Skip to main content
Iowa
Join Now

Hawkeye pitchers dominate in a 7-2 win over St Thomas

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann18 hours agoHuesmannKyle

When everything goes according to plan, that is how midweek action is supposed to go. The Iowa Baseball team handled business on Tuesday afternoon, picking up a dominant 7-2 win over St Thomas. With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 11-5 on the season.

Although Iowa scored in the first inning, they entered the fifth inning still clinging to that 1-0 lead. The Hawkeyes offense broke through with two runs in the fifth and two more runs in the sixth to take a 5-0 lead. St Thomas mounted a brief rally with a pair of runs in the seventh, but their comeback effort was quickly shut down by Joe Husak. The offense was able to tack on two more runs in the eighth to put away any doubts, as the pitching staff held UST to just two runs on two hits, with nine different pitchers combining for ten strikeouts.

Players of the Game

2B Gable Mitchell: Almost like clockwork, Mitchell finished with another multi-hit game, finishing with three hits, three runs scored and two RBI’s in the win. He also made a couple of strong defensive plays.

RHP Joe Husak: With UST building some late momentum, Husak came on in relief and tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, limiting the Tommies damage in the 7th inning. He retired all five batters he faced.

Hawkeye offense gets out of the gates slow, but breaks through in the middle innings

It didn’t take long for Iowa to get ahead. After freshman Cole Moore tossed a scoreless top of the first in his first career start, the Hawkeyes wasted no time putting a run on the board. A leadoff single by Gable Mitchell, followed by a sac bunt by Jaylen Ziegler set the table for Caleb Wulf to drive in a run. He did just that, sending a 2-0 pitch from UST starter Easton Bobb right back up the middle for an RBI single.

However, over the next three innings, Hawkeye hitters struck out (5) more times than they reached base (4). UST reliever Aidan Rasmussen tallied three strikeouts in the fourth inning, including getting Matthew Delgado to go down on strikes with runners on the corners to end the frame.

“I thought the offense was really good, but couple of bad at-bats, especially early that were bunched together that hurt us a little bit,” said head coach Rick Heller.

Despite bringing in a new arm every inning, the Iowa pitching staff kept the UST bats silent

The pitching staff was strong throughout the entire game, but they were particularly sharp over the first six innings. Freshman Cole Moore and Kirkwood transfer Beau Leisure combined for four strikeouts over the first two innings, while Ganon Archer tossed a 7-pitch fourth inning. Working back from an elbow injury from swinging a bat, Tyler Guerin tossed a scoreless fifth inning, followed by a 1-2-3 sixth inning by freshman Brolan Frost, including a pair of strikeouts.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with how our pitching staff attacked things today,” said Heller. “It’s not very often that you go a full nine innings and a leadoff runner doesn’t get on at least once or twice. That’s pretty impressive…Cole Moore gave us a really good start in the first time he’s done that. Beau Leisure looked great and that’s the Beau that we were seeing in the indoor and same with Ganon Archer.”

“If we had enough depth that we could have a midweek starter that would be great, but we haven’t had that more than once or twice in the 13 years I’ve been here. But the thing I like about it is that it’s a team effort, a group effort. It keeps those guys sharp if we need them on the weekend and it isn’t a situation where they haven’t thrown (in a game) in three weeks.”

Over the first six innings, Hawkeye pitchers retired 17 of 20 batters faced, including eight strikeouts to two free bases and just one hit allowed. Those six arms threw 48-of-83 (57.8%) pitches for strikes.

St Thomas plates two runs in the 7th, Joe Husak comes on to thwart the Tommies rally

Although it was close to a complete nine-inning effort on the mound, Justin Hackett ran into some trouble in the seventh inning, allowing the Tommies to build a bit of momentum. After issuing consecutive one out walks, Hackett missed with an 0-2 pitch over the plate and Adam Puder punished it for an RBI double to cut it to a four-run lead.

Rick Heller went to the bullpen, calling on Joe Husak to try to limit the damage, as UST had two in scoring position with just one out. Even though the first batter Husak faced, Max Berrisford, drove in a run with a sac fly, he struck out Easton Fritcher to end the inning before the rally got too dangerous.

Husak followed that up with a scoreless eighth inning, getting three UST hitters to fly out around a two out hit by pitch. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings and threw 13-of-20 (65.0%) pitches for strikes.

A two-run 8th inning puts away any doubts, Tate Slagle closes out a midweek win

Leading 5-2 in the eighth inning, a win felt pretty imminent, but the Iowa offense added on thanks to some help from the UST defense. Ben Swails got things going with a one out single, advancing to second on a stolen base and to third on a wild pitch. Wagner transfer Bryce Phelps came through with an RBI single, advancing to second on a fielding error by the centerfielder. Then, it appeared as though Caleb Wulf had grounded into an inning ending 6-3 groundout, but shortstop Adam Puder missed it, allowing Phelps to come around to score.

Freshman Tate Slagle, who worked a scoreless 10th inning in the Hawkeyes walk off win on Sunday over Lindenwood, came on in the ninth. He worked around a one out walk and got a couple of groundball outs to finish off the win.

The Iowa pitching staff, as a whole, allowed just two runs on two hits and tallied ten strikeouts to four walks over 9.0 innings. As a team, they threw 78-of137 (56.9%) pitches for strikes.

Up next for Rick Heller and the Hawkeyes…

The Hawkeyes will travel to State College for their Big Ten opener this weekend, facing the Penn State Nittany Lions for a three-game set starting on Friday evening. Coach Heller confirmed that sophomore Jaron Bleeker will get the Friday start for the second consecutive week. First pitch on Friday is set for 4:30pm CT on BTN+.

You may also like