Hawkeyes score 16 runs, run-rule FIU to close out the regular season
Although the Hawkeyes final regular season series against Florida International had nearly no meaning on paper, it was imperative that they put together a good weekend prior to the Big Ten Tournament. The results of the series were not going to change the fact that they have to win the whole thing in Omaha to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. That being said, it’s much easier to arrive in Omaha with a hopeful attitude after a successful weekend and that’s exactly what Rick Heller’s Hawkeyes will do.
After an impressive offensive night on Friday, Iowa kept the bats going on Saturday afternoon. Headlined by a nine-run fourth inning, the Hawkeyes picked up a 16-4 run-rule victory over Florida International to close out the regular season with a 31-21 record.
“You always worry after a night game where you score a bunch of runs and get a bunch of hits,” said head coach Rick Heller. “You worry a little bit about coming out sluggish with the bats and we’d had a few of those this year where the offense was sluggish.”
Iowa was anything but sluggish.
Florida International put up a run in the top of the first, but Gable Mitchell tied things up with a mammoth solo home run into the right field bleachers that sit well above the playing field. The home run came just moments after his grandparents Dan and Kathy Gable received a shoutout on the videoboard for celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at Principal Park.
“I give a ton of credit to my grandfather. As I’ve grown up, just the way he taught me to go about my business. I wouldn’t be here without him. My grandma deserves a ton of recognition as well,” said Mitchell. “It’s really cool to be able to do that right after.”
The Panthers stuck around in the earlygoing. A solo home run from leadoff hitter Brylan West in the top of the third put FIU up 2-1, but from that point on, it was all Hawkeyes. Andy Nelson and Raider Tello teamed up for back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the third to put Iowa on top 4-2. It was the beginning of another game that was dominated by Hawkeye hitters.
“(After Thursday), I think it was important for our team to put everything in perspective. Just to understand there isn’t a lot of time left if we don’t figure things out,” said Mitchell. “We came out the next day and just were unbelieveable with everything…I think it’s important for us to understand, if we want to keep this team together, we’ve all got to come together and keep playing the way we’re playing.”
On Friday night, Iowa tied a season-high for runs in an inning (8) against a DI opponent. It was apparent early in the fourth inning that they had designs on putting up their biggest crooked number of the season. Five of the first six batters in the inning reached base, including an RBI single from Raider Tello to make it 6-2.
The Panthers helped Iowa along with four free bases and an error, but the bats delivered the big blows. Gable Mitchell provided some more power with a bases clearing triple off the wall in centerfield to extend the lead to 11-2. Later, Cade Moss added on a two-run bloop single into right field, ballooning the lead to 13-2.
“More than anything, losing the game on Thursday and how we lost the game, I was really interested to see how we responded,” said Heller. “The way we responded was like you’d expect from a bunch of guys that care a lot. I thought we played really hard this weekend. Really proud of our guys how they responded after a tough loss on Thursday.”
Offensively, the Hawkeyes racked up 16 runs on 11 hits, including multi-hit games from Ben Wilmes (3 hits), Raider Tello (2) and Gable Mitchell (2). Gable Mitchell and Cade Moss combined for 7 of Iowa’s 12 RBI’s.
On the mound, Anthony Watts got the start, but wasn’t as sharp as he has been lately. Watts allowed two runs on four hits over 2.1 innings, including two strikeouts to two walks. He exited the game in the third, with two on and just one out. At that point, FIU had a 2-1 lead and was threatening to add on. Ganon Archer entered in relief and put out the fire. He recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. Looking at the final score, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but at the time, the game was still up for grabs.
“(Anthony) didn’t have command of his slider like he normally does and he fought through it,” said Heller. “Ganon Archer’s first inning, he looked really sharp…It looked like it was going to be a close ballgame at that point.”
Going into the Big Ten Tournament, Rick Heller felt like his team did what was necessary this weekend to build some momentum for the postseason. Over the last two days of the series, Iowa put up 31 runs on 25 hits and hit seven home runs.
“It did exactly what we needed it to do. Build some confidence and we caught a break with great weather and friendly wind. Get away from Banks Field and we turn into a pretty good offense, the north wind beat us up this year at home…I feel like we’re in a good place heading over to Omaha.”
Up Next, Iowa will head to Omaha for the Big Ten Tournament at Charles Schwab Field from May 21st-26th. The Hawkeyes are the #5 seed and will face #4 seed Michigan in the opening round with Brody Brecht set to take the ball for the start. Date and time are still TBA as of the writing of this article.
