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Iowa Baseball sweeps South Dakota State

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•03/20/23•

HuesmannKyle

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Photo by Dennis Scheidt

The Iowa Baseball battled snow and cold temperatures over the weekend, so they could get their weekend series in against South Dakota State. The Hawkeyes were able to sweep the series, including a doubleheader on Sunday to move to 15-3 on the season. The wins vaulted them into the Baseball Amercia Top 25. The Hawkeyes appeared in the D1Baseball Top 25 a couple weeks ago, but fell out after a series loss at Texas Tech. This week, Rick Heller’s squad comes in at #23 in the Baseball America poll.

Here is recap of the Hawkeyes weekend…

GAME 1 – Iowa 5 South Dakota State 4

Game one of the weekend was moved to Kansas City where temperatures were supposed to be higher than Iowa City, but that was proved wrong when snow began to fall midway through the game.

On the mound, Brody Brecht was pretty solid. He gave the Hawkeyes 5.0 innings and allowed just two runs on four hits, while he struck out seven and walked three. The Jackrabbits got on the board with a couple of runs in the third inning, but Iowa responded back in the home half. Brennen Dorighi drove in a run with an RBI single, while Raider Tello later tied the game with an RBI double.

Zach Voelker put up zeros in his first two innings of relief, but ran into trouble with a couple of free bases to start the eighth inning. The Jackrabbits loaded the bases and cashed in off of reliever Will Christophersen. Adam Benes drew a bases loaded walk, while Jess Bellows drove in another run with an infield single to make it 4-2 SDSU.

The Hawkeyes rallied in the bottom of the inning and took the lead. Michael Seegers cut into the lead with a 2 out RBI single to make it 4-3. Kyle Huckstorf followed with a two-run double to give Iowa a-4 lead. Luke Llewellyn came in for the save and got a pair of strikeouts to preserve the Friday win.

“We weren’t sharp, made some mistakes, made some errors. Worked out of some jams with a couple double plays. Looked like it was going to cost us in the eighth, when they were able to plate two off some free bases. Guys came back in the bottom of the eighth and found a way to get it done,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Showed a lot of character, but there are still a lot of things we need to clean up.”  

GAME 2 – Iowa 12 South Dakota State 2 (7 innings)

After a day off, the Hawkeyes were back home to finish the series with a doubleheader at Duane Banks Field. Marcus Morgan took the mound, but it was the Jackrabbits to get on the board first, once again. A wild pitch and an RBI groundout put SDSU up 2-0. Morgan got through 3.0 innings, but six 3-2 counts drove his pitch count up to 72.

Jared Simpson came in out of the bullpen and was fanastic in relief. After a tough outing last weekend at Texas Tech, Simpson was nearly untouchable. He retired the first nine batters he faced, including seven strikeouts. He went 4.0 scoreless innings and only allowed one hit, while striking out ten Jackrabbit batters.

“Jared Simpson came in and neutralized the game,” said Rick Heller. “He was really good, especially his first couple innings when he came in. Getting a lot of swings and misses and strikeouts. It was good to see Jared have a bounce back game where he was really solid today.” 

At the plate, the offense put up crooked numbers in two innings and it was plenty of run support. Keaton Anthony got Iowa on the board with a sacrifice fly in the third inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Later in the inning, the Hawkeyes strung together four straight RBI singles from, Chase Moseley, Sam Petersen, Cade Moss and Michael Seegers. That gave Iowa a 5-2 lead.

The Hawkeyes added on in the sixth inning. Raider Tello and Brayden Frazier delivered RBI hits to make it 8-2, while it was a three-run home run from Sam Petersen that really broke the game open. Kyle Huckstorf added an RBI single to make it 12-2 and the Hawkeyes were able to run-rule the Jackrabbits in 7 innings.

GAME 3 – Iowa 5 South Dakota State 3 (7 innings)

Cade Obermueller got the start in the game two, but he never had control of the baseball. He hit two batters, walked one and allowed an RBI single that put South Dakota State in front for the third straight game. A wild pitch made it 2-0 Jackrabbits and Obermueller’s day was done after just 18 pitches. Luke Llewellyn came in from the bullpen and was able to settle things down with three strikeouts.

Kyle Huckstorf continued his hot hitting on the weekend with a solo home run in the bottom of the first to get Iowa in the scoring column. However, SDSU punched back. An RBI double from Dawson Parry made it 3-1 Jackrabbits in the second inning.

Ty Langenberg made an appearance from the bullpen and was stellar. He went 4.0 scoreless innings and allowed just two infield singles, while striking out six and walking zero. That settled things down in the middle innings and gave the offense a chance to get the lead back.

“Luke Llewellyn came into a tough situation and minimized the damage,” said Heller. “When Langenberg came in he was really good, and that was great to see. He had a good sixth inning. Went to the closer and Will was really sharp again today and closed the game with the top of their lineup coming up.” 

Keaton Anthony cut into the two-run deficit with an RBI double in the third inning, while Jackrabbit pitcher Alex Clemons helped Iowa tie the game with a wild pitch that scored Anthony. Raider Tello became the hero in the final game of the series, as he delivered a two-out two-run home run to put the Hawkeyes in front in the sixth inning.

Will Christophersen came on to face the top of the SDSU order in the seventh inning and grabbed a pair of strikeouts to clinch to the 5-3 win, as well as a series sweep.

“I felt like our guys had good at bats throughout the course of both games,” said Heller. “Put pressure on them and weren’t chasing much. We kept coming after them and finally got the big hits in both games. Because we did just stay after it. Huckstorf had another great day.” 

PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND: CF Kyle Huckstorf – 7/11 (.636), 4 R, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 1 HR, 1 B

UP NEXT FOR THE HAWKEYES…

With the sweep, Iowa moves to 15-3 on the season. Up next, the Hawkeyes will welcome Grand View University to Iowa City for a midweek matchup on Tuesday. Next weekend, the Western Michigan Broncos will come to town for a weekend series. First pitch on Tuesday against the Vikings is set for 4:05pm. The game will be streamed on BTN+.

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