Iowa takes series opener

Trenton Wallace was on the hill for the Hawkeyes today and tied a career high with ten strikeouts. Penn State gave Wallace some early trouble, as leadoff batter Gavin Homer would reach on a walk and then come in to score on a Matt Wood single, to give PSU a 1-0 lead.

Wallace settled in for the next four innings, retiring 12 out of 15 batters. “(After the first inning), I just said, they have to hit their way on…They are a solid hitting team, but you can’t give them the freebies. You just have to challenge them,” said Wallace on what changed after the rough first inning.

The Hawkeye bats came out hot in the first two innings and gave the Iowa pitching staff all they needed to win. Izaya Fullard and Zeb Adreon would hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning, to put the Hawks up 2-1.

Then in the second, Brayden Frazier and Brendan Sher would reach base on a walk and double, respectively. Ben Norman would deliver a two-run single, to put Iowa up 4-1, after two innings.

Penn St would knock Wallace from the game in the sixth inning, after getting back-to-back singles from Justin Williams and Johnny Piacentino. In the post-game press conference, Trenton Wallace said that today was the most in-sync he has felt with Pitching Coach Robin Lund all season. Trace Hoffman would enter, but Josh Spiegel would single up the middle to score Williams and cut the Hawkeye lead to 4-2.

After the hit, Trace would lock in and retire eight of the next ten batters to get Iowa to the ninth inning up two runs. “The bullpen was outstanding. That’s the story. Trace Hoffman did a nice job. Had to get three innings for us tonight and then Dylan (Nedved) was sharp in the ninth,” said Coach Heller on the pitching performance behind Wallace. The Iowa offense had a couple of opportunities in the fifth and sixth innings to extend the lead, but Bailey Dees and Hutch Gagnon worked out of both jams.

Dylan Nedved came in to nail down the save for the Hawkeyes and struck out two Nittany Lion batters to give Iowa the 4-2, series opening win.

“Well, they are all big. I am being realistic with the guys…I told our guys we can’t pay any attention to all that (RPI and postseason talk)…We just need to play good baseball, do the best we can and hopefully at the end of those games we are in a good position where they have no choice, but to take us (for an at-large bid),” said Coach Heller on winning today and the road ahead.

“Our defense is tremendous obviously; they did a great job again. When the ball was hit at them, they made the easy play and made it look easy,” Wallace said on the Hawkeye defense.

Notes

- Ben Norman extended his on-base streak to 22 games.

- Zeb Adreon has reached base in 10 straight games.

- Trenton Wallace 10 Ks, tied a career high

- The Iowa pitching staff allowed just three PSU batters to reach via walk/HBP

- This was Iowa's 20th win this season.