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Hawkeyes hold off a late North Carolina rally

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•06/02/23•

HuesmannKyle

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Photo by Dennis Scheidt

Wins in baseball come in all shapes and size. So do baseball programs. Coming into the night, the Iowa Baseball team had gone 2,191 days since their last win in the NCAA Tournament. In that time span, the North Carolina program racked up 13 wins and appeared in a College World Series. However, when the dust settled on a furious Tar Heels ninth inning rally, it was Rick Heller’s squad that came away with the 5-4 victory to advance in the Terre Haute Regional.

“North Carolina has a very good team and they fought hard to come back and had us on the ropes,” said head coach Rick Heller.

“On the ropes” just begins to describe the tense moments that transpired in the ninth inning, as the Hawkeyes watched their 5-1 lead get whittled down to 5-4.

Will Christophersen came on in relief, needing just three outs to nail down Iowa’s first NCAA regional win in six seasons. For the first time since late March, Will struggled and the Tar Heels made their move at a big comeback.

Johnny Castagnozzi worked a walk to kickstart the rally and Alberto Osuna cut the Iowa lead in half with a two-run home run in the next at-bat. Nine-hole hitter Colby Wilkerson followed with a single, while a one out walk issued to UNC power hitter Mac Horvath put two runners on, with just one out. That brought Rick Heller out of the dugout and he made the call to the bullpen to bring in Luke Llewellyn.

“Will had been (warming) up for three innings and I really think that was the reason that he wasn’t as sharp,” said Heller. “I never felt at any time that Will had lost his confidence. He was throwing his pitches with intent. He was just was overcooking things, which he hadn’t done in a long time.”

“I told Llewellyn before the inning started to make sure that he was dialed in and kept his head in the game just in case something happened. I tried to get him in the mindset that there was a legitimate chance that he would come into the game.”

The Hawkeye closer came on to face 2B Jackson Van De Brake, but it was the Tar Heels hitter that came through in the clutch. Van De Brake snuck a line drive just in front of the glove of a diving Brayden Frazier in right field for an RBI single. All the sudden, UNC had the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on second.

Just when it looked UNC was going to pull off the surprising ninth inning comeback, Llewellyn slammed the door shut on the Heels frantic rally. He froze Tomas Frick with a breaking ball for strike three and then got Hunter Stokely to swing at a pitch in the dirt for back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

“The atmosphere is awesome and I’ve never done anything like this before in college baseball,” said Llewellyn. “Christophersen has been our guy all year and he’s come in and bailed me, so when he was in trouble, it just felt good to come in and get him out of a jam…he doesn’t have many off night, but he’s bailed me out, so it felt good to repay the favor tonight.”

Although the big story was the final inning of the game, there were eight innings before that and it started with Marcus Morgan getting the start on the mound. It wasn’t necessarily the shutdown, no stress outing that the coaching staff probably hoped for, but one run allowed over five innings put the Hawkeyes in a position to go get a win. The outing was not without a bit of traffic on the bases.

A hit by pitch on the second pitch of the game and a one out walk gave UNC a scoring chance in the top of the first inning. Marcus rebounded, getting a fly out and a ground out to put a zero up on the scoreboard. That, plus a some runs from the Hawkeye offense allowed him to settle into his start.

“The first inning is big to getting settled in and obviously it’s an amazing opportunity to even be here and be pitching,” said Morgan. “My job was to get as many innings as I could and guys made plays behind me. I didn’t strike out too many, there was a lot of ground balls and a lot of plays made, but all-around team effort tonight.”

The Hawkeyes got two on, with just one out in the bottom of the first off of Tar Heels starter Jake Knapp. After Raider Tello struck out, Sam Hojnar strolled to the plate looking to avoid the same fate that UNC had with runners on in their half of the first. He took the first pitch from Knapp and slashed it the opposite way down the left field line for a two-run double to make it 2-0 Hawkeyes.

In the second, a pair of hits from the bottom of the order put Iowa in a position to extend their early lead. Ben Wilmes drove in a run with an infield single, which made it 3-0, but Knapp got out of the jam with limited damage after a strikeout and a groundout. The Hawkeyes were able to knock him out of the game after 2.1 innings and 56 pitches.

With a three-run advantage, Marcus Morgan settled in and retired six in a row after a leadoff single in the second inning. However, trouble started to brew in the fourth inning. UNC catcher Tomas Frick got on base with a leadoff double, while a pair of walks loaded the bases with just one out. Alberto Osuna drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, but that was all that Tar Heels could muster, as Marcus got a groundout to end the inning. His final line read 5.0 innings, one run, two hits, five strikeouts and six free bases. A messy stat line, but it got the job done.

“It wasn’t the prettiest performance ever, but zeros are zeros and you’ve got to take them when you get them,” said Morgan. “I have a great defense behind me and just committing to the next pitch and not getting fazed by calls or hits. It’s been a work in progress and something that I’ve been working really hard on and it was nice to see it come together for me today and work out of jams.”

“I just think Marcus showed his maturity. Even though there were a couple of baserunners, I didn’t feel like he was losing it and I felt like he had good stuff and he was around the zone,” said Heller. “The big thing that Marcus was able to do tonight was put zeros up and have a shutdown inning after we scored and that hasn’t always been the case.”

The middle half of the game was dominated by the first guys out of the bullpen for both teams. Kevin Eaise went 3.2 innings for the Tar Heels three strikeouts to just one hit. Meanwhile, it was Jack Whitlock going 3.0 scoreless innings with couple of strikeouts to keep the UNC offense in check. Going into the eighth inning, the Hawkeyes were still hanging on to a slim 3-1 lead.

Insert late, but very important insurance runs. Coming into the game, the Hawkeyes had scored 24 runs in the seventh inning or later of their last four wins. Tonight, the two runs Iowa managed ended up being the difference between a win and a loss.

Michael Seegers drew a walk and Kyle Huckstorf singled to put runners on the corners with no outs for Brayden Frazier. He delivered an RBI single, which was followed by a Cade Moss squeeze bunt to drive in another run. The importance of extending from a 3-1 lead to a 5-1 lead became increasingly evident as the Tar Heels mounted a rally in the ninth inning. In the end, a win is a win and the Hawkeyes are on the winner’s bracket side of the Terre Haute Regional.

“We’ve found ways to win a number of ways and we have one of the best win-loss records in the country and that’s a testament to guys that show up and bring it every single day,” said Heller. “You don’t get the opportunity to coach teams like that very often and this one’s a special one.”

Kyle Huckstorf and Brayden Frazier each had a pair of hits, while every Iowa hitter reached base at least once. The Hawkeyes were 5/20 (.250) with runners on base and 3/11 (.273) with runners in scoring position. Numbers that got the job done, as UNC was just 2/17 (.118) with runners on base and 1/12 (.083) with runners in scoring position. Iowa is now 43-2 on the season when the score at least five runs.

Up next for the Hawkeyes…

With the win, Iowa moves to 43-14 on the season and advance in the Terre Haute Regional. Up next, the Hawkeyes will face the host Indiana State Sycamores with a spot in the regional final on the line. Iowa is expected to throw Brody Brecht, while ISU is expected to start Connor Fenlong. First pitch is set for 5:00pm CT on ESPN+.

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