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Hawkeyes bash Ohio State, Heller captures career win #1,000

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•05/06/23•

HuesmannKyle

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Photo by Dennis Scheidt

Rick Heller remembers the first game he ever coached back in 1988. His Upper Iowa squad dropped their season opener against College of the Ozarks. They went on to also lose games against Henderson State and Southwest Arkansas. Heller said that he thinks it took him six or so losses before he got his first one. Fast forward to 2023 and he was able to check off win #1,000 in his career with a dramaless victory. The Hawkeyes banged out 19 hits and scored 15 runs in a 15-3 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

“For me, I always just think about all the guys, all the teams and all the great players I’ve had an opportunity to coach and be a part of their lives,” said Heller. “It won’t be a very long night for me…I’m hoping to get something good to eat and then I’m probably going to have to kick a bunch of people of out the house. I think half of Elton (Iowa) is here today.”

Marcus Morgan got the start on the mound for the Hawkeyes and wasn’t quite as sharp as he would have hoped, but he battled hard. He kept the Buckeyes from turning his free bases into a big inning and gave the Hawkeyes a solid five inning start.

“It was not clean by any stretch, but the thing Marcus did was he competed. He fought hard and battled out of some jams,” said Heller. “Getting five today after last night having to go to the bullpen as many times as we did and giving our offense a chance to get going, I was really proud of Marcus.”

The Buckeyes got on the board first with a solo home run off the bat of Hank Thomas in the third inning, but Marcus responded with three straight strikeouts. A couple of walks in the fourth got him in trouble again, while a wild pitch brought in a second run for OSU. Despite that, Marcus was able to get back-to-back K’s to end any further damage. Through four innings the Buckeyes had two runs, but it was the Iowa offense that, once again, came to play in a big way.

Ohio State starter Gavin Bruni retired seven of the first Iowa hitters he faced, but they got to him in the third inning. Brennen Dorighi punched an RBI double that just snuck over the third base bag to get the Hawkeyes on the board. Kyle Huckstorf followed with a three-run blast to left field and all the sudden with two outs, Iowa put up four runs to take the lead.

Runs came again in the fourth inning off the bat of Will Mulflur. He was in the lineup for Keaton Anthony who missed his second straight game, but the ball kept rolling. Mulflur sent the 2-1 offering from Bruni over the left field wall for a two-run home run to make it 6-2 Hawkeyes.

“The offense is doing such a fantastic job and I think the best part for me was being able to jump in and not throw off what they had going the last couple of weeks,” said Mulflur. “It’s always next man up and we’re a one through nine offense where everybody has to do their part.”

“He was my pick to click and I write the lineup,” said Coach Heller with a laugh. “He’s been fighting a bad back most of the season and the cold weather is really tough on him…I watched him in BP today and his last swing he hit one over the hawk in left field and I could tell he was moving pretty good today.”

Ohio State threatened to cut into the 6-2 Iowa lead in the fifth inning, as two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with just one out. A coach popped out of the dugout, but it was pitching coach Sean McGrath instead of Rick Heller. They decided to leave Marcus Morgan in the game and it paid off. He got Tyler Pettorini to ground into a 4-6-3 double play and it was a big play to end the day after five innings for Marcus.

“Just knowing the coaches have the confidence to leave me out there. That they believe in me to get out of those jams is something huge for me. They have that trust in me to go out there and do the job,” said Morgan. “It was funny, he usually comes out pretty light-hearted and he said ‘alright guys here comes a double play, roll it up’, and it happened.”

From that moment on, it was a all fun for the Hawkeye offense. A Sam Petersen RBI triple in the fifth drove in Kyle Huckstorf, while Sam Hojnar followed with an opposite field home run to make it 9-2 Iowa. Brennen Dorighi added a second RBI double of the day in the sixth inning and it was a healthy 10-2 lead going into the late innings.

“We have guys who are committed to the plan and committed to doing their one-ninth. Over the last six weeks, I really feel like the offense has gelled and is truly committed to that approach,” said Heller. “When guys commit to that, you get production up and down the lineup…You make more productive outs, you battle and see more pitches, fight harder with two strikes and try to get the pitch count up as best you can.”

Aaron Savary came on from the bullpen and allowed one run over 2.0 innings, but left the game in some trouble with runners on the corners and no outs. Will Christophersen came on and struck out three Ohio State batters in a row to keep the lead at 10-3. The Hawkeye bats came to the plate for their last at-bat and put on the finishing touches.

A couple of errors by 3B Nick Erwin got things rolling, while a walk issued by reliever George Eisenhardt loaded the bases. Sam Petersen pulled a ball into left field and drove in a pair of runs with a double to make it 12-3. Sam Hojnar came to the plate to face new pitcher Landon Price and took the first pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run. It marked the third straight game that an Iowa hitter hit two home runs. It also made it 15-3 Hawkeyes.

“Second and third and less than two outs, so I was just looking for a ball to elevate. Try to get the ball in the air and see if I can get a sac fly or something,” said Hojnar. “Thankfully, the wind was blowing out.”

“I remember back before the season started, I talked about, we might not have a Jake Adams that’s going to hit 30 home runs, but we have seven or eight who can hit 5, 10, 12 and that’s nice to have,” said Heller. “Everybody’s a threat and as the weather is turning a little bit more in our favor, you can see that come to fruition even more.”

Jack Young came on for the ninth inning and got back-to-back strikeouts looking to finish the game. The bullpen combined to allow just one run on three hits over 4.0 innings and racked up seven strikeouts to just one walk. For the second straight day, the pitching staff kept Ohio State from taking advantage of threatening situations, as the Buckeyes were just 1/12 with runners in scoring position. They are now 5/31 (.161) with runners in scoring position for the weekend.

Every Hawkeye starter logged a hit, while seven of the nine had multiple hits. Brennen Dorighi and Cade Moss led the way with three hits apiece. Sam Hojnar had five RBI’s, while Kyle Huckstorf and Sam Petersen each had three. The offense was 12/24 (.500) with runners on base and 7/13 (.538) with runners in scoring position.

Up next for the Hawkeyes…

With the win, Iowa moves to 34-11 on the season and 10-6 in Big Ten play. They have jumped up several spots to #34 in the RPI and will look to sweep Ohio State in tomorrow’s season finale. The Hawkeyes will send Ty Langenberg to the mound, while a starter for the Buckeyes has not yet been announced. First pitch was moved up an hour and will now come at 12:05pm. The game will be streamed on BTN+.

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