Olympic Spotlight: Iowa Baseball 3-0 to Start Season

It was another very strong weekend for Iowa sports, with standout performers in a few different sports. It's an extra-busy time on the calendar, with winter sports wrapping up and spring sports getting underway, so let's dive right in. The stars of the weekend were no doubt the Iowa baseball team, who started their year off 3-0, and Pitcher/Wide Receiver Brody Brecht, who earned Pitcher of the Week Honors for his blistering start to the year.

Let's take a closer look.

Iowa baseball started its season with three straight wins at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, FL, last weekend, besting Indiana State 6-2 on Friday before following up that win with decisive victories over Quinnipiac on Saturday and Sunday, 7-1 and 10-0.

The first game was by far the best of the weekend. Ty Lagenberg put together a strong start for the Hawks, going five innings, striking out six, and giving up just two runs. The Hawkeye bats came through with two runs of their own and the game was tied heading to the sixth. After the Sycamores put two runners on, Jared Simpson came in and slammed the door, ending the threat in the sixth and putting together three more shutout innings to help push the game to extra innings. The score remained tied until the top of the 11th when Kyle Huckstorf decided to take matters into his own hands. With the bases loaded, Huckstorf swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it over the fence for a walk-off grand slam and giving the Hawks an exhilarating opening day win.

Saturday and Sunday's wins were less dramatic but no less impressive. The Hawkeye pitching staff combined for eighteen innings of one-run ball over the two games. On Saturday, Brody Brecht put together five perfect innings of work, striking out 10 of the 15 batters he faced. He was followed by Zach Voelker who came in and struck out six of his own. The Hawks were active at the plate, with Brayden Frazier leading the way with a 3-3 day that included 3 RBIs and a run scored. Brennen Dorighi and Huckstorf put together multi-hit games and Keaton Anthony smacked his first home run of the year en route to the 7-1 win.

On Sunday, it was more of the same, with eleven Hawkeyes notching hits while the pitching staff shut out Quinnipiac. Anthony went 2-4 and chipped in 2 2/3 innings on the mound for good measure, and Dorighi hit his first home run of the year. The Hawks won 10-0 after scoring two runs in the eighth to force the run rule.

If you were scripting the start of the season for the Hawkeyes, I'm not sure you'd come up with anything better than what we saw over the weekend. The dramatic win to start made for incredible theater and then two dominating performances showed what this group looks like at its peak. Brecht putting together five perfect innings while throwing triple digits should have you salivating at his potential for the rest of the season, but the entire pitching staff put in work last weekend. Three runs allowed over 30 innings is awesome no matter the level of competition. This pitching staff is going to keep the Hawks in a lot of games, especially as they work through those early season home games when it can still be a bit chilly outside.

If the offense is as potent as it looked over the weekend, with Anthony picking up right where he left off and newcomers like Dorighi providing instant contributions, this team has the makings of something special. Iowa faces some of the same geographical issues in baseball as the ones we talked about last week with the softball team, but those preseason predictions for postseason baseball feel within reach for this group. It's early, and three games is hardly a descriptive sample size for a team, but it's all we have to go on right now. So far, Hellerball is everything we wanted and more.

Iowa gymnastics notched another conference win last weekend, 196.200-195.125 over Rutgers. JerQuavia Henderson continued her strong season, earning two more event titles, on vault and floor. The overall score for the GymHawks has slipped a tiny bit over the past few weeks, but they continue to put up wins as they work through the kinks. In a sport as subjective as gymnastics the scores between meets aren't always comparable and this group continues to add new pieces to their routines and push for more, so I wouldn't worry too much yet. I talked about it last week, but it's always better to win ugly than not at all, and the team is still ranked #20, even with the recent bump in the road. They'll take part in the B1G Five meet this Friday.

Hawkeye softball split their four games last weekend, going 1-1 against both Syracuse and NC State. The Hawks won their first game against each opponent, 11-2 over NC State and 7-0 over Syracuse, but dropped the rematch in each case, 3-1 in 8 innings to NC State and 11-4 to Syracuse. Nia Carter and Denali Loecker continued their hot starts at the plate. Carter went 3-4 with two RBIs in game one and Loecker smashed a three-run homer in game one as well to kickstart the blowout. Jalen Adams threw a complete game shutout with four strikeouts against the Orange as well to continue a strong start to her Hawkeye career. Sammy Diaz notched her first home run of the year in game four. The Hawks will travel to Palm Springs this coming weekend for a five-pack of games, including matchups with UCLA and Cal.

Iowa swimming and diving competed in the Big Ten Championships over the weekend. Top performers included Scarlet Martin who finished 16th overall in the 100m butterfly as a freshman and Geneva Pauly, another freshman, who finished 16th in the three-meter dive. Iowa's 200m free relay team of Kennedy Gilbertson, Molly Pedersen, Sabina Kupcova, and Martin finished 11th. Gilbertson, Pedersen, Martin, and Sheridan Schreiber also finished 11th in the 200m relay. Kupcova swam the 7th fasted IM in Iowa history over the weekend as well, finishing in 2:02.56.

Austin Kresley was the standout performer for Iowa track and field at the Iowa Open last weekend, setting a career-best in the 60m dash prelims before breaking it in the finals with the 2nd-fastest time in school history (6.64). Grant Conway tied his personal best in the 60m hurdles (7.69), which ranks 4th all-time at Iowa. The Hawkeyes earned six event wins and set a smattering of personal bests. Myreanna Bebe won the women's 60m hurdles with a time of 8.21, while Tiona Tobles won the women's high jump with a height of 1.7m. Kayla Hutchins added a win in the triple jump (12.21m) and Ianna Roach took first in women's shotput (14.78m) as they continue to prepare for the Big Ten Indoor Championships, which take place in Geneva, OH this Friday and Saturday.