NFL
By: Zachary Draves
Clear skies and nearly 80 degree weather weren’t enough for Iowa Hawkeyes baseball as they weren’t able to come away with a three game sweep over the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes (23-25, 6-15). Despite the loss, the weekend ended on largely positive notes including two blowout wins, Coach Rick Heller’s 1,000 career win on Saturday, and the Hawkeyes remaining in good standing in the Big Ten as they are currently in 3rd behind Indiana and Maryland.
Starting for the Hawkeyes on the mound was Ty Langenberg. Starting for the Buckeyes was Jonah Jenkins.
Langenberg wasted no time in the first inning as he struck out the first three Buckeye hitters. He asserted his dominance on the mound in the first two innings as he notched four strikeouts and gave up no hits.
In the bottom of the second, the Hawkeyes got on the board first with a line shot to right field by Sam Hojnar. Right after, Michael Seegers secured a double after drilling the ball to left field.
Towards the midway point, Langenberg remained resilient, but the Buckeyes were starting to come alive. Shortstop Henry Kaczmar broke the brief no hitter for Laneberg in the top of the third with a single in right center field. Designated hitter Hank Thomas got a base hit that sent Kaczmar to third with a chance for the Buckeyes to even the game with only one out.
Langenberg got a head on centerfielder Trey Lipsey with no balls and two strikes, but a wild pitch hit Lipsey in the ankle which led him to first and loaded the bases with left fielder Matthew Graveline up at the plate. Langenberg ended up walking Lipsey that brought in a run home and tied the game at one.
Marcus Ernst popped it up to shallow right field and they managed to get the ball back to Cade Moss behind the plate before any of the runners could move, staving off a go ahead run.
A deep pop up to second base ended the materialization of any further damage.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Raider Tello walked to third, setting the stage for Hawkeye power hitter and first baseman Brenen Dorighi to potentially get the lead back. He ended up drawing a walk that put two runners on base.
A grounder by Kyle Huckstorf to third bobbled off third baseman Nick Erwin which counted as an error and loaded the bases for the Hawkeyes. Sam Petersen, on a full count, drew a called strike three that left all the runners stranded.
With momentum of the game hanging in the balance, Langenberg maintained his resolve overall. He gave up 1 hit and left only one runner on base to keep the game tied going into the bottom of the 4th.
The offense of Iowa was in large part defined by the exploits of Seegers on the base paths. He took a chance with one out and stole second. Shortly thereafter, he stole third and the Hawkeyes were looking at taking the lead back.
Mulfur was hanging on at the plate and facing a full count before being hit with a pitch and taking his base. Moss came up to the plate Wilmes struck out with two runners left stranded.
As the 5th inning began, the hopes for a Hawkeye sweep still fell onto the shoulders of Langenberg. Even as the game was hanging in the balance and the Buckeyes were playing considerably on par, Langeberg got out with two more strikeouts along with no hits.
The offense gave him a bit of an edge in the latter half, starting with Huckstorf who got a hit with two outs. He stole second with Sam Peterson at the plate. Peterson hit a bouncer to left field which was enough to bring Huckstorf home for the go-ahead run to put Iowa up 2-1.
The baserunning excellence of Iowa continued as Huckstorf sole second and with Hojunar at the plate. Hojunar ended up drawing the walk which brought Seegers up and popped it up to shallow center for the third out of the inning.
Second baseman Tyler Petronelli brought the momentum back to the Buckeyes with a home run to right center field to tie the game at two with two outs.
Langenberg’s tenure ultimately came to an end in the top of the 7th. He walked back to the dugout to a solid applause from the crowd in appreciation of a solid performance which included 6 strikeouts. Left hander Jared Simpson came in for him as the game remained tied at two.
With a runner on second, Simpson struck out Thomas for the second out, but followed up with hitting Tipsey with a pitch that put him on base. Graveline came up and delivered a hard liner to center field that brought a run home and gave the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead.
Simpson walked Marcus Ernest to load the bases with two outs still remaining and that officially ended his time after just one half inning. Right hander Luke Llewellyn came to provide relief but he walked both catcher Cole Andrews and Petronelli, which brought two runs home and increased the Buckeyes lead to 5-2.
Llewellyn was relieved of his duties with Will Christopherson, who with a strikeout ended the inning, but the damage was done as the Buckeyes were able to generate three runs.
Needing to rally, Dorighti led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a ball that launched to deep left center field and turned into a double, which got the crowd back into it. Huckerstolf came up and struck out swinging on a breaking ball. Peterson grounded out to third on a well hit line drive and Hojunar grounded to second to end the inning.
Hope for a comeback started to fade away from Iowa.
With one out in the eighth inning, Lipsey blooped it to left field that went over Rillo’s head and once again loaded the bases for the Buckeyes. Christopherson struck out Graveline for the second out and was able to get Ernest to ground out to first which held off the chance of any additional runs to score.
Iowa’s offense didn’t produce any runs and heading into the last inning, the Buckeyes were poised to come away with a victory. They did just that and with closer Landon Beidelschies on the mound walked away with a 5-2 win and avoided a three game sweep.
Win-Justin Eckhardt (3-3). Loss-Langenberg (5-3). Save-Beidelschies (6).
Afterwards, Langenberg spoke of what it meant for him that his team kept him in for seven innings even as the Buckeyes were making inroads.
“It means alot to me,” he said. “Obviously coming out of the dugout after maybe a shaky third or a shaky sixth inning giving a run up in both of those, the tendency could be I’m losing a bit of confidence but it gives me even more confidence to have Sean (McGrath), the other coaches, and the other players back me up.”
Iowa (34-12, 10-7) will be back at home next week May 12-14 for a three game series against Michigan State (28-16, 10-8) beginning on Friday at 6:05 pm CST.
