Hawkeyes split doubleheader

Temperatures cooperated just enough today, while the teams split the two games, which means that the Sunday contest will decide the series. Iowa won the first game 8-2, while Michigan took the second game 2-0. Head Coach Rick Heller was happy with his team’s performance saying, “It was a much better effort today than what we have been giving. It was cleaner baseball, intense, and the starting pitching was outstanding, going deep into the game against a good offense. If we play like that consistently, there will be good things coming our way.”

Game One The story of game one, was the pitching for the Hawkeyes. Dylan Nedved got the ball for the series opener, and he pitched a gem. The redshirt senior rolled through the first 7.0 innings, allowing just three hits, while striking out seven and walking just two. A couple of walks and a hit knocked him from the game in the eighth.

The Wolverines would get a two-run single from Matt Frey off of Jared Simpson, but those were the only runs Michigan could muster off the Hawkeyes pitching staff. Will Christophersen came in for the ninth and struck out the side to secure the win for the Hawkeyes in his first appearance back from a groin injury. Iowa got the job done on the mound, as well as at the plate, where they pushed eight runs across the plate.

“Our first game couldn’t have gone any better,” said Heller. “Nedved gave us as good as a start as you could expect. Offensively we had a good day and were able to take advantage some freebies from Michigan.”

Things got going in the first inning with hits from Michael Seegers and Keaton Anthony, before an odd situation transpired to give the Hawkeyes their first run. We will let the Michigan Twitter account explain…

https://twitter.com/umichbaseball/status/1510289082764603394?s=20&t=HGJ6HuwZ_RNlm_UJEk5YMw

Not sure about the “Ump Show” part, but it never got better from there for Michigan, as Nedved got support from the bats in the fourth inning. Iowa extended their lead with RBI singles from Sam Petersen, Ben Tallman and Michael Seegers, while Tallman later scored on a wild pitch to give Iowa a 5-0 lead.

The Hawkeyes were not done, as they added runs on an RBI single from Kyle Huckstorf and a bases loaded hit by pitch. Seegers made it 8-0 with an RBI single in the seventh inning, as Iowa rolled to an 8-2 victory. Seegers was the player of the game in the opener, as he reached base in all five at-bats, including four singles, a run scored and three RBIs.

Every Iowa starter reached base at least once, while Ty Snep, Sam Petersen (3 hits), Ben Tallman and Kyle Huckstorf (2 hits) all reached base at least twice. Game Two It seemed the Hawkeyes used up all their hitting the first game of the doubleheader, as the bats were only able to muster six hits and no runs in the second game. Credit to Connor O’Halloran for Michigan, as he was nearly flawless in 7.0 innings of work. O’Halloran allowed just four hits, while he struck out eight and walked just two. Adam Mazur was brilliant for Iowa, but it just wasn’t quite good enough to get the victory.

Mazur went 7.0 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks, while striking out four. Despite the loss, it was good to see Adam have a good performance after seeing a couple of shaky starts the last couple of weeks. The Wolverines took advantage of a leadoff walk in the second inning and an RBI groundout by Riley Bertram gave Michigan an early 1-0 lead. Brandon Lawrence added to the lead in the eighth with a solo home run to make it 2-0. What wasn’t near enough in the first game ended up being enough for a win in the second game, as the Hawkeyes just couldn’t get a run across the plate.

“We had a few opportunities late, but we couldn’t get the hit when we needed to,” said Heller.

Iowa got back-to-back singles from Peyton Williams and Keaton Anthony in the opening frame, but O’Halloran got a fly out and groundout to end the threat. Iowa got runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth, but just could not get the big hit to get on the board. For the game, the Hawkeyes were just 1/14 with runners on the base. Keaton Anthony reached base three times, with a pair of hits, while Sam Petersen reached base twice.

The other good news was that Izaya Fullard was able to play his first full game of the season, going 1/4 at the plate, with a double in the fifth inning. The Hawkeyes Big Ten opening series will be decided tomorrow, as the series finale is set for 12:00pm. Iowa is set to have Ty Langenberg on the mound, while the Wolverines are expected to throw Jacob Denner. The game will once again be streamed on BTN+. With the schedule that is ahead for Iowa, a win tomorrow could give Coach Rick Heller’s squad a big momentum boost into a very navigable next nine games.