By Adam Hensley | [email protected]
Iowa’s Big Ten schedule starts back up after a week of nonconference play. The Hawkeyes (18-9) will travel to Evanston, Illinois, to face Northwestern (8-19) today to begin a three-game weekend series.
The game will start at 3:30 p.m., with Saturday’s first pitch at 2 p.m. and April 9’s at 1 p.m. Live audio will be available through Hawkeye All-Access for each game.
Iowa enters the weekend on a seven-game winning streak, which started on March 26.The Hawkeyes took two games against Purdue, beat Grand View in their only matchup of the season, swept UNLV in a three-game series, and took down South Dakota State most recently in a single-game matchup.
“We’re having a lot of fun right now,” outfielder Robert Neustrom said. “I think everybody’s really confident, and when you have a streak going like this, you just got to keep riding it.”
All seven wins came at Banks Field; the Hawkeyes are 10-1 when playing at home.
However, in true away games (games not at a neutral site) Iowa has only a 2-5 record.
The Hawkeyes’ last road loss came on March 18 in a 10-inning defeat at the hands of Kansas State.
Since then, Iowa has made a big turnaround, going from 9-8 to a team with a record well over .500.
In the Hawkeyes’ latest win, they downed South Dakota State, 4-3, on Tuesday.
“It was a game for me where I really felt good about how we came out and played,” head coach Rick Heller said. “We played hard, played good defense. I thought our focus was better.”
The Jackrabbits did not go down without a fight.
In the game’s first four innings, Iowa gave up 7 free bases.
“On a night when runs are at a premium, usually you don’t survive that,” Heller said. “Luckily, we did. Zach Daniels and Kyle Shimp both did a great job of settling the game down.”
Daniels and Shimp pitched a combined 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits and 1 run.
Shimp earned his third win this season, and he has yet to get tagged with a blemish in the losing column.
Amid the midseason winning-stretch, the redshirt freshman pitcher takes the one-game-at-a-time mindset, business as usual.
“Whether [we’re] riding a 19-game winning streak or losing 19 straight, you have to come in with the same mindset and prepare the same for each game,” Shimp said.
Iowa and Northwestern haven’t faced off since April 17, 2015.
In the teams’ three-game matchup, the Hawkeyes took the first two contests, 4-3 and 13-4. The Wildcats won the third, 4-1.
Iowa dominated Northwestern for eight-straight innings in the second win before allowing 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Keeping the streak alive is a big priority for the Hawkeyes. To extend the winning stretch against another conference opponent adds extra motivation.
On top of that, the Hawkeyes find themselves with an outside chance at the NCAA Tournament midway through the season. A three-game sweep on the road in conference play would add a lot of momentum for the second half, but a not-so-strong showing against a suspect Northwestern team wouldn’t do much for Iowa’s tournament résumé.
“Everyone’s excited to go play Northwestern,” Neustrom said. “Another Big Ten series, second of the year, so we’re all going to want to go in, and shut them down, and get another sweep.”