to Iona when first baseman Mike Perrone drove in Travis Garcia for an unearned run.

Yale tied the game in the top of the third with an RBI single to left center field by Elkins that brought home third baseman Chris Esper ’05. But that was the closest the Bulldogs would come the rest of the game.

In the bottom half of the inning, Iona went on a tear, scoring three runs on four hits to open up a 4-1 lead, before tacking on two more runs in each of the next two innings for the 8-1 advantage.

Perrone finished 3-4 with 2 RBIs, while third baseman Matt Martin added a two-run homer in the fifth inning.

Yale, on the other hand, made Iona pitcher Patrick Dougherty, who entered the game with a 6.55 ERA, look like an ace. In the next four innings, the Elis mustered only one hit off of him.

“We definitely didn’t do our jobs as hitters,” said second baseman Steve Duke ’03. “If we do that this weekend it’s not going to be pretty.”

The second Eli run came in the top of the eighth, when C.J. Orrico ’05 entered the game as designated hitter. His single scored Zac Bradley ’05 to cut the lead to 8-2, but the Elis would not create any more offense after that.

The few bright spots for the Bulldogs included Orrico and Elkins both extending their hitting streaks to six games, and Elkins and Bradley each stealing a base. Bradley is a team-leading 7-for-8 in steal attempts, and Elkins has five on the season.

As he did last week in Yale’s non-league matchup with New Haven, head coach John Stuper opted to rotate through a variety of pitchers. Six Eli hurlers took the mound against Iona, with varying levels of success.

Stuper noted last weekend that because his weekend starters tend to go so late into games, many of his middle relievers do not get as much work as he would like. Wednesday’s game was an opportunity for them to stay sharp.

With two important league matchups this weekend against Cornell and Princeton, the Bulldogs are hoping to return to form offensively.

“We really didn’t come ready to play,” Duke said. “We have to practice hard the next few days.”