By Pete ruden
The result of Iowa’s 12-1 win over Bradley was never in question. Two grand slams in the first three innings gave the Hawkeyes a commanding 12-1 lead, and they never looked back.
After a 1-2-3 first inning in the field, the Hawkeyes took advantage of their time at the plate for the first time to the tune of 6 runs, highlighted by a Tyler Cropley grand slam.
After Jake Adams brought in a run with a single up the middle and Matt Hoeg plated another on a hit by pitch, Cropley made the most of his opportunity with the bases loaded, crushing a ball over the left field fence.
Named the starting catcher in the off-season, Cropley had been struggling at the plate with a .158 average entering the game, so seeing a ball go over the fence was big for the Iowa Western transfer.
“Finally was kind of the key word there,” Cropley said. “I had one this weekend, but [this] one kind of felt a lot better.”
Things didn’t slow down, as Iowa used another 6-run inning in the third to extend its lead. This time it was Robert Neustrom’s turn to go yard and bring in 4 runs.
After Bradley pitcher Matthew Richey walked in 2 runs, Neustrom followed Cropley’s lead and smashed the ball over the left field fence.
Neustrom, who leads the team with a .395 average, was happy with the team’s early offense. But with two grand slams, he couldn’t decide which one was better.
“I don’t know man, [Cropley] put a pretty good jolt on the one he hit,” Neustrom said and laughed. “He hit some good backspin on that. That was a very good swing, but you can never take away from an [opposite field] home run.”
As good as the production at the plate was, the pitching was incredibly impressive as well. Iowa allowed only 3 hits on the day, leaving Bradley unable to put runs on the board.
The huge advantage also allowed Iowa to get some experience for its pitchers and reserve players.
Iowa started Grant Judkins on the mound, while Elijah Wood, Zach Daniels, Nick Nelsen, Sam Norman, Kyle Shimp, and Shane Ritter also got some innings under their belt in relief.
At the same time, Corbin Woods, Kyle Crowl, Zach Fricke, and Luke Farley saw action in the field and at the plate for the Hawkeyes.
The extra playing time looks to help Iowa’s depth as it prepares for Big Ten play.
“I think it’s great, anytime you can get live at-bats in a game,” head coach Rick Heller said. “It couldn’t have worked out better for us today. It doesn’t happen very often … but today it worked out about as well as it could’ve for us to get a lot of guys into the game in really non-pressure situations.”
Iowa starts Big Ten play this weekend, hosting Purdue in a three-game series at Banks Field. After a complete outing, the Hawkeyes will look to continue their momentum against a fellow 11-8 team.
“It’s huge,” Neustrom said. “If you looked at Sunday [against Kansas State] and you looked at today, we pulled out 12 runs in both games. Twenty-four runs in two games — that’s pretty good. Going into Big Ten play, that’s pretty exciting to see.”