Hawkeyes move on to semifinals
Survive and Advance.
The calendar flipped to a new day, but the mantra stayed the same for the Hawkeyes. The Iowa offense worked past some early game struggles with runners on base and broke out for 16 hits in an 11-3 victory over Penn State to advance to the tournament semifinals.
“Really happy with how our guys came out to play today,” said Coach Rick Heller. “Our offense came to life, and we were putting pressure on Penn State from the first inning on.”
Putting pressure on the Nittany Lions defense did not reflect in a lead on the scoreboard early, as the Hawkeyes loaded the bases each of the first three innings, but let PSU starter Tommy Molsky off the hook each time.
“Anytime that happens, that’s scary,” said Coach Heller. “You get opportunities, you have to take advantage of them. We didn’t…We threw some pretty bad at bats together with runners in scoring position at key times during that. Anytime that happens, you run this risk of being in a position later where you wish you had them back.” “It looked like one of those games where all the runners those we stranded was going to come back to haunt us, but we just stayed after it and finally broke through.”
Iowa left nine runners on the base in the first three innings, while Penn State took the lead in the third inning on an RBI ground rule double from Josh Spiegel. However, the runs were coming for the Hawkeyes. It just took some time to get the ball rolling. Michael Seegers got the scoring going for the Hawkeyes in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single. Will Mulfur followed with an RBI single of his own and Cade Moss delivered a two-run single to give Iowa a 4-1 lead.
“I knew it was going to be one of those games where eventually our bats were going to break through,” said starting pitcher Ty Langenberg. “I think the biggest thing that helped me calm down was having a little bit of run support…I know I was still a little bit all over the place, but in the end it all worked out.”
Kyle Huckstorf blasted an opposite field home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and it started another rally for the Hawkeyes. An Izaya Fullard RBI single, later in the inning, pushed the Iowa lead to 7-1. Meanwhile, Ty Langenberg got out of a couple jams himself to turn in a quality start in his biggest game of the season.
“I’m extremely pleased with how I was able to perform and just pitch out of that stuff,” said Langenberg. “I would have liked to not get into those situations. I think free bases was a killer for me and I think I really could have limited even that one run and the couple runs that came across in the sixth, if I could have been around the zone.”
The sophomore went 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on three hits, while he struck out five and walked four. Even though it wasn’t his best start of the season, it was enough to allow the Hawkeyes to get the lead at the plate.
Jay Harry cut the lead to 7-3 with a two-run single off of Jacob Henderson in the sixth, but Iowa added on some insurance runs to make it a comfortable victory. Keaton Anthony ripped an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth, while Peyton Williams had an RBI groundout and a two-run home run to push the lead to 11-3 after eight innings. Luke Llewellyn struggled with some walks, but got through 1.1 innings, while Duncan Davitt finished off the last 2.0 innings to give the Hawkeyes the win in the elimination game.
Michael Seegers tied a career high with four hits and scored twice, while Keaton Anthony had three hits and a pair of runs scored. Izaya Fullard, Cade Moss, Kyle Huckstorf and Peyton Williams each had two hits, while Williams had a team high three RBIs.
“Needed to find a way to get the win to stay around for tonight and we did that,” said Heller. “Super happy with our effort.”
With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 35-18 on the season and improve to 19-8 against Big Ten teams. They advance to the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament and must beat Michigan twice to move on the championship game. Iowa will take Michigan at approximately 6:00pm this evening, as they look to force an if necessary game against the Wolverines tomorrow morning. All game are being televised on the Big Ten Network.