Hawkeyes suffer a disappointing midweek loss to Western Illinois

Just over 48 hours after the Iowa Baseball team finished off a sweep in Ann Arbor that elevated the buzz round the program to another level, the Hawkeyes were reminded that they aren’t immune to midweek misfortunes. On Tuesday evening, Western Illinois came to Duane Banks Field and picked a 7-3 upset win over Iowa. For the Leathernecks, it’s their first win over Iowa since 2017 and their 29th win in 111 all-time meetings.

“It definitely wasn’t a good one, but you can read into anything you really want to,” said head coach Rick Heller. “We just didn’t get it done. They played better than us. They beat us in pretty much every part of the game. It wasn’t like we played horrible, but when you don’t hit it feels like you played horrible.”

With the loss, the Hawkeyes fall to 27-12 on the season, dropping their first midweek contest since they lost to Illinois State back on March 25th.

Players of the Game

• RHP Justin Hackett: Hackett was solid out of the bullpen, allowing one run on three hits over 3.0 innings, including eight strikeouts. He threw 60.8% of his 51 pitches for strikes.
• 1B Blake Guerin: On a day that wasn’t great for the Iowa offense, Guerin tallied a game-high three hits, including a double.

Daniel Wright limits the damage from an early jam for a mostly positive start

The Hawkeyes came into the game with a plan in place for the pitching staff and that plan was put to the test right out of the gates. Rick Heller went with Daniel Wright for the start, hoping to get three innings, but things got off to a very rocky start.

Liam Bushey and Krayton Morse led off the game with singles on the first two pitches of the game, while Paul Osting walked to give WIU bases loaded, with nobody out. Wright was able to escape with the bare minimum damage, retiring the next three hitters. A run came across on a Tyler Large 5U fielder’s choice, but it felt like a win for the Hawkeyes.

“He did a really good job of minimizing the first inning. It could have been a bad deal right off the bat, with bases loaded, nobody out,” said Heller. “We get out of there with one run. That’s a mature, older pitcher and he did what he needed to do.”

Wright allowed five hits over 3.0 innings, but only allowed a single run. He tallied three strikeouts to two walks and threw 63.5% of his 52 pitches for strikes. It was a little off track early, but Daniel got the nine outs the coaching staff wanted him to get.

Western Illinois plates three in the fifth inning putting pressure on the Hawkeye offense

Through four innings the Iowa offense was nearly dead silent with three hits, but no runs to show for it. They were 0/8 with runners on base, but WIU was still holding just a 1-0 lead. An easy hill to climb for an Iowa offense that leads the Big Ten in average if the pitching staff could put up zeros.

However, the Leathernecks tacked on three runs in the fifth inning, extending their lead to 4-0 and putting some real pressure on the Hawkeye offense. After a really strong inning on the mound in the fourth, Sam Hart issued consecutive walks to begin the fifth inning, forcing Rick Heller to go to the bullpen.

Jack Whitlock was unable to escape the jam, loading the bases with a hit by pitch, while Brock Lummus delivered an RBI single to make it 2-0 WIU with no one retired. A bases loaded walk extended the Leathernecks lead to 3-0, while a wild pitch later in the inning made it a four-run deficit for Iowa.

“Gave up a ton of free bases and I think we had five or six in the fifth inning,” said Heller. “That game could have easily been 15-16 to 3.”

Opportunities arise in multiple innings, but the big hit to change momentum never came

At the time, the 4-0 deficit for the Hawkeyes felt much bigger with the way the game had played out, but it also felt like if they could get a rally going there was a chance Western Illinois might crumble.

Four straight innings from the 5th to the 8th, Iowa put multiple runners on base and while they put two runs on the board, the big momentum changing hit never came.

In the 5th, with two on and no outs, Andy Nelson bounced into a 5U-4 double play. Gable Mitchell followed with an RBI double to get Iowa on the board, but one run after the first two runners reached was a win for Western Illinois.

In the sixth, with two on and one out, Leathernecks reliever Karsten Stotlar came in and struck out both Mitch Wood and Connor Hennings to end a threat. Then in the seventh, Daniel Rogers delivered an RBI single, cutting the deficit back to four runs after it had grown to 6-1. With two on and two outs, Blake Guerin struck out swinging.

“Tonight was a night where we needed to score some runs and sometimes you have to outscore people in the midweek games,” said Heller. “The biggest problem offensively was whenever we started to get something going, somebody had a horrible at-bat to put a dagger in that inning.”

“You can make an out, but you just can’t have a catastrophic out like we had in really key situations, if we were going to win that game.”

The Hawkeyes last gasp came in the 8th inning. Jackson Beaman led off the inning with a walk, while Mitch Wood followed with a single. WIU reliever Billy Humphrey recorded back-to-back strikeouts and got Ben Swails to fly out to end the inning.

Justin Hackett’s appearance a bright spot for the pitching staff

Rick Heller hoped to use Justin Hackett in Wednesday’s game against St Thomas, but the situation forced him into the game in the seventh inning. He recorded the final nine outs for Iowa and was pretty solid in doing so.

The first batter he faced in the seventh, Kyree Alexander drove an RBI double into the left field corner, but Hackett nine of the next ten batters he faced, including eight strikeouts. He threw 60.8% of his pitches for strikes.

What’s next for Rick Heller and Co?

The Hawkeyes will have a quick turnaround, as they return to Duane Banks Field on Wednesday for a midweek matchup against the St Thomas Tommies. First pitch is set for 6:05pm CT on BTN+.