Hawkeyes outlast Ole Miss in a high-scoring series opener in Oxford
It may have been a highwire tightrope act, but at the end of the day, the Iowa Baseball team put a W in the win column on Friday evening in Oxford. The Hawkeyes survived another bullpen letdown with six runs in the top of the ninth to pull out a 13-7 victory in the series opener at Swayze Field.
Let’s start breaking down this four hour and 15 minute affair with Brody Brecht. He made his third start of the season and had to do some of his best tightrope acting to keep the Rebels from some big innings.
After retiring six of the first seven hitters he faced, with five strikeouts, things got iffy in the third inning. Brecht found himself facing bases loaded and no outs after an infield single, a bunt single, where Brody slipped while fielding the ball and an error on another sac bunt attempt. Andrew Fischer drew a full count walk to bring in the first run of the game and the Rebels were threatening for a big inning. However, the junior flamethrower from Ankeny got back-to-back strikeouts and a pop out to limit the damage. It was an early massive swing in the game.
Then in the fourth, Ole Miss loaded the bases again. This time with just one out, but Brecht dialed things in again. He struckout leadoff hitter Ethan Goff and got Andrew Fischer to groundout to keep the Rebels off the board. Ethan Lege hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, but the damage could have been a lot worse than two runs for Brody Brecht. He went 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while he struck out 11 and gave up four free bases. Brecht threw 61 of his 103 (59.2%) pitches for strikes.
At the plate, the Hawkeye hitters got off to a slow start against Ole Miss starter Gunnar Dennis, but started to get things going in the fourth inning. Raider Tello smashed his third home run of the year, two-run shot to right field to make it 2-1 Iowa. Then, in the fifth inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Davis Cop delivered a bases clearing three-run double to extend the Iowa lead to 5-1. Gunnar Dennis allowed five runs on four hits over 5.0 innings.
The Hawkeyes added some insurance runs in the seventh inning off of the Ole Miss bullpen. Reese Moore drove in a pair of runs with another clutch two out hit. This time, it was a single through the right side of the infield and the Iowa lead was 7-2, with just nine outs to get on the mound.
That’s when the early season ugliness of the Hawkeye bullpen returned. Four pitchers appeared in the eighth inning and none of it was good. Ole Miss scored five runs on one hit and seven walks. Back-to-back sacrifice flies from Andrew Fischer and Jackson Ross cut the lead to 7-4, but with two outs in the inning, nothing was hurt. The next five batters walked and the game headed to the ninth tied, 7-7.
The Iowa offense answered in a big way to show they had the back of their teammates in the bullpen. Back-to-back singles from Raider Tello and Davis Cop got the rally started, while a Reese Moore hit by pitch loaded the bases. Kyle Huckstorf put the Hawkeyes back in front with a two-run single and Ben Wilmes added on with a two-run single of his own later in the inning. Although, Sam Petersen saw his eight-game hit streak end, but he tacked on a sacrifice fly to make it 13-7 going into the bottom of the ninth.
Ole Miss was able to load the bases to make things interesting, but Jack Whitlock got pinch-hitter Eli Berch to ground into a game ending 6-4 fielder’s choice. Finally, the Hawkeyes won a close game. The win moves Iowa to 5-4 on the season, while they will have a chance to clinch the series tomorrow afternoon.
Ben Wilmes, Raider Tello, Davis Cop and Kyle Huckstorf each picked up two hits in the game, while Tello extended his hit streak to nine games. Four Hawkeye hitters drove in two runs, with Cop picking up a team-high three RBI’s. Davis Cop did leave the game in the ninth, with what appeared to be a tweaked hamstring. Cade Moss made his season debut to catch the bottom of the ninth inning.
Final Pitching Stat Lines
IOWA
Brody Brecht: 5.0 INN, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 11 K, 4 BB/HBP Anthony Watts: 2.0 INN, 2 R, 0 H, 5 BB Brant Hogue: 0.2 INN, 3 R, 1 H, 2 BB Jack Young: 0.0 INN, 2 BB Elliot Cadieux-Lanoue: 0.2 INN, 0 R, 2 H, 2 K, 1 BB Jack Whitlock: 0.2 INN, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB
OLE MISS
Gunnar Dennis: 5.0 INN, 5 R, 4 H, 8 K, 3 BB Brayden Jones: 1.0 INN, 2 R, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB Cole Tolbert: 0 R, 1 H, 2 K, 2 BB Liam Doyle: 1.1 INN, 0 R, 0 H, 3 K, 1 BB Connor Spencer: 0.1 INN, 6 R, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB Mason Morris: 0.2 INN, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB
Up Next, it’s game two of the series between the Hawkeyes and Rebels. Iowa will send Marcus Morgan to the mound, while it will be JT Quinn for Ole Miss. First pitch is set for 1:30pm CT on SECN+
