NFL
By: Zachary Draves
A mixture of sun and wind gusts welcomed the fans to Duane Banks Field on the campus of the University of Iowa on Tuesday to watch the Hawkeye baseball team hold on for a slight victory over the visiting Illinois State Redbirds 7-4. This marks their seventh win in their last eight games and their first win after three consecutive losses to the Redbirds.
Starting out on the mound for Iowa was Ty Langeberg and for Illinois State was Thomas Harper.
At the outset, it looked like that the Redbirds came in charged up and ready to play.
Second baseman Shai Robinson hit a lead off double off the first pitch of the game. Center fielder Auggie Rasmussen hit a line shot to center field that brought Robinson home for the first run of the game. Already Langeberg was in trouble, but a grounder to the hole turned into a double play to save him early on.
The Hawekeys started off with left fielder Ben Wilmes and designated hitter Keaton Anthony walked back to back, propelling coach Steve Holm of the Redbirds to come to the mound to talk to Harper.
It didn’t have a real impact as first baseman Brennen Dorighi hit a massive three run homer toward right center field to put the Hawkeyes up 3-1 with nobody out.
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗺𝗯💣@bdorighi x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/KM2fQDg1yb
— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 2, 2023
Cade Obermueller came in to take over on the mound in the 2nd inning and got the first strike out of the game for Iowa. But he rendered two walks that put runners on first and second with one out.
An almost wild pitch hit Redbirds right fielder Luke Lawrence, forcing him to first and loading the bases for the Redbirds.
Obermueller quickly fell behind against the next batter Tyler Woltman but recovered with three straight pitches that struck out Woltman and needed one more out. With the Redbirds back to the top of the order, Obermueller once again fell behind against Robinson at 2-0. Two strikes and a ball later, he was at a full count with the bases loaded and two outs.
But he ended up dealing Robinson a pitch up high that brought in a run home and cut the Hawkeyes lead to 3-2.
Obermueller was able to stave off any further damage by striking out Rasumussen.
In the bottom of the 4th, second baseman Sam Hojnar hit a home run to right center field to give the Hawkeyes a little bit of breathing room as the game headed into the midway point. Shortstop Michael Seegers followed with a liner to left field, a sign that life was resurrected for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes were solid on the base paths as that helped enable them to get into scoring position. Seegers in particular was effective as he was able to steal both second and third during the bottom of the 4th.
Then, Wilmes laid down a bunt that brought Seegers home to make it 5-2 Iowa.
At the start of the 5th, Zach Voelker took over on the mound for the Hawkeyes.
Robinson hit his second double of the game to start things off for the Redbirds. Rasmussen followed up with a double of his own with two runners on base. First baseman Shaydon Kubo hit a liner to center that brought both runners home to cut Iowa’s lead down to one at 5-4 and only one out.
After giving up another hit, Voelker was immediately replaced by Jacob Henderson who forced designated hitter Judah Morris to pop up the ball to left field, which gave Iowa two outs. Third baseman Greg Nichols hit a grounder that hit Kubo as he was going to second, which was called an automatic out and essentially saving the Hawkeyes from the Redbirds momentum.
Needing a spark, Dorighi was there to lead off the bottom of the 5th and he did one better by hitting his second homer of the game to put the Hawkeyes up 6-4. Even though they didn’t register another hit, that was enough to give them back some breathing room.
𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗶, 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 💣💣@bdorighi is 3-3 with two bombs and four RBIs!#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/LJakq3KtKQ
— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 3, 2023
In a battle of sheer will and persistence, Iowa pitcher Jared Simpson and Kubo were engaged in what seemed like a never ending back and forth with Kubo hitting one foul ball after another. Ultimately, Kubo drew a walk which put the Redbirds in good position to comeback with two runs on and only one out.
Simpson managed to hang in and strike out left fielder Daniel Pracella and Morris to end the inning.
After two scoreless innings, Iowa still maintained their lead at 6-4.
Center fielder Kyle Huckstorf hit a triple going to right field with two outs in the bottom of the 8th and with the Hawkeyes having a chance to potentially increase their lead to three, which ultimately came in the form of an RBI single from Hojanar.
𝗛𝗼𝗷 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗛𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲 🏡#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/wfh4xQttil
— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) May 3, 2023
Then Seegers moved Hojanar to second with a follow up single. Catcher Cade Moss hit a grounder to third in which Greg Nichols bobbled the ball for an error and that led the Hawkeyes to have the bases loaded. On full count pitch, Wilmes ended up striking out, but Iowa was feeling good with a 7-4 lead going into the 9th.
It fell to closer Luke Llewellyn to seal the deal. He walked pinch hitter Noah Rabin before having to face the top of the order. Llewellyn got behind Robinson at 2-1 before striking him out on a pitch in the dirt.
A groundout and a strikeout finished the evening.
Win-Langenberg (5-2), Loss-Harper (2-3), Save-Llewellyn.
When reflecting on his three-for-four performance including two home runs, Dorighi attributed his feats along with being proactive after the Redbirds scored early on as key factors in securing the Hawkeyes the win.
“I think anytime I can get my swings off and drive the ball to get some extra-base hits is huge” he said. “I think after the first inning especially when they scored, settling it down and kind of righting the ship and getting the momentum back on our side, that was a big part of the game for us.”
He also credited effective baserunning as a winning strategy.
“Whenever you aren’t making any unexcused outs on the base paths and you are able to get the extra 90 feet I think that’s huge just to create more runs and score more runs and put pressure on the defense” he said.
Iowa (32-11, 8-6) will be back at home on Friday at 6:00 pm CST to start the first of a three-game series against Ohio State (22-23, 5-13).
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