Hawkeyes win series vs Rutgers

After, the Hawkeyes won a wild 26 run affair on Friday, they were looking to keep the momentum going into the weekend. They played a doubleheader on Saturday, which included a 7-inning game Saturday morning.

Saturday – Game 1

Drew Irvine was on the mound for the Hawkeyes in the morning contest, looking to build on his quality start last week vs Minnesota and he did just that. Irvine threw all 7 innings, allowing just one run on six hits, while striking out five Rutgers batters. The Iowa offense got on the board early when Dylan Nedved scored Izaya Fullard on a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Iowa extended their lead to 2-0 in the 3rd inning, on a Peyton Williams single. Izaya Fullard would add an insurance run in the top of the 6th, with his first home run of the season, a solo shot, to make it 3-0. Rutgers starter Ben Wereski went 7 innings, as well, allowing just three runs on five hits. The Scarlet Knights would get their only run of the game in the bottom of the 6th on a Ryan Lasko home run, his eight of the season. Then in the bottom of the 7th, Lasko came to bat again, this time with runners on first and second, trailing by two runs. Irvine was able to get Lasko to ground out to Matthew Sosa at third base and the Hawkeyes held on for a 3-1 win.

Saturday – Game 2

The second game on Saturday pitted Cam Baumann up against Brent Teller and this one started much like the first game. Low scoring. Baumann and Teller both got through the first four innings without allowing a run, but Iowa was able to strike first in the 5th. Austin Martin reached via an error to start the inning and would later score on an Izaya Fullard single to make it 1-0 Hawkeyes. Iowa would then load the bases in the 6th, but Brent Teller was able to throw a huge 6-4-3 double play to keep the score at just 1-0. Rutgers would get back-to-back singles from Chris Brito and Jordan Sweeney to start the 7th inning, but Cam Baumann was able to hold the Scarlet Knights to just one run, which came on a Kevin Welsh sacrifice fly. Despite, the run, Cam Baumann had another productive start, going 7 innings, allowing just one run on three, hits while striking out four and walking two. Rutgers reliever Brian Fitzpatrick would retire the first two batters in the 8th, but a Matthew Sosa bunt single kept the inning alive. Fitzpatrick would issue a walk to Trenton Wallace and that brought Ben Gorski into the game. Gorski could not find the zone, walking two batters, which scored one run to give Iowa a 2-1 lead. Dale Stanavich came in, but Ben Norman got a clutch single to extend the lead and an errant throw would help score a third run on the play. Izaya Fullard followed with a roped double down the left field line to score another run and give Iowa a 6-1 lead. The Hawkeyes plated all five runs with two outs and take control of the game. Ben Probst came in relief of Baumann and tossed a 1-2-3 inning. Then in the top of the 9th, Austin Martin would bring home Dylan Nedved and Matthew Sosa on a double to deep right field, extending the lead to 8-1. Grant Leonard would come in for the 9th inning and struck out the side to nail down the seventh straight Hawkeye victory and a doubleheader sweep.

Sunday

Duncan Davitt took the mound for the Hawkeyes on Sunday and continued the run of quality starting pitching for the Hawkeyes. Davitt went 5 innings, allowing just one run on four hits, while striking out seven Rutgers batters. His lone run would come in the 4th inning when a leadoff walk to Ryan Lasko would score on an Evan Sleight single.

However, Iowa was able to give him some run support to help the cause. In the 2nd inning, Iowa got two runners on for Ben Norman, who hit his ninth home run of the season, to give Iowa a 3-0 lead.

Then in the 3rd, Rutgers starter Justin Sinibaldi would allow the first three Hawkeye batters to reach base via two walks and a hit by pitch. A Matthew Sosa ground ball would plate a run and Austin Martin would follow with a two-run double to left field, to go up 6-0. Out of the bullpen for Rutgers, Jared Bellissimo would go 4.1 innings, allowing just three baserunners and it gave the Scarlet Knights hope of a potential rally.

Trace Hoffman would throw two lights out innings for Iowa in relief and the Hawks would add an insurance run in the top of the 8th on a Ben Norman sacrifice fly. Iowa built a six run lead going into the bottom of the 8th, but Rutgers rallied. Dylan Nedved did not have his usual stuff out of the bullpen, allowing two hits and a hit by pitch to load the bases. Nedved would then walk Chris Brito, cutting the lead to 7-2, but that was not all for the inning. Evan Sleight would come up next and hit a grand slam to center field, which cut the comfortable Iowa lead, down to just 7-6.

Grant Leonard would come in and get out of the inning, but Rutgers had made it game. Eric Reardon would set down the Hawkeyes in order in the top of the 9th, but Grant Leonard did not have the same luck in the bottom of the inning. Mike Nyisztor would lead of the inning with a single and then advance to second on a sacrifice bunt. Grant Leonard would hit Ryan Lasko with a pitch, before allowing a bloop single from Chris Brito to load the bases. Evan Sleight would get his sixth RBI of the game when he was hit by a pitch. This tied the game at seven and Rutgers had bases loaded with just one out. Danny DiGeorgio would follow with a long at bat and Grant Leonard got him to hit a ground ball to third, but Matthew Sosa could not handle it and the Scarlet Knights would walk it off on the error, winning 8-7.

Series Notes

- Ben Norman hit home runs eight and nine on the season

- Ben Norman has a 13 game on base streak

- Iowa won their fourth straight series this weekend

- Matthew Sosa was hit by pitch twice Saturday, bringing his season total to 14

- Iowa got productive starts out of Irvine, Baumann and Davitt. 19 innings, 13 hits, 16 strikeouts, 4 walks, just 3 runs

- Peyton Williams reached base 10 times over the four-game series