Hawkeyes handle Northern Illinois in a midweek matchup

Coming off of a tough 0-3 weekend down in Jacksonville, the Iowa Baseball team needed to get back in the win column on Tuesday afternoon. Firsts pitch was moved up a couple of hours due to incoming cold temperatures and the Hawkeyes took care of business against the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies. Rick Heller’s squad jumped out to an 8-0 lead en route to a 14-6 win over NIU. The Hawkeyes are now 25-9 all-time against the Huskies.

Offense scores runs early in the game, answer when NIU scored

In a midweek game against a team you are supposed to beat, the best thing you can do is score runs early and often. That is what the Hawkeyes did on Tuesday. The first five batters of the game reached base, including two-run home runs from Sam Petersen and Davis Cop. Reese Moore doubled as the fifth hitter of the game and then Blake Guerin drove him in with a double later in the inning. The Hawkeyes put a five spot up in the bottom of the first to get the ball rolling on a midweek win.

In the second inning, Iowa added on with an RBI groundout from Davis Cop and an RBI double from Reese Moore. Ben Wilmes made it 8-0 in the third inning with an RBI single. Putting up eight runs in the first three innings gave the Hawkeyes are very comfortable lead early in the game.

“Getting runs early in the game was something that we really focused on because we knew at some point in the game, (the wind) was gonig to shift and it was going to start blowing in,” said Coach Rick Heller. “Even when the weather shifted, we were still putting runs on the board.”

The other thing that was big was the response from the Iowa bats when Northern Illinois put up three runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 8-3. An error helped Michael Seegers score after a leadoff double, but the Hawkeyes continued to add on. Raider Tello delivered a two-run single, while Davis Cop drove in his fourth run of the game with another RBI groundout. After the Huskies put up three runs, Iowa answered with four runs to make it 12-3 and squash any thought of an NIU comeback.

“I thought offensively, it was a great day for us, up and down the lineup. We scored runs early and scored runs throughout the game. We scored runs every time they did, we answered and that was great to see,” said Heller. “Petersen had a good night, Guerin had a good night, a lot of guys offensively had solid games.”

Pitching staff had some up and down outings

There was a mixed bag of results on the mound for the Hawkeyes on Tuesday afternoon. There were several noteably good outings. Jack Young put up 1.1 scoreless innings, including three strikeouts and 62.5% strikes thrown. Aaron Savary tossed an impressive scoreless 4th inning, with a pair of K’s and threw 9 of his 12 pitches for strikes. Brant Hogue threw 13 of his 18 pitches for strikes in the ninth inning and recorded a strikeout. Sam Hart allowed a two runs on two hits over 1.1 innings, but threw 61.6% of his pitches for strikes, which is a step in the right direction.

“It was kind of half and half. About half were really solid and the other half weren’t,” said Heller. “What we’re trying to do is find that group of nine guys on the mound that you can go to and you hope you don’t have to go any deeper than that on the weekend. That’s what we’re searching for right now.”

The most disappointing outing of the day was Zach Voelker. He started the seventh inning with a strikeout and a fly out, but walked three straight before Rick Heller went to the bullpen. He threw just 30.4% of his 23 pitches for strikes. On the day, Hawkeye pitchers allowed six runs on six hits, including 13 strikeouts to 11 free bases. The staff threw 56.9% of their 181 pitches for strikes.

“It got sloppy again, we had way too many free bases and we gave up runs in the seventh and the eighth, which we can’t do. Walking leadoff guys, nine hole hitter walks three times. That stuff is not sustainable and has to change.”

Sam Petersen and Raider Tello stay hot

Sam Petersen and Raider Tello have been swinging hot bats ever since they stepped on the field for the season opener against Seton Hall. They both kept things rolling against NIU. Petersen finished with two hits, including a home run and a walk over four at-bats. Through eight games, he is batting .500, including a team-high 16 hits, three doubles, three home runs and 15 runs scored. He has a hit in every game.

As for Raider Tello, he finished with two hits and two runs scored, including a two-run single in the fifth inning. On the season, Tello is batting .361, with four extra base hits and a team-leading 12 RBI’s. Raider also has a hit in all eight games. Together, Tello and Petersen have combined for 29 hits and 21 runs scored.

Several hitters continue to trend in the right direction

Ben Wilmes had four hits and two walks over the last two games in Jacksonville. Today, he had another hit and two more walks. Over the last three games, he has looked more aggressive at the plate, while continuing to have good plate discipline. Davis Cop continues to put together good at-bats and had two productive RBI groundouts in addition to his two-run home run. Reese Moore bounced back with a three-hit day after striking out five times over the weekend.

“We needed to see how he was going to bounce back because he started off crazy hot and then all the sudden he wasn’t getting a hit everytime,” said Heller. “To see him bounce back today and get a lot of barrels, that was great to see.”

Other noteworthy things on the offensive end, Connor Hennings picked up his first career hit in an Iowa uniform with a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. Merrick Mathews made it back-to-back midweek games with an RBI, as he drove in Reese Moore with a sacrifice fly to make it 14-6 in the eighth inning.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes travel to Oxford, MS for a three-game series against the Ole Miss Rebels. First pitch on Friday evening is set for 6:30pm CT. All three games will be streamed on SECN+.