Hawkeyes rally past Bradley in a Wednesday midweek
The Hawkeyes and Braves first met up way back in 1930. Nowadays, the baseball rivalry betweeen Iowa and Bradley is commonly reignited on a weeknight as a part of each teams midweek slate. On Wednesday night, the two teams came together for the 93rd all-time meeting in the series. Bradley supplied the power, hitting three home runs, but the Hawkeyes rallied with eight runs in the final three innings for an 11-6 win.
“It was good to see us bounce back the second half of that game when our backs were against the wall,” said Coach Rick Heller. “Just scrap and fight and steal some bags and find a way to put pressure on them. Coming through with two out hits was good to see.”
Ganon Archer got his first career start on the mound after missing last week due to a finger injury. He recorded a strikeout in his inning of work, but a solo home run from Timmy O’Brien put the Braves up 1-0 in the first inning.
The Hawkeye offense got things going in the second inning, starting with back-to-back doubles from Reese Moore and Kyle Huckstorf to tie the game. Huckstorf quickly wreaked havoc on the bases, stealing third and then scoring, as the throw down from catcher Nick Hosie sailed into left field. Later in the inning, Andy Nelson drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to put Iowa on top 3-1.
For the next three innings, the offense quieted down. Bradley reliever Jack Stellano retired eight of the ten hitters he faced, putting up three straight scoreless innings. Meanwhile on the other end, the Braves offense took advantage of some free bases given to them by the Iowa pitching staff.
After striking out the first batter he faced in the fourth inning, Aaron Savary loaded the bases with three free bases. With Bradley threatening, Rick Heller opted to go with his fireman Jack Young, but he wasn’t able to complete the Houdini act. Cole Luckey drove in a run with an RBI groundout, however, the big damage came an at-bat later. Nick Hosie delivered a 430-foot, no-doubt, three-run home run to put the Braves in front 5-3. Then in the fifth, Timmy O’Brien hit his second home run of the game, another solo shot, to extend the lead to 6-3.
“We give them three free bases and have to go to the bullpen, then give up a home run, the only ball to leave the infield and we give up four runs,” said Heller. “That has to stop, but when you’re running nine, ten guys (to the mound) you risk that as well.”
After a quiet stretch of innings in the middle of the game, the Hawkeye bats turned things around when they had to. With just one runner on and two outs, it didn’t look like a run scoring inning in the sixth, but three patient at-bats later and the bases were loaded, with a run coming on a Michael Seegers five-pitch walk.
“We went into that lull where we’re trying to do too much. Had some chases outside on the edges that got us in trouble and made things pretty eash on them for a couple of innings,” said Heller. “Then we ended up scoring runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth and had a three-run two out rally in the sixth and a two out rally in the seventh and that was really great to see.”
Following the Seegers walk, Andy Nelson pulled a single through the left side, driving in a pair of runs to tie the game. More of the same came in the seventh inning off the bat of Gable Mitchell. He delivered a clutch two-run single to give Iowa an 8-6 lead. The Hawkeyes finished the night with five two out hits and five two out RBI’s.
“We’re a team that really does a good job of holding the zone and not expanding and taking what they give us, but also being ready to do some damage when they get it over the big part of the plate,” said Heller. “If we can get consistent pitching on the mound, we’re going to compete and have a chance to win every game we play.”
Iowa add some insurance runs in the eighth inning, with an RBI groundout from Raider Tello and an RBI single from Davis Cop. Pinch-running for Cop, Kellen Strohmeyer stole third and scored on a wild pitch to make it a comfortable 11-6 lead going into the ninth. Ben DeTaeye closed it out with a 1-2-3 inning to shut down the Braves bid to take down the Hawkeyes on the road.
Outside of a couple of tough outings, the Iowa pitching staff did a solid job. Ten pitchers held Bradley to six runs on six hits, while they forced weak contact, for the most part, with 21 of 27 outs coming via a ball in play. Reece Beuter, Brant Hogue, Sam Hart, Anthony Watts and Ben DeTaeye all turned in scoreless outings for the Hawkeyes.
“I told the guys before the game that they’ve got some good hitters in the lineup and if you make mistakes they have guys that can hurt you,” said Heller. “Our guys used the defense tonight which is great to see and that’s a positive sign for a lot of guys that went out there tonight, that they can get guys out, without striking them out.”
Speaking of defense, at third base, Raider Tello made a pair of big plays in the late innings to thwart potential Bradley scoring chances. A diving play to start a 5-4-3 double play in the sixth kept the Braves from getting a couple of runners on and no outs. Later in the eighth, Tello made another slick play at the hot corner to keep Bradley from getting multiple runners on base.
“Those two plays really shut the door on them I felt like and that’s what we pride ourselves on,” said Heller. “Making game changing plays on the defensive side really helped the pitching staff out.”
Reese Moore led the way with three hits, while Raider Tello racked up two more hits. Andy Nelson finished with three RBI’s. In his first game back, after missing seven games due to a lower leg injury, Sam Petersen went 0/3 with three strikeouts. They will be looking for Sam to get back in a groove this weekend against Rutgers.
Up Next, the Hawkeyes will host Rutgers for a three-game series at Duane Banks Field starting on Friday. It’s a weekend matchup of two teams fighting to improve their Big Ten Tournament odds. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:05pm CT on BTN+.
