Hawkeyes fall to Lehigh in the Swig & Swine Classic finale

The Iowa Baseball team came into Sunday morning looking for an opening weekend sweep, but were taking on a Lehigh team coming off a win over Michigan State. The Mountain Hawks rode their wave of momentum from Saturday and pulled off the 8-4 upset, leaving a sour taste for the Hawkeyes as they head back to Iowa City.

Much of the momentum for Lehigh came from the start they got on the mound from Teddy Tolliver. An RBI single from Davis Cop in the first inning put the Hawkeyes in front 1-0,. However, Tolliver settled in and nine of the next 12 batters he faced over the next three innings. The Mountain Hawks started went a career-high 6.1 innings, including three strikeouts to just one walk.

On the mound for Iowa, it was Cade Obermueller. The Iowa City native sailed through the first two innings, recording four strikeouts, but ran into some trouble over the next two innings. Cade walked the first two batters in the third inning, but cleaned up his self-made adversity by retiring the next three batters to end the inning. Lehigh got a baserunner to third base in the fourth, but Obermueller recorded a strikeout to end that threat. His final line read 4.0 innings, 7 strikeouts, three walks, one hit and no runs allowed. An encouraging start to the season for Cade.

Rick Heller went with Dallas Baptist transfer Reece Beuter out of the bullpen in the fifth inning and that’s when things started to get sideways. Andrew Nole led off the inning with a single and found himself on third base with two outs. The Hawkeyes nearly got out of the frame unscathed, but Ryan Cochran was able to reach base with an infield single to tie the game. That was just the beginning for Lehigh. After back-to-back walks issued by Beuter, Tyler Young cleared the bases with a looping double that landed just in front of a diving Sam Petersen in left field. Justin Butler followed with a two-run home run and it was suddenly 6-1 Mountain Hawks.

The Hawkeyes answered back in the bottom of the inning. Michael Seegers got his first hit of the season and a batter later, Raider Tello delivered a two-run home run to cut the deficit to 6-3. Credit to Lehigh though. Everytime Iowa started to chip into the lead, the Mountain Hawks had an answer. In the seventh inning, a Justin Butler RBI single off of Sam Hart extended the lead back to 7-3.

The best rally of the day for Iowa came in the bottom of the seventh. They loaded the bases with two outs and got on the board. Davis Cop hit a hard ground ball down the third base line and although Sam Holtz was able to knock it down, everyone was safe, with a run crossing home. Reliever Julio Ermigiotti limited the damage and got Blake Guerin to fly out in the ensuing at-bat, which kept the 7-4 lead intact for Lehigh.

Zach Voelker came in for the final 2.1 innings and was, once again, good, but made one mistake in the top of the ninth. After hitting seven home runs in 69 at-bats last season, Justin Butler made it two for the game. He sent a no-doubter to right field to make it 8-4 Mountain Hawks.

In the bottom of the ninth, Sam Petersen singled to keep the game alive with two outs, but it was Julio Ermigiotti that closed it out. He got the last eight outs for Lehigh to finish off an 8-4 upset victory over the 20th-ranked Hawkeyes.

Sam Petersen and Davis Cop each finished with two hits on the day, while Raider Tello hit his first home run of the season. The Hawkeyes put the ball in play in 90% of their at-bats, but ten hits were scattered throughout the game.

Final Pitching Stat Lines

IOWA

Cade Obermueller: 4.0 INN, 1 H, 0 R, 7 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP Reece Beuter: 1.0 INN, 4 H, 6 R, 1 K, 2 BB Brant Hogue: 1.0 INN, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB Sam Hart: 0.2 INN, 1 H, 1 R, 1 K, 1 BB Zach Voelker: 2.1 INN, 2 H, 1 R, 3 K, 0 BB

LEHIGH

Teddy Tolliver: 6.1 INN, 6 H, 4 R, 3 K, 1 BB Julio Ermigiotti: 2.2 INN, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB

Up Next, Iowa returns home for their earliest home game in program history. The Hawkeyes will host Loras College on Tuesday at Duane Banks Field. First pitch is set for 3:30pm CT on BTN+.