You clock in, do your job, and you clock out.

That’s what the Iowa Baseball team did on Sunday, as they put together a workmanlike performance beating Bucknell 3-0, to secure a weekend sweep at the Swig & Swine Classic.

Freshman Marcus Morgan made his collegiate debut on the mound this morning and it got off to a rocky start, as Morgan tried to shake off some nerves. Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for the Bison, but Michael Seegers saved the day. Seegers made a sliding grab on a line drive up the middle and was able to double off Chris Cannizzaro at second base to keep the inning scoreless.

“That was probably the biggest play of the game. It stopped their rally in the first,” said Coach Rick Heller. “After that it was smooth sailing on the mound. Marcus settled in and pitched well.”

From there, Morgan settled in and retired nine of his next 11 batters faced, including five strikeouts. He threw 4.0 innings and allowed no runs on one hit and four walks, while striking out six.

The Hawkeyes missed opportunities in the first two innings with runners in scoring position, but broke through in the fourth inning. A Keaton Anthony walk, Sam Hojnar single and an error by Bucknell pitcher Austin Odell allowed Iowa to load the bases. Brendan Sher’s RBI single broke the scoreless tie, but Odell was able to get out of the inning without any further damage done.

The redshirt senior for Bucknell had a good outing, going 5.0 innings, allowing just one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out five Hawkeye batters.

However, Iowa was able to extend their lead in the sixth due to some help by the Bison fielders. RF Grant Voytovich misplayed a Sam Hojnar pop fly in shallow left field, allowing Hojnar to get in scoring position, while an errant throw by 3B Jacob Corson gave Iowa two runners in scoring position. That’s when the classic Hellerball kicked in.

A Brett McCleary RBI ground out made it 2-0 and Brendan Sher followed win a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Two outs were recorded, but the job was well done, and the Hawkeyes extended their lead.

Meanwhile, Ty Langenberg was solid on the mound in relief of Marcus Morgan. He retired nine of ten batters faced over his first three innings, but ran into a bit of trouble with two outs in the eighth inning. A Chris Cannizzaro single, followed by a Jacob Corson walk brought the tying run to the plate for Bucknell. It also brought Dylan Nedved into the game. However, he needed just one pitch and Grant Voytovich flew out to end the threat.

Nedved continued on in the ninth and picked up his first save of the season, sitting down the Bison in order with two strikeouts to give the Hawkeyes the weekend sweep.

Sam Hojnar and Brendan Sher combined to have five of Iowa’s seven hits on the day, while Sher had two RBIs.

“We scored three runs on a day when runs were hard to come by,” said Heller. “They made us beat them and thankfully we were able to do that with solid defense. The guys played hard, and I loved the energy today on a get-out day and two early mornings in a row.”

“I am pleased with where we are at, but on the other side, there are a lot of things we need to work on, “ said Heller. “Overall, I was happy with how the guys fought and battled and came together as a team. We just have to keep growing and work on confidence and toughness and all those things that are going to get us through these next few weeks.”

Up next, the Hawkeyes will travel to Corpus Christi, Texas for the Kleberg Bank Classic next weekend. They will face Pepperdine, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and finish up with a game against Wichita State on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on FloBaseball.

Notes

- First time since 1983 that Iowa has held opponents to 2 runs or less in their first three games of the season.

- Best start since 2018 (started 4-0)

- Pitching staff recorded 46 strikeouts over the weekend (15.3 per gm)

- Outscored opponents 26-3 over the weekend