By Blake Dowson |[email protected]
On a cold and windy Tuesday night at Banks Field, the young Iowa pitching staff kept Grand View from seeing any light, and the Hawkeye bats did just enough to come away with their seventh-straight midweek victory, 3-0 over the Vikings.
“I was really pleased with how our pitchers threw tonight. Cole McDonald gave us a quality start,” head coach Rick Heller said. “Defensively, we had a solid night. On the offensive side, it wasn’t our best performance. I was a little bit disappointed in the quality of the at-bats up and down the lineup.”
McDonald,a freshman, worked five scoreless innings for the Hawkeyes, lowering his ERA to 1.86. He scattered 4 hits, notched 5 strikeouts, and gave up only 1 walk to earn his fourth win.
“I felt pretty good,” McDonald said. “I had a little trouble pounding the zone with strikes, but when I needed to, I got it done. But other than that, velocity was feeling good, and I gave the team a chance to win.”
Senior Tyler Radtke pitched in relief of McDonald for two scoreless frames. Radtke struck out 2 and did not allow a single base runner.
Zach Daniels closed the door on the Vikings, throwing two more scoreless innings. Daniels gave up 2 hits and struck out 2.
The Hawkeye hitters went cold along with the night, getting outhit by Grand View 6-5. Junior Mason McCoy led the Hawkeyes with 2 hits, including an RBI triple to the wall in right center in the fourth inning. Seniors Joel Booker and John Barrett and freshman Mitchell Boe were the other three Hawkeyes with hits.
Seniors Nick Roscetti and Daniel Aaron Moriel, and Boe all earned free passes, and Roscetti and senior Eric Schenck-Joblinske were both hit by pitches.
The Hawkeyes got their first run in the third inning because of a big effort from Booker on the base paths.
After a single past the diving Grand View third baseman, Booker stole second and third base on the next two pitches, then scored on a Moriel ground ball to third base.
Iowa tacked on its next run in the following inning. After Schenck-Joblinske and junior Corbin Woods both struck out looking to start the inning, Boe took a free pass to extend the inning, and McCoy followed with the RBI triple.
“After I hit that first one to left center, I thought that one was a double,” McCoy said, referring to his fly out in the second inning. “But that one got caught up in the wind. So I thought [the triple] was going to get caught, too. I was able to get out of the box, and when I saw it hit the ground, I knew I could get three.”
McCoy scored the Hawkeye’s third run of the game in the seventh inning. He hit a leadoff single over the second baseman’s head and advanced to second on a Roscetti hit by pitch.
Booker grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, but a throwing error by the second baseman allowed McCoy to score Iowa’s final run.
After seeing pitching last weekend against Michigan that was consistently throwing 90 mph, the Hawkeye hitters had to adjust to a Grand View squad that was hitting low 80s on the radar gun.
“Some people adjust quicker than others,” McCoy said. “Some people can adjust as the game goes on. And then some people, it takes them a while to get going. But we were able to get the ball in play.”