Michigan State Series

RobHowe

RobHowe

Administrator
Game Notes -- vs. Michigan State

THIS WEEK
• The University of Iowa baseball team hosts its final home series of the season, facing Michigan State from May 10-12 at Duane Banks Field.
• Friday's series opener will start at 6:05 p.m. (CT) with game two at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.
• Sunday is Senior Day for nine Hawkeyes -- Derek Lieurance, Kyle Shimp, Mitchell Boe, Luke Farley, Cole McDonald, Tanner Wetrich, Shane Ritter, Jason Foster, and Chris Whelan.

SERIES PROMOTIONS
Friday: Baseball Bingo -- first five winners.
Saturday: Have a Catch (Post-Game).
Sunday: Senior Day and Sunday Runday. The Senior Day ceremony will start prior to the game. Kids can run the bases after the game.

FOLLOW ALONG
• All games will be streamed live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go. It is a paid subscription service.
• All Iowa games will also be available via the Hawkeye Radio Network with Zach Mackey and Steve Duncan on the call. The games can be heard on Hawkeye All-Access/TuneIn Radio.
Friday: AM 800 KXIC Iowa City, KMJM 1360 AM in Cedar Rapids, KDEC-AM 1240 in Decorah, KKFD 95.9 FM in Fairfield.
Saturday: KMJM 1360 AM in Cedar Rapids; KKFD 95.9 FM in Fairfield, WDBQ FM 107.5 in Dubuque.
Sunday: AM 800 KXIC Iowa City, KMJM 1360 AM in Cedar Rapids; KKFD 95.9 FM in Fairfield, WDBQ FM 107.5 in Dubuque.
• Live stats are available on hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow along on Twitter @UIBaseball.

____________

GAME NOTES
 
Hawkeyes Beat Spartans, 7-5, to Capture 30th Win


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Led by junior Zeb Adreon’s first-inning grand slam, the University of Iowa baseball team claimed the series opener, 7-5, over Michigan State on Friday night at Duane Banks Field.


The victory is Iowa's 30th of the season, improving to 30-17 overall, 12-7 in Big Ten play. It is Iowa's sixth straight 30-win season, the most for the program since winning 30 in seven consecutive seasons from 1979-85.


“This team has showed up, played hard every day, and found ways to get it done when adversity struck, which it has a lot this year,” said head coach Rick Heller. “It’s a good benchmark for our program even when we lose guys like last year and some things happen we can’t control that the program is bigger than anything and we keep moving forward.”


Despite taking a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to Iowa’s first grand slam of the season off the bat of Adreon, the Hawkeyes had to score three runs in the final three innings to break a 4-4 tie.


“This is a huge series for us to stay at the top of the Big Ten and reach the goals we want to,” Adreon said. “We stayed with it and kept putting good at-bats together and found a way to win.”


Michigan State scored two runs in the third and fifth before Heller went to the bullpen to lefty Adam Ketelsen with three left-handed batters due up. Senior and starting pitcher Cole McDonald struck out seven in five innings and scattered seven hits, but was forced to exit early due to a high pitch count.


Ketelsen, a junior from Mount Vernon, Iowa, allowed one run on one hit and earned the win after Iowa retook the lead in the sixth inning.


Sophomore Izaya Fullard and junior Austin Martin each singled to shallow center to give Iowa a 6-4 lead heading to the seventh.


Junior Trace Hoffman, who pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief, was the bridge to closer Grant Leonard. Hoffman allowed one run on one hit, before handing the ball to Leonard with two outs and a man on.


Leonard allowed a double to Zach Iverson, which scored a Michigan State run and cut Iowa’s lead to 6-5. Fullard, who went 4-for-5 with a run scored, ended the inning with a diving, backhanded play up the middle.


“That was a big time play,” Heller said. “That changed things – 100 percent changed things. You make plays like that, you win games.”


Iowa tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth on a balk before Leonard locked down the ninth for his 13th save, which ties Kevin Lee’s single-season record set in 2010.


“It’s a cool feat,” Leonard said. “What I’m here for is to get this team to where we want to be and what we’ve been working for since August – go to a Regional and compete for Omaha – and if you get a couple milestones on the way, it’s even better.”


QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER

“Our effort was really good. Our dugout was upbeat and everyone was positive from start to finish. It wasn’t the cleanest game for us. Michigan State played well; I knew they were going to. We caught a couple breaks after we got the lead to get the lead back. It was a good game on Friday night and we are happy to come away with a win.”


OF NOTE…

  • Fullard is the fourth Hawkeye to record four hits in a game this season.
  • Senior Chris Whelan (2-for-4, two runs scored) and sophomore Tanner Padgett (2-for-2, one double) also recorded multi-hit games.
UP NEXT

Saturday's game is set for a 2:05 p.m. (CT) first pitch. Fans are encouraged to arrive early due to a busy Iowa City area with the Big Ten Championship track meet and graduation at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
 
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Michigan State scored four runs early and tacked on five runs over the final four frames to hand the 24th-ranked University of Iowa baseball team a 9-4 loss Saturday afternoon at Duane Banks Field.



"We weren't very good overall and we were bad on the mound, which was disappointing," said Iowa head coach Rick Heller. "It happens from time-to-time, but it was a bad day to happen."



The Spartans' win evens the series at 1-1 heading into Sunday's series finale, which is Iowa's final home contest of the 2019 season.



"It's a big day tomorrow," said Heller. "You want to play well in the seniors last day at our field. A lot of those guys have been a part of a lot of things here, so you want to play your best and give your best effort.



"I feel like that's going to happen. Grant (Judkins) will give us a chance and compete and we'll get Mitch (Boe) back tomorrow and hopefully that will be a boost for us."



Michigan State jumped on Iowa early, scoring one run in the first and three more in the third against Iowa starter Cam Baumann (4-3). The southpaw retired one batter in the fourth before being lifted after surrendering four runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.



The Hawkeyes found life, cutting the gap to 4-3 with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Sophomore Izaya Fullard had a leadoff double to left field in the fourth and he scored on Austin Martin's triple to center field, cutting the deficit to 4-1. Sophomore Tanner Padgett followed with an RBI groundout, cutting the lead in half.



In the fifth, junior Ben Norman had a one-out double to left center and moved to third on a Spartan fielding error. He scored on a second error from Michigan State in the inning, making the score 4-3.



Michigan State pulled away late, scoring five runs against four Hawkeye relievers. Iowa couldn't capitalize on four Spartan errors in the game until Norman doubled home Iowa's final run in the ninth.



QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER

"We were close at times to get the offense going, but (Tyranski) did a nice job and we knew that he was going to be a one of the biggest challenges of the weekend. We had some decent at-bats against him, but couldn't get the hit to break it open.



"We felt like if we could have kept it close, we would have had a decent chance at the end, but the bullpen didn't give us a chance to keep it close."



WORTH NOTING

- Martin finished 2-for-4 with a double and triple for his team-leading 17th multi-hit game of the season.

- Norman had a season-high two doubles and finished 2-for-4 for his first multi-hit game since April 23.

- Iowa's pitching staff surrendered seven walks -- the most since April 6.



UP NEXT

The rubber match of the three-game series will begin at 1:05 p.m. (CT) Sunday. Iowa will honor its nine seniors during a pregame Senior Day ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m.
 
pretty pathetic performance this weekend. just get national attention and top 25 rankings and this ....
now it's 90-10 must win bigten tourney even winning the last four regular season games.
 
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