Offense struggles, Hawkeyes come up short against FIU

For a moment, it looked like Iowa was going to pull off a ninth inning rally to walk it off in front of the fans at Principal Park. Bases loaded, two outs, winning run on second base, with Raider Tello at the plate. The crowd of over 4,000 fans came to their feet, urging Tello to come up with a clutch hit. Instead, FIU reliever Ryan Carbacas came up with a strikeout to end the game. It just wasn’t the Hawkeyes night, a sentiment that has been shared far too often this season.

“Really tough loss. Really tough to stomach one like that,” said head coach Rick Heller. “It just wasn’t to be, so we have to bounce back and play well tomorrow.”

The Hawkeye bats finished with nine hits, but outside of a Davis Cop solo home run in the third inning, there wasn’t a whole lot of offense to be had. The Florida International pitching staff struck out 13 and walked just one, while their defense made play after play. It was an uncharacteristically well played night for the Panthers, who came in to the game ranked 214th in the country in walks per nine innings and 287th in errors per game.

“Tonight, they threw more strikes than advertised. We knew they had good stuff, but there was some free base stuff in the scouting reports and video, but they pounded the zone tonight,” said Heller. “Tip your hat, they had 90 errors coming into the game. They made some big time game saving plays…just a weird game.”

“For whatever reason we were kind of out of sorts, especially in the middle of the lineup. Lot of strikeouts in the 5-6-7 spots and we just really didn’t get a lot out of that. Those spots killed us.”

The Hawkeyes were hoping to avoid the top arms in the FIU bullpen, but with the Panthers leading in the sixth inning, they turned to Zac Lampton and Ryan Carbacas. The two combined to throw 4.0 scoreless innings, including seven strikeouts to no walks. Although they were able to close it out for the win, it didn’t come without a bit of drama.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Will Mulflur came up with a hard hit single to keep the game alive for Iowa. In the ensuing at bat, Rick Heller opted to try a risky bunt with Cade Moss and it paid off, as he turned it into a single. The Hawkeyes were in business with the top of the order coming up. Then, down to his last strike, Andy Nelson rolled a 45-foot infield single down the third base line to load the bases. Just when you thought Iowa was going to pull out the win, their luck ran out and Raider Tello went down swinging to end the game.

“We’ve been in some weird ones this year and that one was extra weird,” said Heller. “We lose on a bases loaded walk and their only true single of the game.”

Throughout the season, with the pitching staff struggles, the offense has been leaned on to score runs and keep the team in games. Tonight, outside of a rocky first inning from Brody Brecht, the pitching staff was solid, including a huge relief outing from Aaron Savary.

In preperation for the Big Ten Tournament, Brecht moved up to the top spot in the rotation and was on a strict 40-50 pitch limit. Pitching on two days less rest, Brody struggled, walking four and giving up a run in his only inning on the mound. Rick Heller says that he isn’t worried about the results of an abbreviated start heading into Omaha.

“He’s in a great spot. I’m not going to lie, two days less rest, his bullpen day and having to be in this environment was not ideal for him in any form or fashion,” said Heller. “I don’t put too much stock into it. I feel like he’ll be ready to go when he gets the ball next week…He’ll want to ammend this one.”

After a tough first inning, Aaron Savary came in from the bullpen and did a really good job settling the game down, giving the Hawkeyes a chance to stay in the game. Savary allowed one run on two hits over 5.0 innings, including five strikeouts to two walks. He threw 47 of his 84 (55.9%) pitches for strikes and was above 60% for much of the night. Despite the loss, a good appearance for Aaron is a really important momentum builder going into the Big Ten Tournament.

Gone Fishing 🎣#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/aIRpsCMqUV

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 17, 2024

“No question, especially after he hasn’t been as sharp as he had been,” said Heller. “To have him come out today in this environment and pitch like he did was really good to see…He did exactly what we needed after a shorter start than what we had hoped out of Brody and he ate up some innings and stuck some zeros up.”

It was also a good relief outing for Jack Young. He came into a two on, one out situation in the seventh inning, but got out of it and finished the game. Young tossed 2.2 scoreless innings, including three strikeouts to no walks and no hits. Unfortunately for Iowa, the pitching staff was not rewarded for allowing just two runs on two hits.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will look to even the series on Friday night against the Panthers. Rick Heller will go with lefthander Cade Obermueller for the start, while FIU will send righthander Joel Pineiro to the mound. First pitch is set for 6:35pm CT on BTN+.