It was a quiet week for Hawkeye sports, but both the baseball and softball teams were in action on the diamond. After a wild mid-week loss for Iowa baseball, the team bounced back for a huge weekend sweep.
Let's take a closer look.
Olympic Spotlight: Baseball
Iowa baseball (28-18, 13-8) put together a 3-1 week last week, losing 21-14 (!) to North Dakota State on Wednesday before sweeping a three-game series against Northwestern (13-30, 2-16) over the weekend 4-3, 9-2, and 6-5.
The Hawkeyes kicked off the week with a crazy mid-week matchup against North Dakota State that featured a score far closer to something we'd expect to see in September. The Bison jumped on Iowa early, plating six runs in the top of the 1st inning. Iowa answered with a Reese Moore two-run shot and the teams traded a pair of runs each in the third inning to push the score to 8-4 after three.
The Hawks drew a pair of bases-loaded walks in the 4th and each team plated two in the 5th to make the score 10-8. The game was already going off the rails, but it was still competitive. The Bison landed another haymaker in the 6th, scoring five runs, and then added two more in the 7th to take a 17-8 lead. Still, Iowa refused to go quietly. Andy Nelson sent a grand slam over the wall as part of a five-run 7th to cut the Bison lead to 17-13, but NDSU scored once more in the 8th and three times in the 9th to keep Iowa at arm's length.
Midweek non-conference matchups have been a frequent problem for the Hawks over the past few seasons and that trend unfortunately continued last week. It's no secret that giving up 21 runs isn't a sustainable path to victory and Coach Rick Heller said as much after the game. Iowa's pitching has been better over the two weeks but the bullpen -- ten different Hawkeyes pitched Wednesday -- struggled to start the year and ran into similar issues on Wednesday. Midweek games can be difficult to navigate as a pitching staff, but the team has to find a way to at least give their offense a chance against lesser competition.
Fortunately, Iowa didn't let Wednesday's loss linger and took out their frustrations in a weekend series against the Wildcats. Northwestern struck first, plating two in the top of the 1st inning on Friday, but Iowa answered back with a Reese Moore RBI double in the bottom of the inning. From there, both pitchers locked in and the game remained 2-1 until the 8th inning with the Cats adding an insurance run.
It looked like another frustrating loss was in store for Iowa, but the Hawkeyes dug deep and put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the 8th. Four hits with two outs, culminating in a Cade Moss two-RBI double gave the Hawkeyes a 4-3 lead and ultimately the win.
Friday night was exactly what the Hawkeyes needed from the pitching staff after Wednesday's tough outing. Anthony Watts threw 4.2 innings, giving up two runs and striking out seven, and was relieved by Aaron Savary who threw 3.1 innings of his own, giving up just one run. The Hawkeye bats made solid contact throughout the game but couldn't string together hits to push runs across. Still, they didn't get down as the game went late, instead finding a way to fight back and claim the win.
Saturday's game looked like it was going to follow a similar script. The Wildcats again took the lead in the top of the 1st, scoring one, and from there, both teams' bats went quiet. It wasn't until the 5th inning that Iowa finally broke through, scoring three runs on a bases-loaded walk, a sac fly, and a little league classic double steal.
Three runs were more than enough for Brody Brecht, who was brilliant again on Saturday, but Iowa added another run in the 6th to push the lead to 4-1 and blew the game open in the 8th, plating five more to take a 9-1 lead.
Northwestern scored once in the 9th but never truly threatened to climb back into the game. The offense was potent on Saturday, but the story again was Brody Brecht. Brecht pitched eight innings, striking out a dozen and allowing only two hits. His stuff was nasty all day, frequently inspiring confused flails and whiffs at balls in the dirt from the Wildcats.
It's been a near-perfect month for Brecht, who has an ERA below 1.00 over his last three starts, and a strikeout-to-walk rate over 4.00.
The Hawks claimed the series with Saturday's convincing win, but they wanted to cap off the week with a sweep. In Sunday's finale, Iowa scored first, scoring one in each of the first two innings to take an early 2-0 lead. Northwestern pulled one back in the 5th and took a brief lead with two in the 6th before Iowa answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the 6th.
Andy Nelson and Raider Tello combined to drive in the three runs and give the Hawkeyes a 5-3 lead. The Wildcats responded with two in the top of the 7th, tying the game at five where it would stay through the ninth inning, sending the game into extras.
Iowa's bullpen came up huge, holding the Cats scoreless for four innings in extra innings until the Hawkeyes finally broke through in the bottom of the 13th when Kellen Strohmeyer drove in Michael Seegers to give the Hawks the win and the sweep.
Sunday's win was the perfect way to excise Wednesday's bad outing for the Hawkeye bullpen. The Hawks gave up only two hits from the 6th inning on and kept the game tied from the 9th inning onward until the bats broke through for the win. The Hawks now sit 5th in the Big Ten at 13-8 with one weekend series remaining. The Hawkeyes will travel to take on first-place Illinois (28-16, 13-5) next weekend for a three-game series. A series win likely pushes the Hawkeyes into the top four and sets them up well for the Big Ten Tournament.
This Iowa group continues to have all the pieces necessary to make a deep postseason run, with last week's results showing both the best and worst-case scenario for a team that has its eyes set on another conference championship.
Softball
Iowa softball concluded its season with a 2-2 week, falling to Northern Iowa 6-5 on Wednesday before bouncing back to take two of three from Illinois, winning 5-3, and 6-5 and losing 2-1.
It was a week of close matchups for the Hawkeyes, starting with Wednesday's midweek battle with the Panthers. Iowa put up a crooked inning in the 3rd, scoring four runs on a trio of RBI singles from Sammy Diaz, Brylee Klosterman, and Skylinn Pgogue. Iowa added another in the 4th to take a 5-0 lead and looked to be cruising to a win. Unfortunately, UNI came to life in the 5th, scoring three runs and leaving the bases loaded, and then scored three more in the 6th to take a 6-5 lead and the win.
Friday's game against the Illini was another nail-biter. Jalen Adams put together another strong start on the mound, going the distance and allowing only two runs. Both teams scored their lone regulation run in the 5th, the Hawkeyes jumping ahead on a Tory Bennett RBI double and Ilinois answering in the bottom of the inning.
The game remained tied through seven and Adams held the Illini bats at bay through the 8th and 9th innings, but Iowa couldn't find the go-ahead run. Illinois ultimately found the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Saturday continued the trend of hotly contested games, but this time the Hawkeyes came out on top. Pogue and Grace Banes gave Iowa a 2-0 lead in the 2nd with a pair of RBI singles and Illinois got one back in the bottom of the inning. Soo-Jin Berry gave Iowa a 3-1 lead with a 3rd-inning RBI and the score remained there until Illinois scored a run in the 5th to make it 3-2.
The Hawkeyes refused to be denied though, scoring twice in the 6th to put the game out of reach and come away with the 5-3 win. Freshman starter Jaylee Ojo put together her best game of the season on the mound, throwing a complete game and striking out ten hitters.
Iowa had a chance to end their year with a series win on Sunday and took full advantage. The game started as a pitcher's duel with a 3rd-inning run from the Illini the only mark on the scoreboard through four. In the 5th, both teams' bats came alive, each team scoring three times.
Banes and Bennett smacked matching RBI doubles to give the Hawkeyes a 3-1 lead before Illinois answered to retake the lead, 4-3, and then added an insurance run to take a 5-3 lead into the 7th. It looked as though Iowa may come up just short on the series win, but Banes refused to go down without a fight in her final game. She doubled to start the 7th and came around to score on a Bennett single. Devin Bowman came up behind her and knocked in the tying run.
Echo Mattiello doubled to kick off the 8th inning and came around on a throwing error to give Iowa a 6-5 lead and Andrea Joskowiak shut down the Illini to give the Hawkeyes the game and series win to close out their season.
The season didn't go the way the Hawkeyes hoped, but multiple young members of the team took big steps to close the year. Freshmen Jena Young and Soo-Jin Berry both hit over .300 on the year and both of Iowa's top starting pitchers, Jalen Adams and Jaylee Ojo, are underclassmen as well. There is a long way to go before the team can reach its goal of a Big Ten title, but the foundation is there for future success.
