Hawkeyes hang on late, down Houston

The Iowa Baseball team has had some adversity thrown at them early this season with some injuries, but they’ve continued to battle. After dropping their opener at the Frisco Classic, the Hawkeyes bounced back, defeating Houston 6-4 to set up a chance at a winning weekend on Sunday. With the win, Iowa moves to 7-3 on the season.

Good news for Iowa, Logan Runde threw 2.0 innings after leaving his start against FAU last week after just five batters. A two-run home run put the Cougars in front 2-1, but a three-run third and one more run in the fourth put Iowa ahead 4-2 and they didn’t relinquish that lead. Jaron Bleeker and Kyle Alivo allowed just one run over 6.1 innings and did not give up a single free base.

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Players of the Game

RHP Jaron Bleeker: For the second consecutive week, Bleeker was strong out of the bullpen. He allowed just one run on five hits over 4.0 innings and struck out four Cougars hitters.

1B Caleb Wulf: A huge day for Wulf at the plate, he tallied four hits, including two doubles, two RBI’s and a run scored. The only time he was retired was on a sac bunt in the first inning that helped get Iowa on the board.

Hawkeyes score first, but the Cougars answer with two-run shot off of Logan Runde in his short start

Knowing that Logan Runde was going to have a limited start on the mound, getting off to a fast start at the plate was going to be a key. Gable Mitchell reached on a double on the 8th pitch of his at-bat to lead off the game. That was followed by a Caleb Wulf sac bunt and a Kooper Schulte sac fly to give Iowa the 1-0 lead.

On the mound, Runde allowed two runs on four hits over 2.0 innings, including a pair of strikeouts to zero walks. He threw 21 of his 33 (63.6%) pitches for strikes and, for the most part, looked like his normal self which is a good sign for the Hawkeyes going forward. The lone blemish on his card was a two-run home run off the bat of Carsten Sabathia that put the Cougars ahead 2-1 in the second inning.

The offense breaks through with a three-spot in the third, add one more in the fourth to chase Houston starter Paul Schmitz

The Houston lead didn’t stick around for long. After Jaylen Ziegler reached with a leadoff infield single and advanced to second on a Gable Mitchell groundout. Caleb Wulf came up with the big hit, driving Ziegler in with an RBI double to tie the game. Kooper Schulte and Mitch Wood each added RBI singles to make it a three spot and a 4-2 Iowa lead.

Then, in the fourth, Jaylen Ziegler reached with a two out single and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. Manufacturing runs in ways that only Iowa could do, Ziegler took off on a 3-2, two out offering to Gable Mitchell and a deep infield single was enough to drive in a run to extend the lead to 5-2.

Houston opted to throw Paul Schmitz, their Friday starter from the first two weekends, but the Hawkeyes were good against him. Schmitz allowed five runs on seven hits over 3.2 innings and had just one strikeout. He had good command, with 44-of-64 (68.8%) pitches going for strikes, but Iowa hitters averaged 3.37 pitches per at-bat and had multiple baserunners in three of four innings against him.

Stellar bullpen outings from young arms, Jaron Bleeker and Kyle Alivo, keep the lead intact

Last weekend, extended work for the bullpen came as a surprise when Logan Runde left his Saturday start against FAU after just 22 pitches. This time around, the pitching staff knew that Runde wasn’t going to have a lengthy start and there were going to be plenty of outs for the bullpen to eat up. Different circumstances, but a similar situation, sophomore Jaron Bleeker was nails again for the Hawkeyes.

He entered in the third inning and delivered another strong inning, allowing one run on five hits over 4.0 innings, while tallying four strikeouts to zero walks. Bleeker retired 12 of the first 15 batters he faced, including getting a 6-4-3 double play in the fourth inning after back-to-back infield singles put some traffic on the bases. He did give up consecutive doubles, including an RBI double by pinch-hitter Cade Climie in the seventh, but Jaron got the staff 12 outs before turning it over to the next one in line. Bleeker threw 38-of-54 (70.4%) pitches for strikes, which is a very impressive mark.

The next on in line was redshirt freshman Kyle Alivo and he kept things moving in the right direction. Alivo allowed one run on five hits over 2.1 innings, tallying four strikeouts to zero walks. He recorded back-to-back strikeouts in the seventh to strand a base runner. In the eighth, Kyle ran into some trouble, allowing a Xavier Perez RBI single, but struck out Carsten Sabathia and Cade Climie to strand two in scoring position. Alivo threw 31-of-47 (66.0%) pitches for strikes.

Joe Husak saves the day, escapes bases loaded in the ninth to close out a win

Things got a bit dicey in the ninth inning, with the Houston offense threatening to rally for the tie or the win. Illinois State transfer Joe Husak entered after consecutive one out singles gave the Cougars some life.

Husak got ahead of the first batter he faced, but plunked Blake Fields with a 1-2 off speed pitch to load the bases with just one out. All of the sudden, the tying run was on second base and the winning run on first. The former Redbirds closer showed everyone why he is second in ISU program history with 14 saves. He got the Cougars best hitter, Xavier Perez looking at a 2-2 off speed pitch at the top of the zone and then got pinch-hitter Irvin Weems to swing through a 3-2 offering to end the game.

A veteran college arm, Husak, in his 60th career appearance, stepped up in a big way to close out the win for the Hawkeyes. He now has tallied seven strikeouts to zero walks over 5.0 innings this season.

Up next for Rick Heller and the Hawkeyes…

The Hawkeyes will look to win the weekend on Sunday, as they wrap up their stay at the Frisco Classic with a matchup against 19th-ranked Oregon State. It will be freshman Nick Terhaar on the mound for Iowa, while it will be Eric Segura for the Beaves. First pitch is set for 11:00am CT.