Winds blowing over thirty miles per hour and temperatures dipping into the high 30s is not the exact definition of baseball weather, but the Hawkeyes toughed it out to pick up a series opening 7-4 victory over Central Michigan.

“Today was about toughness,” said Coach Rick Heller. “Playing on a day like today is really difficult and I thought we did a great job of handling it.”

Iowa jumped out to a 3-0 lead courtesy of a Sam Petersen three-run home run in the second inning. He got a fly ball up in the air and the high winds pushed it over the right field wall, for his second home run of the season.

“Get it in the air that side is all you’ve got to do. It’s silly to try to pull a ball on a day like today, so that was my approach to go that way,” said the freshman from Huxley, Iowa.

Adam Mazur was on the mound for the Hawkeyes, and he sailed through the first four innings, but ran into some trouble for the rest of his outing. The Chippewas loaded the bases in the fifth inning on a hit by pitch, a double and a walk, while Aidan Shepardson came across to score when Mazur walked Mario Camilletti.

A Brayden Frazier error and a hit by pitch gave CMU two runners on to begin the sixth inning, which knocked Mazur out of the game. Ben Beutel came out of the bullpen, but the Chippewas took advantage of the free bases. Robby Morgan IV and pinch-hitter Chris Monroe hit back-to-back doubles to give CMU a 4-3 lead.

“Little adversity hit,” said Heller. “Some free bases, couple of hits and all the sudden we’re down. We’ve played in some games (early this year) like that, and we didn’t recover from it.”

Iowa recovered this time, as Kyle Huckstorf knotted things up at 4 with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Hawkeyes retook the lead in the seventh, with three straight two out baserunners. Michael Seegers singled, which was followed by a Peyton Williams walk, while Keaton Anthony delivered the RBI single to make it 5-4.

The Hawkeyes added a couple of insurance runs in the eighth inning, as Brayden Frazier and Michael Seegers each had RBI singles to make it a 7-4 lead. Luke Llewellyn came in a nailed down the final three outs for his fourth save of the season and gave the Hawkeyes the series opening win.

“In my short experiences, when you win the Friday, you just feel like you are ahead the rest of the weekend,” said Sam Petersen. “If you lose the Friday game, you’ve got to win the next two just to feel good about the weekend. Getting ahead is always good.”

The Hawkeyes have now won three games in a row to get to 11-8 on the season, with just four games remaining before Big Ten play gets underway. Coach Heller is hoping that this a sign of things to come for his team.

“We know that each day is a new day, with how you show up and how you prepare mentally,” said Heller. “Is it going to carry over? I certainly hope so, but we still have some things that we need to clean up.”

All nine batters got on base today, while six batters got hits, including two hits from Michael Seegers, Keaton Anthony and Kyle Huckstorf. For Keaton, it is his eighth game this season with multiple hits.

The Hawkeyes will take on the Chippewas in game two of the series tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 2:05pm. Iowa will send Dylan Nedved to the mound, while Central Michigan still has not announced whether it will be Andrew Taylor or Garrett Navarra making the start. The game will be streamed on BTN+.