Hawkeyes Host 2 Mid-Week Games

RobHowe

RobHowe

Administrator
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa baseball team brings a four-game winning streak into two midweek games at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes will host Grand View at 4:05 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday and Illinois State at 6:05 p.m. Wednesday.


Tickets for Tuesday's game (and hot dogs) are $2. Wednesday is "Way Back Wednesday," featuring $2 tickets and $2 popcorn. Tickets are available at hawkeyesports.com/tickets.


Iowa is currently 15-10 overall after sweeping No. 23 Illinois last weekend in Iowa City. Grand View is 5-13 after being swept by Clarke University in Peosta, Iowa, while Illinois State has dropped seven straight to even its record at 13-13.


The Hawkeyes are coming off a weekend where they limited the Fighting Illini to six runs, posting a 2.00 ERA over 27 innings. Iowa utilized just seven pitchers in the three games. Offensively, junior Austin Martin hit .444 (4-of-9) with four RBIs and three runs scored. His two-run triple in the series finale was the difference.


Grand View is hitting just .184 as a team and has scored 35 runs in 18 games. Connor Enochs is the only Viking hitting over .300, as he boasts a .302 average with seven doubles. Isaac Rodriguez has a team-high 10 RBIs.


The Vikings' pitching staff has a 4.38 ERA, allowing 126 hits over 129 1/3 innings.


Illinois State, who hosts Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, is hitting .288 as a team with five players hitting over .300. Jordan Libman is leading the team with a .357 average in 26 games, while Joe Aeilts has a .345 clip with six doubles, five home runs, and 20 RBIs.


The Redbirds' pitching staff has a 5.55 ERA, allowing 250 hits over 227 innings. The staff has 216 strikeouts to 126 walks, but opposing hitters have a .283 average. Illinois State is led by first-year head coach and former big leaguer, Steve Holm. Holm was the pitching coach at Purdue the past two seasons.


Tuesday and Wednesday's game will be streamed on BTN Plus on BTN2Go. The games will also be available on the Hawkeye Radio Network with Zach Mackey on the call.


The Hawkeyes close out their season-long nine game home stand this weekend, hosting Rutgers for a three-game series. Friday's first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.
 
Schedule Change: Iowa to Meet Clarke University on Tuesday



IOWA CITY, Iowa – A last-minute cancellation by Grand View College has altered Tuesday’s University of Iowa baseball game at Duane Banks Field. The Hawkeyes will now host Clarke University at 4:05 p.m. (CT).



The Vikings were forced to cancel Tuesday’s matchup because of a conference make-up rule. With rain forecast for Wednesday, Iowa head coach Rick Heller wanted to play Tuesday and Clarke was available.



The Pride are 15-13 this season, winning four straight and seven of their last 10 games. Clarke is hitting .278 as a team with 59 extra base hits (33 doubles, four triples, and 22 home runs) in 28 games. Connor Floyd is leading the Pride with a .379 average.



On the mound, Clarke has a 3.69 team ERA, striking out 235 in 205 innings of work.
 
Iowa Defeats Clarke, 3-2


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa baseball team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Clarke University, but needed one run in the eighth to outlast the Pride, 3-2, in a midweek contest at Duane Banks Field on Tuesday afternoon.


Iowa extends its winning streak to a season-best five games and improves to 16-10 on the season.


Freshman Duncan Davitt made his second midweek start of the season and had his best outing. He threw a career-high five innings of one-hit ball, while striking out a career-best six without allowing a run.


“It was a great start,” head coach Rick Heller said. “He had good stuff today and composed himself well. He did exactly what we needed today and stayed under his pitch count so he’s ready to go this weekend.


The Hawkeyes scored two runs in the first inning on two hits, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch. Senior Mitchell Boe and junior Austin Martin performed a double steal with one out and sophomore Trenton Wallace drove in Boe from third to score the game’s first run.


Junior Ben Norman singled to center to plate Martin, but that was all Iowa could muster before the eighth inning.


Clarke’s Tsubasa Maruyama entered the game with two outs in the second and pitched 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Hawkeyes were able to get six hits off Maruyama, but nothing hard and none for extra bases. After 100 pitches, Iowa forced Clarke to go to the bullpen and Iowa capitalized.


Clarke scored a run in the seventh and a run in the eighth — on a solo home run — to tie the game at two halfway through eight innings.


With one out and the bases loaded, Chris Whelan delivered Iowa’s go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly to left field. Junior Matthew Sosa, who entered as a pinch-runner for pinch-hitter Grant Judkins, scored on the play.


Senior Jason Foster threw the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his first win of the season. He struck out one without allowing any runs or hits. Senior Shane Ritter threw a scoreless sixth inning with one strikeout, while freshman Clayton Nettleton and junior Adam Ketelsen also saw action out of the bullpen. at 6:05 p.m. (CT).
 
getting pitching experience is paramount in these games but, dudes, with your everyday lineup playing got to score more runs.

Duh, I know.
 
ssckelley said:
They get on base, just can’t get that big hit to drive them home.
Click to expand...
Yep. That’s been the problem all season. Hopefully just keep grinding and warm weather and they’ll break through this.

That’s what I love about Hellerball — got to grind out games when things aren’t going well.
 
IOWA CITY, Iowa – In an effort to beat the rain, Wednesday’s University of Iowa baseball game against Northern Illinois has been moved up to a 4:05 p.m. (CT) start at Duane Banks Field. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 6:05 p.m.



The Hawkeyes are riding a season-long five-game winning streak, improving their record to 16-10.
 
RobHowe said:
IOWA CITY, Iowa – In an effort to beat the rain, Wednesday’s University of Iowa baseball game against Northern Illinois has been moved up to a 4:05 p.m. (CT) start at Duane Banks Field. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 6:05 p.m.



The Hawkeyes are riding a season-long five-game winning streak, improving their record to 16-10.
Click to expand...

Did they change opponents again? Schedule says Illinois State.
 
Iowa Falls to Illinois State


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa baseball team fell to Illinois State, 11-6, on Wednesday afternoon at Duane Banks Field, snapping its five-game winning streak.


The Hawkeyes (16-11, 3-3) were outhit 16-10 and committed four errors in the loss.


Iowa’s offense struck first, scoring off junior Austin Martin’s RBI double in the first inning that scored senior Chris Whelan. Martin finished the day going 4-for-5 with two RBIs for his team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the season.


Whelan, who went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, three runs scored, and three RBIs was also a highlight offensively for the Hawkeyes. It was Whelan’s first home run of the season.


“It was good to see because we really need Chris to step up and hit the way he’s capable of,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We all knew he would. It’s baseball; sometimes you’re not hot. Chris will start picking it up with the bat here in the second half of the season.”


Despite Iowa scoring first, its lead quickly disappeared after Illinois State scored five runs from the second to fourth innings before adding a run in the sixth to lead 6-2 through six.


Sophomore Trenton Wallace (1-1) started for Iowa and was tagged with the loss after going 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. Six Hawkeyes -- Drew Irvine, Adam Ketelsen, Shane Ritter, Jason Foster, Derek Lieurance, and Jake McLaughlin -- had their names called from the bullpen.


Foster pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless innings with one strikeout and only two hits allowed.


Iowa scored a run in the seventh to cut the deficit to three, but the Hawkeyes surrendered five runs in the top of the ninth. Whelan’s three-run home run in the bottom half was not enough to spur a comeback.


QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER

“With it being our first double midweek, I knew it was going to be a challenge for us as short-handed as we are pitching-wise. It didn’t go as planned. We didn’t get a good start out of Trenton (Wallace). We were hoping to get a few more innings out of him and then had to bring back guys that threw yesterday. We gave up a bunch of free bases and they didn’t – they executed very well.


"It wasn’t a good night, but the lesson we can take from this is that we have to be mentally tougher. We have to be able to show up and play hard every single day because we’re going to have to do this with Western Illinois and Northwestern down the road. It doesn’t mean everything is falling apart or caving in. Tomorrow we’ll wipe it away and get back and have a good practice and get ready for Rutgers this weekend.”


OF NOTE…

  • The loss snaps a nine-game home winning streak. Iowa is 9-2 at home this season.
  • Today was Iowa’s only sixth lost in midweek games since the start of 2016.
  • With a two-out RBI single in the third inning, junior Ben Norman extended his on-base streak to 15 games, which is a new career high.
UP NEXT

Iowa rounds out its nine-game home stand with a three-game series against Rutgers starting Friday at 6:05 p.m. (CT).
 
So far, it looks like a team that is going to play to the level of the competition.
 
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