The Iowa Hawkeyes traveled to Bloomington for the biggest series of the season to this point, to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. With both teams on the back end of the projected NCAA Tournament field, both teams were pushing hard for a series win.
Game 1
It was ace vs ace, Trenton Wallace vs Tommy Sommer on the mound Friday night for the series opener. Iowa opened the scoring in the second inning, with a gutsy, two out, squeeze bunt call by Coach Heller and Brett McCleary executed it to perfection, scoring Zeb Adreon, to put Iowa up 1-0. Indiana responded off of Wallace, as Cole Barr led off the inning with a triple and then Morgan Colopy would single in Barr to tie the game at 1. Later in the inning, Collin Hopkins would score Colopy on a sacrifice fly, to put the Hoosiers up 2-1.
The Hawkeyes would come back in the third inning, with an Austin Martin two-run home run off the scoreboard to make it 3-2 Iowa. Iowa would add another run in the fourth inning, aided by three Tommy Sommer walks and a Hoosier error to extend the Hawkeye lead to 4-2. Indiana would cut into the lead in the fifth inning, after back-to-back one out hits from Drew Ashley and Paul Toetz set the table. Grant Richardson would groundout, but Ashley would score, cutting the lead to 4-3.
In the top of the sixth, Brett McCleary would single into right field and the ball would get passed RF Colopy, allowing Matthew Sosa to come around to score. Later, a Ben Norman double would score McCleary and extend the Iowa lead to 6-3.
On the mound, Trenton Wallace would finish the sixth and seventh innings, with minimal baserunners and exit the game after throwing 7 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, while striking out nine and limiting the Hoosiers to one walk. It was a really solid performance, given the last two starts from Wallace.
Braden Scott and Reese Sharp would pitch well out of the bullpen for Indiana, silencing the Hawkeye bats, giving the Hoosiers a shot to rally. Dylan Nedved came in in relief of Wallace in the eighth inning, but Indiana started a rally. After an RBI groundout, Kip Fougerousse would double in another run, to cut the Iowa lead to 6-5, but that would be all for the inning. Nedved would stay in for the ninth inning and he would retire the Hoosiers 1-2-3, to give Iowa a big series opening 6-5 win.
Game 2
The game got off to a very bad start, with Drew Irvine getting knocked out in the first inning, without recording an out. Indiana combined for five hits and seven baserunners, while plating five runs, to give them an early 5-0 lead. However, this was not without controversy. With one on and no outs, Zeb Adreon made a sliding catch on a Paul Toetz fly ball, but the umpire said it hit the ground. On top of the missed call, Drew Ashley would have been doubled up because he did not tag. So, what should have been no one on and two outs, blossomed into five runs and a full bullpen game for the Hawkeyes.
The Hawkeyes would battle back in the second inning with three runs, aided by four McCade Brown walks. A couple of bases loaded walks and an Izaya Fullard RBI single, cut the lead to 5-3. However, Indiana would plate three runs in the bottom of the inning off Jacob Henderson and Ty Langenberg. The Hoosiers loaded the bases on a walk and two infield hits, followed by a sacrifice fly, passed ball and another infield single, to put the Hoosiers up 8-3.
Iowa kept battling back, but the first inning hole just proved to be too tough to overcome. A two-run double by Brendan Sher would cut the lead to 8-5 in the third and then a Dylan Nedved sacrifice fly would cut it to 8-6 in the fourth inning. Credit to Ty Langenberg for tossing a couple zeros to give Iowa a chance to fight back.
In the fifth, Tyson James would walk two Hoosiers and then Trace Hoffman would allow two singles and the lead climbed to 10-6 for Indiana. The Hoosiers would add to the lead in the sixth, with a Cole Barr home run and then back-to-back doubles form Tyler Van Pelt and Kip Fougerousse to extend the lead to 12-6.
Ty Bothwell would throw four scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Indiana to finish off the 12-6 win. McCade Brown did not have his best stuff for the Hoosiers, but Irvine getting bounced in the first inning caused the Hawkeyes to use six bullpen arms.
Game 3
The Sunday series finale would, once again, be a high scoring affair, but once again, Iowa would come up on the wrong side of the final score.
The Hawkeyes manufactured a run in their first at bat, scoring a run on an Austin Martin RBI groundout, but Indiana would tie things up in the bottom of the inning. Paul Toetz would double, with one out and Grant Richardson would follow with a tapper in front of the mound, but Cam Baumann’s throw to first went way wide, allowing Toetz to score.
In the third inning, Indiana would take the lead on a Cole Barr RBI single, which scored Paul Toetz, who had reached base on his second double of the game. Iowa would tie the game back up in the top of the fourth on a Trenton Wallace RBI single, but Indiana would get the bats going from there.
The Hoosier bats got to the Baumann in the bottom of the fourth, with five hits. Paul Toetz got his third hit of the game, on a two-run single, to put Indiana up 4-2. Grant Richardson would follow with an RBI triple and Cole Barr would clear the bases with a two-run home run. Baumann would depart from the game, with Indiana leading 7-2.
Indiana would add another run in the fifth, when a swinging strike three pitch bounced away from Austin Martin, allowing Collin Hopkins to score from third and extend the lead to 8-2. However, per usual Coach Heller’s squad would not go away quietly.
Trenton Wallace would cut into the lead in the sixth, with a two-run moonshot home run off Indiana starter Gabe Bierman. Bierman had a solid outing, going 6 innings, while allowing four runs and striking out nine. Nathan Stahl would come in in relief and Izaya Fullard would take him deep to left in the seventh to cut the Hoosier lead to 8-5, but Indiana would respond. Duncan Davitt did a good job, giving Iowa 3.1 innings after Baumann, but allowed back-to-back two outs hits from Collin Hopkins and James Espalin to extend the Hoosier lead back to 9-5. It seemed whenever Iowa got it close, Indiana would answer with a run or two.
Iowa kept fighting, with a Ben Norman two-run home run in the top of the eighth off of Braden Scott to cut the lead to 9-7, but once again Indiana answered. The Hoosiers would get back-to-back runners on with two outs and then Ethan Vecrumba put the game away with a three-run home run to right field, making it 12-7.
Matthew Sosa would get an RBI double in the ninth, but the rally did not go nearly long enough, and the Hawkeyes fell in the series finale 12-8.
Postseason Update
As I type this article, Iowa’s RPI sits at #39, with a 19-13 record. The Hawkeyes have 12 games remaining vs four teams that are below .500, including six home games. With the favorable schedule comes many opportunities for a season crippling series loss, so Iowa has to stay sharp. If Iowa can finish the season winning nine out of the last 12 games, they would be at 28-16. That is very doable with the opponents remaining.
The Hawkeyes have had seasons that have finished with a handful of head scratching losses that cost them postseason chances, but this team is capable of flipping that script.
Notes
- Ben Norman has extended his on-base streak to 21 games
- Izaya Fullard reached base eight times in the three games series
- This is the Hawkeyes first series loss in six weekends
- Zeb Adreon has reached base in nine straight games
