Hawkeyes grind out a win against South Alabama

The mark of a good baseball team is whether or not they can grind out a victory when they aren’t at their best. Tonight, the South Alabama pitching staff had the Hawkeyes number, but some clutch two out hits allowed Rick Heller’s squad to pull out a 6-2 victory. Iowa is now 8-1 on the season for the first time since 2018.

“It’s what winning teams do. Not every night is going to be a great night and you are going to run into some guys on occasion that make it really tough,” said assistant coach Marty Sutherland. “We kept fighting and were able to put some big two out hits together and some two out rallies. That’s the story of the game.”

The Hawkeyes racked up 13 two out RBI’s against Southern University on Friday and picked up right where they left off in the second inning of tonight’s game. Sam Hojnar deposited an opposite field RBI single into left field to knock in Kyle Huckstorf. The two out single gave Iowa an early 1-0 lead.

Marcus Morgan took the mound for the Hawkeyes and, for the most part, was pretty good. He ran into some trouble in the third inning and a pair of walks to start the inning set the table for the Jaguars. Colson Lawerence knocked in a run with an infield single, while Will Turner followed with a chopper through the right side to make it 2-1 South Alabama.

Marcus went 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on three hits, while striking out seven and walking three. He started 12 of the 18 batters faced with a first pitch strike. Coach Sutherland was happy with what he saw from the sophomore starter in his third start of the season.

“The only thing that hurt him, was walking the eight, nine hole hitters in the third inning, but outside of that, it was elite level stuff. It was really impressive and I feel like each week he gets a little better. We keep making progress with him.”

South Alabama starting pitcher Gehrig Conard had the Hawkeyes off balance with 11 strikeouts in 4.0 innings. However, the offense was able manufacture runs in the fourth inning to take the lead.

“I knew coming in that the lefty had really good stuff. The best stuff that we’ve seen, bar none,” said Sutherland. “It’s funky, he’ll throw three or four pitches whenever. There’s no rhyme or reason to what he does, but we lacked discipline…We overcame, which was the best part.”

After back-to-back strikeouts, Chase Moseley drew a two out walk to keep the inning going. Sam Hojnar singled and Cade Moss followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 2. The clutch hitting continued, with leadoff hitter Michael Seegers delivering a two-run triple down the right field line to give the Hawkeyes a 4-2 lead.

Jared Simpson came on in relief of Marcus Morgan and had to battle for the 12 outs that he got. Simpson allowed just one hit, but gave up five free bases. The Jaguars loaded the bases in the sixth, but Jared was able to strikeout Mitchell Heer to end the threat.

Iowa was looking for some insurance in the late innings and Brennen Dorighi delivered. His two-run single in the seventh inning extended the lead to 6-2. Dorighi has a team-leading 15 RBI’s through nine games. Will Christophersen came on for the ninth inning and struck out the side to clinch the Hawkeyes 6-2 victory.

“It was a strange night for our offense, but we found a way to get it done,” said Heller. “Michael Seegers, Brennen Dorighi, Sam Hojnar and Cade Moss all had big hit two out RBI hits. We played a clean game defensively and the guys played hard.” 

Heller was right. It was a strange night for the offense. Five Hawkeye batters struck out 2+ times and they drew just two walks. Ultimately, it was six two out runs that were the difference. Michael Seegers and Sam Hojnar each had two hits.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: SS Michael Seegers (2nd) – 2 H, 2 RBI, 1 H

There wasn’t a whole lot to choose from, as just two hitters recorded two hits on the night, but it was the Michael Seegers two-run triple that gave Iowa the lead in the fourth inning.

Up next for the Hawkeyes…

With the win, Iowa moves to 8-1, which matches their best start in five years. Up next, the Hawkeyes will look to sweep the weekend, as they take on Pepperdine tomorrow. The Waves are 2-0 on the and it will serve as the defacto South Alabama Invitational Championship game. Brody Brecht will take the mound for Iowa, while it will by Tommy Scavone for Pepperdine. First pitch is set for 11:00am.