Iowa at Cambria College Classic

RobHowe

RobHowe

Administrator
THIS WEEK

• The University of Iowa baseball team continues life on the road this week, traveling to Minneapolis from Feb. 28 to March 1 for the CambriaCollegeClassic at U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings.

• The Hawkeyes play the first game of the tournament against No. 8 NC State at 11 a.m. (CT) on Friday. On Saturday, Iowa plays No. 20 North Carolina at 3 p.m., with the weekend finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. against No. 14 Duke.

• Host Minnesota and Purdue are the other two Big Ten teams competing in the tournament with the three schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference.



FOLLOW ALONG

• All three games will be streamed live on BTN+. It is a paid subscription service.

• All Iowa games will be available via the Hawkeye Radio Network with Morgan Hawk on the call. The games can be heard on Hawkeye All-Access, the TuneIn radio app (search Iowa Hawkeyes and it is on Iowa baseball channel), and stations across the state. This week's radio schedule is:

Friday: WDBQ FM 107.5 in Dubuque

Saturday: WDBQ FM 107.5 in Dubuque

Sunday: WDBQ FM 107.5 in Dubuque, KKFD 95.9 FM in Fairfield

• Live stats are available on hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow along on Twitter @UIBaseball.


LEADING OFF

• The Hawkeyes picked up a 4-1 win over No. 18 Arizona at the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament to move to 3-3 on the season. Senior pitcher Grant Judkins earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, following his six scoreless innings of work against the Wildcats.

• Redshirt senior closer Grant Leonard is now tied for third on Iowa's all-time saves list with 18 after picking up his second of the season against Arizona on just eight pitches.

• Senior outfielder Ben Norman has started 63 consecutive games in the outfield dating back to the 2018 season.

• Sophomore infielder Brendan Sher owns the 13th-best batting average (.350) and 12th-best slugging percentage (.600) in the Big Ten. Sher tied a career-high with three hits against San Diego State and hit his first home run of the season against San Diego.

• The Hawkeyes are picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Conference by Perfect Game and Baseball America and seventh by D1Baseball.

• Heller is only three wins shy of 900 career victories. He has posted 607 wins at the Division I level, including 206 at Iowa, with another 289 coming at Division II Upper Iowa. Heller is one of four coaches at the University of Iowa with at least 200 wins.

• The Hawkeyes are coming off a 31-24 campaign in 2019, with 10 wins over ranked opponents and a streak of six straight series wins. It was head coach Rick Heller's sixth straight 30-win season -- Iowa's longest stretch since 1979-85. Iowa has advanced to the postseason in each of Heller's six seasons, which includes two NCAA Regional appearances (2015, 2017).

• The Hawkeyes will play 23 home contests at Duane Banks Field with its home opener set for March 3 against Grand View. Iowa is 91-27 at home since the start of the 2015 season.
 
Iowa’s 7th-Inning Comeback Not Enough


MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Iowa baseball team clawed its way back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game at five with a four-run seventh inning, before falling 10-6 to eighth-ranked North Carolina State in the first game of the CambriaCollegeClassic on Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium.


“We didn’t play well the first six innings,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We got down 5-0, and it looked like they were going to boat race us, but the guys fought back, tied it up and we didn’t make a play or pitch well out of the bullpen.”


North Carolina State jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning and led 5-0 through four. Starter Jack Dreyer couldn’t record an out in the fourth inning, handing the ball over to senior Trace Hoffman, who pitched 2 2/3 inning of scoreless relief, and the Iowa bullpen.


Iowa found life in the fifth inning with back-to-back hits to start the inning. In his first career start, freshman Sam Link drove in his first career run on a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Iowa’s first run of the game.


Trailing 5-1 heading into the seventh inning, Iowa tied the game with four runs on four hits, one error, and two walks. Senior Ben Norman drove in the game-tying run on a single to centerfield, scoring senior Justin Jenkins, who doubled off the right center field wall to keep the rally alive.


Senior Zeb Adreon, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored, began the seventh-inning rally with his first double of the game.


North Carolina State’s catcher Patrick Bailey answered Iowa’s quick seventh-inning comeback with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh and a grand slam in the eighth to give the Wolfpack a 10-5 lead.


The Hawkeyes almost mounted one last comeback in the ninth after junior Dylan Nedved, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter, recorded his second RBI of the game to cut into the Wolfpack lead, but that’s all Iowa had left in the tank.


“We ended up giving it up,” Heller said. “I like the fact that we fought back, even in the ninth inning. We scored a run and had two guys on, but we need to keep the game close and get things figured out in the bullpen and a better start than that on Friday night.”


OF NOTE

• Iowa went 5-for-9 (.556) with runners in scoring position.

• The Hawkeyes scored five of their six runs in the final three innings.

• Iowa’s four doubles were a season high.

• Adreon recorded his sixth three-hit game of his career to tie a career-high.



UP NEXT

Iowa plays its second game of the CambriaCollegeClassic from U.S. Bank Stadium Saturday at 3 p.m. (CT) against No. 20 North Carolina.
 
Thanks Rob for starting this thread, I was looking for this preview on the Hawkeye website and they had not posted it yet.

Iowa really needs to pull one of these games out.
 
On the HawkeyeSports app there was a link to listen to it live. Amazing walkoff and great patience in the 9th by Hawkeye batters. Also, the IA crowd there was amazing. Heard some great “Let’s go Hawks” chants
 
Huge weekend for Iowa knocking off 2 ranked teams this weekend. The beat #14 Duke this afternoon 7-5!
 
MINNEAPOLIS -- For the second straight day, the University of Iowa baseball team overcame a multi-run deficit to win its second game of the CambriaCollegeClassic -- a 7-5 victory over No. 14 Duke on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.


Iowa improves to 5-4 on the season with two straight wins over ranked ACC opponents. The win snapped Duke’s nine-game winning streak and undefeated start to the season. The Hawkeyes now have three wins over ranked foes this season.


“To come into a weekend and you have to play three teams like we played -- all of them are going to be in a NCAA Regional,” said head coach Rick Heller. “We played with all of them. This should give our guys a lot of confidence.”


After trailing 2-0 after the first inning, the Hawkeyes’ comeback bid started in the bottom of the fourth off the bat of freshman Peyton Williams. Williams, the left-handed slugger from Johnston, Iowa, smacked a two-run home run -- his second of the season -- to tie the game at two.


Duke answered right back in the of the fifth, scoring two runs off Iowa sophomore starting pitcher Duncan Davitt. An Indianola, Iowa, native, Davitt pitched a season-high five innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits, while adding three strikeouts.


In the sixth inning, the Blue Devils looked to put the game out of reach, but it was junior reliever Ben Beutel, who worked out of the bases-loaded, no-outs jam to keep the score at 4-2.


“To me the key to this game was Ben Beutel coming into the game with the bases loaded and nobody out,” Heller said. “He puts a zero up there. It showed a lot of guts and toughness. That was the ballgame to me right there.”


Following the clutch pitching, Iowa’s offense went on a tear, scoring five runs over the next three innings. In the sixth, Iowa cut into the lead on a two-out RBI single by senior Zeb Adreon. With two doubles in the seventh, Duke extended its lead to 5-3, but that was Duke’s final run of the game.


The seventh inning belonged to junior Izaya Fullard and the Hawkeye offense. Three extra-base hits later, capped by Fullard’s two-run, go-ahead home run, the Hawkeyes took a 6-5 lead. Iowa’s three-run seventh inning gave the Hawkeyes their first lead of the game.


Iowa tacked on an insurance run in the eighth before redshirt senior Grant Leonard locked down the ninth. Leonard induced a ground ball double play to end the game and earn his third save of the season.


OF NOTE

  • Fourteen of Iowa’s 18 runs this weekend were scored in the seventh inning later.
  • Today marked Iowa’s fourth game with 10+ hits.
  • Every Iowa starter reached base safely in the win.
  • It was Iowa’s first game with multiple home runs. Williams and Fullard are tied for the team lead with two round trippers each.
  • Fullard recorded his second three-hit game of the season.
  • Leonard’s 19 career saves move him into sole possession of third place on Iowa’s career saves list.

UP NEXT
Iowa returns to Port Charlotte, Florida, for the Snowbird Classic next weekend for the second time this season to face Western Michigan (March 6), Georgetown (March 7), and Army (March 8).
 
Thanks for the write ups Rob

What a weekend by the Hawks!

I had plans to go up but got sick.
Now that makes me more sick ...

#13 NC State. 3-0
Iowa 2-1
#14 Duke 2-1
Minnesota 1-2
#22 NC 1-2
Purdue 0-3

I read where some ACC fans thought this series was going to be a bloodbath.

Wasn’t.
No blowouts.

Iowa 3-1 this season vs top 25 teams taking out #18 Arizona last week.

Be interested to see what their RPI is in a couple weeks.
 
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