When Iowa battled Bradley at Banks Field on Wednesday, it used almost as many pitchers as runs it scored — and it scored a lot of runs.
Ten Hawkeye arms took the mound in the 13-9 walk-off victory over the Braves, averaging more than one pitcher an inning.
While no pitcher played for an extended amount of time, it was good for Iowa to see the depth it is working with as the team heads into another Big Ten series on Friday.
However, the performance could have been better. Seven Hawkeye hurlers walked an opposing batter, while seven gave up at least 1 hit. Iowa allowed 12 hits and 10 walks on the day, which culminated in 9 Bradley runs.
“Our depth is definitely there,” said reliever Zach Daniels, who earned the win. “We had some guys struggle today, but they’ll be ready to go for the weekend. We’re confident in all the pitchers that we have. It’s just a matter of going out there and getting it done.”
Freshman Trenton Wallace started on the bump for the Hawkeyes before being relieved by Ben Probst and Kyle Shimp. The trio allowed just 2 hits while giving up 2 walks.
Iowa didn’t allow a run until freshman Jack Dreyer entered the game in the fourth. The Braves used 2 walks and a hit to get their run across, although the Hawkeyes countered with 4 runs of their own in their half of the inning.
The process seemed to fall flat in the sixth inning, however. Bradley used a big inning of its own to score 5 runs and tie the game.
After Cam Baumann kept Bradley scoreless in his inning, Kole Kampen gave up a homer to right facing his first batter in the sixth inning.
After giving up another run that cut Iowa’s lead to 6-3, he was the first pitcher unable to go a full inning; sophomore right-hander Grant Judkins took over on the bump.
An error plated another Brave before Bradley’s Luke Mangieri launched a 2-run double over the head of center fielder Justin Jenkins to tie the game at 6.
“Once we got we got to the sixth inning, things kind of went downhill,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said. “Bradley’s a very good hitting team; we knew they weren’t going to go away, that they would challenge us with their bats at some point during that game. But we can’t give up 8 runs in two innings like we did.”
After Iowa scored 2 more in the sixth, Bradley scored 3 in the seventh to gain the lead and add to the Hawkeyes’ pitching struggles.
Judkins ended his day with 2 earned runs in 0.2 innings, and Grant Leonard, who entered in relief of Judkins, was charged with 1 earned run.
After Shane Ritter gave up 2 walks, Daniels closed it out in clutch fashion, earning the win after allowing 1 walk with 3 strikeouts in 2 innings of work.
Iowa came out on top thanks to a walk-off grand slam from Tyler Cropley. Heading into a Big Ten series against No. 25 Illinois, the win was important, despite the up-and-down play of the game.