Trailing 9-1 after the third inning in a baseball game is not a recipe for success. Unfortunately for Iowa today, the Michigan State bats came out of fire in the first couple innings and put the Hawks in that exact situation. The Spartans built their lead as large as 10-1 and their bullpen was able to fend off a serious Hawkeye rally to pick up the 10-8 win in the series finale.
Ty Langenberg was ambushed by Michigan State lineup in the second inning and for the second straight day, Coach Rick Heller had to go to the bullpen very early. After working a 1-2-3 first inning, the Spartans tagged Langenberg and reliever Jacob Henderson for eight hits and put up a nine spot in the second inning. A bases clearing triple from Peter Ahn was the backbreaker, as it pushed the lead to 9-1.
“We had a rough start. Michigan State came out on fire,” said Heller. “Everything their bat touched fell for a hit and we had a call go against us at the plate that hurt and cost us four runs, so it ended up being nine instead of five.”
On the other side, Harrison Cook had a solid start for the Spartans going 6.0 innings, allowing just one run on six hits, while striking out five.
The Hawkeyes fell down 10-1 in the sixth inning, but put together a fearsome rally to elevate the heartrates of the MSU fans in attendance. A Peyton Williams two-run home run in the seventh inning cut the lead to 10-3 and got the wheels turning on a comeback.
A Ben Wilmes RBI groundout made it 10-4 in the eighth inning, but the Hawkeyes continued to battle and loaded the bases against reliver Andrew Carson. Keaton Anthony then delivered a grand slam to bring Iowa within two runs and give them hope of a miraculous comeback.
In the bottom of the inning, the Spartans tacked on an insurance run via error to make it 11-8. Peyton Williams throw to the plate was in the dirt and Ben Tallman could not corral it. Iowa was able to start a rally in the ninth with a couple baserunners and got Peyton Williams up to the plate with a chance to tie the game. However, he flew out to deep center to end the game and end the hopes of a wild comeback.
“We didn’t do a whole lot off Harrison in the first 5-6 innings and we rallied late and had a chance and never gave up,” said Heller. “It is a disappointing loss, but we never quit. You have to like that about our team.”
Keaton Anthony, Izaya Fullard, Sam Petersen and Michael Seegers each collected two hits on the day, while Fullard reached base four times. Dylan Nedved threw 4.1 innings out of the bullpen, while allowing just one run and Ben DeTaeye had a scoreless inning as well.
With the loss, the Hawkeyes fall to 30-17 on the season and 14-7 in Big Ten play, which leaves them in third place in the standings. In the RPI rankings, Iowa sits at #66 with four games left in the regular season, however the margin for error is likely gone meaning the Hawkeyes really need to win all four. They will be back in action on Tuesday, as they travel to face Illinois-Chicago for their final midweek game of the season. First pitch is at 6:05pm and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
