It wasn’t pretty, but the Hawkeyes got it done on Sunday against Central Michigan by a score of 4-2 and picked up the series win over the Chippewas.
After the way Saturday went, Coach Rick Heller was happy to see his team respond in rubber game.
“Yesterday, as soon it started to downhill, nobody stepped up and stopped it,” said Heller. “Today, we had guys that really struggled…but they were picking each other up. The guy that came in stopped it.”
The Chippewas got on the board first, in the second inning with an RBI double from Nick Dardas, but the Hawkeyes drew three walks and a hit by pitch in the bottom of the inning to tie things up at 1. Peyton Williams put the Hawkeyes in front with a solo home run in the third inning to make it 2-1, but CMU kept getting guys on base when they were up to bat.
Ty Langenberg went 4.0 innings in his start, but allowed seven base runners. He was able to battle on a day where he didn’t have the feel for his slider and held CMU to just one run.
“He didn’t have his best stuff today. Couldn’t get a feel for his slider, but he found a way to get us four innings,” said Heller.
Duncan Davitt came out of the ‘pen and rolled through his first two innings, but he walked the first batters in the seventh to put the one run lead in jeopardy. Enter Ben Beutel. The redshirt senior stepped up, getting back-to-back strikeouts, followed by a groundout to end the Chippewas scoring threat.
“It was kind of just go in and get the job done. Put up a zero. It’s just find a way on Sunday’s,” said Beutel, who has stepped into a bigger bullpen role this season and flourished despite a 10.61 ERA last season. “Preparation and just knowing my role and doing me. This year, being my last year, it’s just do everything I can to help the team win…Everyone down there is capable of doing the same job I’m doing, but I’m just fortunate that it’s me.”
Casey Day loaded the bases out of the bullpen in the eighth inning and it forced Coach Heller to bring Luke Llewellyn in to a bases loaded, one out situation. Mario Camelletti drew his seventh walk of the weekend to bring in the tying run, but Llewellyn was able to get out of the inning with no further damage.
In the bottom of the inning, Andy Nelson got a rally started with a bunt single. Kyle Huckstorf followed with a single, while both players stole a base to get into scoring position. Enter Sam Petersen. The freshman stepped up and delivered a two-run single to put the Hawkeyes in front 4-2.
“Two strikes, I’m always a hitter that likes to sit fastball, but two strikes you’ve got to be ready to hit everything,” said Petersen. “He gave me a fastball up in the zone and I was able to stay on top of it and hit a line drive.”
After swinging at a pitch in the dirt to begin the at-bat, Coach Heller pulled Petersen aside to settle him down and it paid off.
“He just said to calm down. He can tell, the whole coaching staff can tell when I get a little fired up,” said Petersen. “Being a freshman, playing at this level, you can get away from yourself, so he pulled me aside and reminded me I’m a good hitter, relax a little and get the pitch you want.”
Jacob Henderson picked up the three-out save in the ninth inning, including back-to-back strikeouts to end the game and give the Hawkeyes the weekend series victory. Iowa was able to flush out the poor performance on Saturday and come away with a gritty victory on Sunday.
“That’s a good team over there, so winning two out of three is good,” said Petersen. “Winning the series against a good team, picked to win their league, it’s going to look good late in the season.”
Sam Petersen reached base three times, including a pair of hits, while Peyton Williams had a pair of extra base hits. Kyle Huckstorf and Ben Tallman each reached base twice.
The Hawkeyes move to 12-9 on the season, with Big Ten play starting next weekend in Ann Arbor against Michigan. Before that series, Iowa will face Illinois State in a midweek matchup on Tuesday in Normal, IL. The game is at 5:00pm and will be streamed on ESPN+.
