After a cancellation due to high winds on Friday night, the Iowa baseball team hosted the Illinois Fighting Illini for a twin bill on Saturday, with both teams clawing its way for a win.
The Hawkeyes took game one in thrilling fashion, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
“That was a great game,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said after game one. “I was really proud of our guys. We played about as well as we could against a top-line guy. Our at-bats up and down the lineup were outstanding.”
Senior shortstop Nick Roscetti started the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Hawkeye lead moved to 3-0 in the third inning after a pair of RBIs from freshman second baseman Zach Daniels and senior catcher Jimmy Frankos.
Sophomore hurler C.J. Eldred kept the Illini lineup at bay until the fourth inning, when a string of base hits cut the Iowa lead to 3-2.
The score stayed that way until the top of the ninth inning, when Illinois pinch hitter Luke Shilling came through with an RBI single off Iowa junior reliever Jared Mandel.
Senior Tyler Radtke got through the rest of the ninth and 10th inning without allowing any more damage, setting up the walk-off dramatics.
Senior center fielder Joel Booker led off the 10th with a double down the left field line, before Daniels moved him to third with a ground ball to the right side.
The Fighting Illini intentionally walked Roscetti to set up a double play ball and get to Frankos, who laid down a safety squeeze that Illinois pitcher J.D. Nielsen could not handle, scoring Booker.
“I knew right away when they brought a lefty in, Coach Heller came over and asked if I could get it done.” Frankos said. “I told him yeah, and even after the first few pitches didn’t go my way, I trusted what we had been practicing and got the bunt down.”
Illinois came out swinging in a big way and got the best of Iowa in game two, scoring 10 runs and leaving the yard three times.
Senior Tyler Peyton got the start on the mound for the Hawkeyes, giving up nine runs on nine hits in five innings of work. Peyton gave up two-run home runs in the first and second innings, and a grand slam in the fifth.
“To be honest I thought I did have my [best] stuff,” Peyton said. “I just missed a couple pitches. With the wind blowing out today like it was, I left a couple up and they didn’t miss it.”
The Hawkeyes fought back against the Illini scoring runs in the second, third, and sixth innings and got big contributions from sophomore Grant Klenovich and senior John Barrett.
Klenovich, who entered the game hitting .182, came up with three base hits and was on base four times
Barrett had only registered two hits on the year before Saturday, but registered two hits, including a double off the right-center field wall.
“Those two were outstanding,” Heller said.” They gave us a chance to come back…we tried to stack the lineup with a bunch of righties and those guys did a great job of sticking to the plan.”