The Iowa Hawkeyes played a doubleheader vs the Penn State Nittany Lions, looking to finish the weekend off a day early, with rain in the forecast.
Game 1
Duncan Davitt was on the mound for the Hawkeyes to start off the day and put together a stellar 5 inning performance. Davitt allowed one run on six hits, while striking out five PSU batters. “I was just trying to throw strikes, get ahead of hitters…Just tried to set the tempo, get us going and get us that first win (of the day),” said Davitt on his performance.
The Hawkeyes got on the board in the bottom on the second inning, as Conor Larkin would walk two batters, followed by an error by 1B Parker Hendershot. With bases loaded and no outs, Brendan Sher and Ben Norman would deliver with back-to-back singles to put Iowa up 2-0. Izaya Fullard would add a run with an RBI ground out, to put the Hawks up 3-0.
The Nittany Lions would cut into the lead in the top of the fifth inning on a Justin Williams single, but Iowa responded in the bottom of the inning. Austin Martin and Trenton Wallace got on base on back-to-back singles with two outs, followed by back-to-back walks from Conor Larkin and reliever Jaden Henline. The second walk plated Martin and put Iowa up 4-1.
Iowa added an insurance run in the sixth inning off of Henline, on an RBI single from Austin Martin, to extend the lead to 5-1. The Nittany Lions would not go quietly.
They battled back in the eighth with Drew Irvine on the mound in relief of Davitt. PSU would get two doubles to lead off the inning from Tayven Kelley and Curtis Robison, followed by a two-run single from Parker Hendershot, cutting the lead to 5-3. Jacob Henderson would come in and get out of the inning without any more damage.
Then in the ninth, Coach Heller brought in Grant Leonard to get the save and he was spectacular. Leonard struck out the side on ten pitches, bringing him within one save of tying the school record for most saves in a career. The save gave Iowa a doubleheader opening 5-3 win over Penn State.
Game 2
The second game was delayed an hour due to rain and lightning in the area, but that was not the last time rain would be present in game two.
Cam Baumann was on the mound for the Hawkeyes and had a great day on the mound, but Kyle Virbitsky of Penn State was just better. Virbitsky would go 6 innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out eight Iowa batters. “He was getting ahead of us every batter and we’d grind the at-bat out and get to a 3-2 count and he’d win,” said Coach Heller on Virbitsky.
Penn State would strike in the top of the second on a Cole Bartels single, but he was thrown out trying to advance to second base, so the inning ended with PSU up just 1-0. Then in the fifth, with rain coming down, Parker Hendershot would double the Nittany Lions lead with an RBI single to score Curtis Robison, making it 2-0.
The lead would grow to three in the seventh, with a sacrifice fly from Cole Bartels, making it 3-0. Then in the eighth, the Nittany Lions would get runners on first and third, with one out on singles from Jay Harry and Matt Wood, which ended the day for Baumann.
Cam Baumann went 7.1 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits, while striking out seven and walking none. However, at this point the game went into a 38-minute lightning delay, with rain still coming down.
When play resumed, Dylan Nedved was on the mound for Iowa, but Johnny Piacentino delivered a two-run double, to put Penn State up 5-0. Iowa would get a run in the eighth off of reliver Mason Mellott, when Izaya Fullard reached base on a high throw from Mellott. Dylan Nedved scored on the play, cutting the lead to 5-1, but that’s all Iowa could muster.
The ninth came and so did more rain, but Coach Heller’s squad continued to battle vs new pitcher Logan Evans. Austin Martin would single, and Matthew Sosa would walk, to put some traffic on the bases. A balk would bring in a run for the Hawkeyes, making it 5-2 and then with two outs and two strikes, Brayden Frazier would single to keep the rally alive. Brendan Sher would walk to load the bases and then Ben Norman would walk to bring in a run, cutting the to two runs.
Izaya Fullard came to the plate in a 5-3 game, two outs, bases loaded and rain coming down. Fullard would deliver with a single to left field scoring Brayden Frazier Coach Heller rolled the dice, sending Sher to the plate, but a great throw from LF Cole Bartels cut him down at the plate to end the game.
Sher would collide with C Matt Wood and the PSU bench erupted to celebrate the win. Penn State pitcher Logan Evans would instigate things by waving goodbye at the Hawkeye bench, which had spilled on to the field and the two teams exchanged words.
On top of that Penn State parents yelled and exchanged words with Iowa players, presumably over the collision that ended the game. Despite this, Iowa walks away with a series win.
The Hawkeyes never quit despite a five-run deficit, cold temperatures and rain, but fell 5-4 in the series finale. Coach Heller praised the team post game saying, “I knew our guys weren’t going to go away…It’s tough right now because you’re sitting here, and you have a chance to tie the game and their outfielder makes a great play with a wet ball and makes a perfect throw and throws us out at the plate.”
Final Thoughts
The loss hurts the RPI ranking, but as Coach Heller has mentioned, the top four teams in the Big Ten should make the NCAA Tournament. Iowa is currently tied for that spot with Maryland, who they beat three out of four times, so not all is lost. Both teams sit at 21-14 overall.
Hopefully, the NCAA committee saw the end of that game because the fight that this team shows is incredible. This team is an NCAA Tournament caliber team and has nine games left to make sure they are included in the field of 64. Up next, is Senior Day weekend vs Illinois at Duane Banks Field.
