Iowa baseball lands JUCO commit

Coach Heller got his second JUCO commit of the week, this time from Heartland Community College INF Sam Hojnar. Hojnar announced his commitment to Iowa on Twitter earlier this afternoon. The true sophomore comes to Iowa City with two years of eligibility remaining, but if he were to decide to redshirt, he still has that available.

He is from the Chicago area and attended Naperville Central High School. Out of the class of 2019, Hojnar was rated the #8 shortstop and the #30 prospect overall, in the state of Illinois. He was also rated the #122 shortstop prospect in the country by Perfect Game. He played his freshman year in 2020 at Southern Illinois, before transferring to Heartland CC.

Hojnar has put together a pretty productive 2021 campaign, batting .342, with a .403 OBP%. Much like Kyle Huckstorf, who committed to Iowa early this week from Iowa Western, Hojnar packs the stat sheet. He has 39 hits, including seven doubles, four triples and seven home runs over 32 games played. Hojnar also has some speed on the basepaths, racking up 11 stolen bases.

The one statistic that provides some concern is the fielding percentage. Hojnar has committed 12 errors on 103 chances, which is a fielding percentage of .883. That is something he will need to work on once he gets into the Iowa program. The good news is that Izaya Fullard has mentioned how much he has improved his fielding during his time within the program, so the coaching staff will work with Hojnar right away.

Below is a look the Iowa infield as it stands right now…

3B Matthew Sosa (Sr)

SS/2B Dylan Nedved (Jr)

2B Izaya Fullard (Jr)

SS Brendan Sher (Soph)

SS/2B Michael Seegers (Fr)

INF Andy Nelson (Fr)