Hawkeyes bounce back, defeat Bradley 6-1
Rick Heller says that when his pitcher is on the mound, he writes down notes and makes checkmarks for things that needed to be talked about or worked on. Last night at Illinois-Chicago, his paper was filled with checkmarks. Tonight? No checkmarks. What a difference 24 hours makes for the Hawkeyes pitching staff. Five Iowa pitchers held Bradley to just three hits and no walks, as the Hawkeyes defeated the Braves 6-1.
“I think the start was crucial tonight by Aaron Savary,” said Coach Heller. “He set the tone and I think it kind of eased the rest of those guys minds. They went out there and followed suit.”
Savary went 2.0 innings in his second midweek start of the season. He retired six of the seven batters he faced, while a two-out single from Logan Delgado in the first was all the Braves could muster. Savary threw 17 of his 25 (68.0%) pitches for strikes.
At the plate, the Hawkeyes got on the board in the bottom of the first inning via the long ball. Brennen Dorighi blasted his sixth home run of the season, a 425-foot shot, to get Iowa on the board. Raider Tello followed with a 422-foot blast of his own to make it two balls on Hawkins Drive and 2-0 Iowa.
Jared Simpson was the first man out of the bullpen and he got through 2.0 successful innings. Bradley was able to score their lone run, a solo home run from Carson Husmann to cut the lead to 2-1, but Simpson struck out three and walked zero. Jared threw 21 of his 29 (72.4%) pitches for strikes.
The game stayed close into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Hawkeye offense got things rolling against Braves reliever Brayden Marks. Ben Wilmes fouled off four straight pitches to start his at bat, before singling into right field. Keaton Anthony and Brennen Dorighi followed with singles to load the bases with nobody out.
“Just trying to get on base, it was a tight game. Just need to do whatever we need to do to get on base,” said Keaton Anthony. “I talked to (Ben) Wilmes before his at bat. Just told him to settle down and see a lot of pitches and put together a good at bat and hit the ball hard.”
With the bases loaded, Raider Tello delivered a two-run single just off the glove of a diving Easton Harris at shortstop. Kyle Huckstorf followed with an RBI single of his own and all the sudden the Hawkeyes had turned it into a 5-1 advantage on five straight hits to start the fifth inning.
“I just liked that we just kept coming. In the fourth, it was pretty disappointing. We had runners on second an third, less than two outs. Don’t get a run in,” said Heller. ” To bounce back that inning and just string some hits together and give us some insurance on the board, that was a good thing.”
Keaton Anthony added an RBI single in the eighth inning to make it 6-1. He had a hit in each of his last three at bats of the night, despite seeing a total of four pitches. Keaton said it is an adjustment he has been making lately.
“Just a good scouting report from Marty (Sutherland). I knew the last guy was going to throw me a curveball with runners in scoring position. It’s pretty inflated, he throws it over half the time, so I was kind of sitting on that and I got it,” said Keaton. “I don’t swing at the first pitch a lot, but sometimes that the best pitch I see my whole at bat. I’ve started to realize that and I’m starting to attack it more.”
With the Hawkeye scorebook lengthening the lead, the bullpen took over and was dominate over the last five innings of the game. Chas Wheatley bounced back after a poor outing against Minnesota and tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Jack Whitlock retired all six batters he saw over 2.0 innings, while Will Christophersen retired the side in order in the eighth. Luke Llewellyn came on to nail things down in the ninth inning and flashed a fastball up to 92 mph, as he struck out the side to clinch a 6-1 Iowa victory. The pitching staff combined to throw 77 of their 113 (68.1%) pitches for strikes on the night.
“Really really pumped about how the guys that pitched today accepted the challenge from last night and before the game and went out there and just attacked the zone and got good results,” said Heller.
“I think one of the biggest pluses was another quality performance by Will Christophersen and if we can get Will back like he was tonight and the last time he threw at Minnesota, that bodes well for us down the stretch.”
Another important note in the Hawkeyes victory was that outfielder Sam Petersen returned to action after missing the last nine games with a broken finger that required surgery. He lined out in his first at bat and reached via error on a hard hit ball in the eighth inning. Despite injuring his finger on a slide, Petersen showed no hesitancy this evening. He stole second base and then hustled hard to third base after the ball ricocheted away from the the Bradley infielders.
“The good thing is we got Sam Petersen back in the mix, at least at 80% or 90% or whatever he is, but you just see in the short time he’s out there, how dynamic a player he can be for us,” said Heller.
Keaton Anthony finished the night with three hits, including another double. Coming into the night, he was tied with two other players for the NCAA lead in doubles with 19. Raider Tello and Brennen Dorighi each logged two hits, while Tello racked up three RBI’s.
The Hawkeyes were 4/8 (.500) to leadoff innings and were 3/7 (.429) with runners on third and less than two outs.
Up next for the Hawkeyes…
With the win, Iowa moves to 26-10 on the season and they climb to #56 in the RPI. Up next, the Nebraska Cornhuskers come to town for a series that has rivalry, conference and NCAA Tournament implications. The Huskers are second in the Big Ten with a 7-2 record, while Iowa is looking to continue to climb for their current seventh place position. Brody Brecht will take the ball for the Hawkeyes on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05pm on BTN+.
