The Iowa Baseball team traveled to Columbus, Ohio over the weekend for a pod series with the Ohio State Buckeyes and Maryland Terrapins.

Game 1 – vs Ohio State

Trenton Wallace did not have his best stuff on Friday’s start vs the Buckeyes and he was bounced from the game after just 3 innings of work. Wallace was able to strike out six, but walked four batters, which came back to haunt him in the 3rd inning.

Back to back walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for Kade Kern, who doubled to right center field, clearing the bases and giving the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead.

Ben Beutel came on in relief of Wallace and allowed back to back doubles from Brent Todys and Marcus Ernst to extend the Buckeye lead to 4-0 in the 4th inning. Then in the 6th, Mitchell Okuley homered to right field, his fourth of the season, putting Ohio State up 5-0. Ben Beutel would go 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and the Buckeyes led 8-0 after seven innings.

As for the Ohio State starting pitcher, Garrett Burhenn, he was exceptional, throwing 7 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out nine Hawkeye batters. Iowa’s best chance to score off Burhenn came in the 4th, when they got runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, but back to back strikeouts ended the threat. Iowa did plate two runs in the 9th off of reliever Isaiah Coupet via fielders choice and a Dylan Nedved single, but the Hawkeyes fell in game one of the weekend, 8-2.

Game 2 – vs Ohio State

Cam Baumann was on the mound for the Hawkeyes in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday and he put together a quality start.

Aside from a Colton Bauer home run in the 3rd inning, the Buckeyes only mustered four base runners and Baumann struck out five, giving the Hawkeyes a great opportunity to win. The Hawkeye offense squandered chances to score in the first three innings, but finally got it going in the 4th with a Tyler Snep two-run home run to right field.

Then in the 5th, with the Hawks up 2-1, Brayden Frazier doubled into right center field, scoring Ben Norman from first base to give Iowa a 3-1 lead. The Hawkeyes would add some insurance runs in the 9th, with a Ben Norman home run to straight away center field, his fifth of the season.

Later in the inning, another run would score when Tyler Snep got a high pop fly to drop into short center field, extending the lead to 5-1. Dylan Nedved would throw the last two innings for Iowa and nail down a 5-1 victory. The performance reflected what Coach Heller’s squad is able to accomplishment when all pieces of the game are working well.

Game 3 – vs Maryland

The second game of the doubleheader was arguably the best of the season to this point. Drew Irvine threw 6 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five. Ben Norman started the scoring in the 4th inning with his sixth home run of the season and the Hawkeyes took a 1-0 lead.

Iowa was able to extend the lead to 2-0 in the top of the 6th, when Tyler Snep got an RBI ground out. Then in the bottom of the 6th, Maryland got two runners on and Benjamin Cowles brought both in with a pop fly that dropped into an opening in center field, tying the game at 2 apiece.

The excitement started in the bottom of the 7th, when Matt Orlando hit a solo home run to left field, giving the Terps a late 3-2 lead. However, the scoring was not over. In the top of the 8th, Peyton Williams took over the role of “hero” with a no doubt, two-run home run to right field and the Hawks took a 4-3 lead.

The lead did not last long, as Randy Bednar homered just over the outstretched glove of Ben Norman in center field and the game was once again tied, this time 4-4. Trace Hoffman would retire the next three Terrapins, to get the Hawkeyes back up to bat.

Izaya Fullard started the 9th inning rally, with a one out double to left field. Then with two outs, Zeb Adreon stepped up and became the final “hero” the game needed. Adreon would homer to left center field, to put Coach Heller’s squad up 6-4. Dylan Nedved would allow Maryland to get two runners on in the bottom of the 9th, via single and hit by pitch, but would retire the last two Terrapins to secure the crazy 6-4 win.

Game 4 – vs Maryland

Duncan Davitt was on the mound for the Hawkeyes Sunday afternoon and got plenty of run support from his teammates.

Matthew Sosa got the scoring going in the bottom of the 1st inning, with a solo home run to right field. Then in the 2nd inning, a Brayden Frazier single would score Zeb Adreon, to give Iowa a 2-1 lead.

The Hawkeye bats eventually got to Connor Staine in the 6th inning. With bases loaded, Brayden Frazier came up big again, with a two-run double in the gap to extend the lead to 4-1. That would be for Staine and things got worse for Maryland when Tyler Blohm came in. Blohm would walk the first two batters and then allow a double off the bat of Matthew Sosa, to extend the lead to 7-1.

The next batter up was Peyton Williams and he would homer to right center field, his second of the weekend, and Iowa led 10-1. The run support was there for Davitt and he had a very good start, going 6 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five.

Benjamin Cowles would hit his eighth home run of the season for Maryland in the 7th, but Iowa would add another run in the 8th on a Peyton Williams single. Ben Probst and Grant Leonard would come in and throw scoreless innings to finish off an 11-2 win for the Hawkeyes.

Weekend Analysis

The weekend got off to a slow start with a loss on Friday, but the Iowa pitching staff would respond in a big way with three great starts from Baumann, Irvine and Davitt.

The bats came around with clutch hits on Saturday night from Peyton Williams, Izaya Fullard and Zeb Adreon.

Then an 11-run performance on Sunday led to a less dramatic win, but the Hawkeyes have been playing their best baseball over the last three games. Next up, is a road series vs Purdue, before coming back home for three against Minnesota.

With both of those teams near the bottom of the Big Ten standings, the Hawkeyes have a real chance to turn this three-game win streak into a hot streak.

Top Performers

Cam Baumann- 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks vs Ohio State

Drew Irvine- 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks vs Maryland

Duncan Davitt­- 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks vs Maryland

Brayden Frazier- 7 for 15, 3 doubles, 2 runs scored

Ben Norman- 2 home runs, 5 runs scored