OMAHA – The No. 3 seed Iowa baseball team suffered a 9-3 defeat at the hands of No. 2 seed UCLA in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.
The loss drops the Hawkeyes to 33-22-1 overall on the season, and they will now anxiously wait to hear their name called on Selection Monday.
Here are three takeaways from the Iowa loss:
Slow offensive start
The Hawkeye hitters could not find any grass against UCLA starter Michael Barnett. Barnett only racked up four strikeouts through five innings, but his ability to force ground balls troubled Iowa’s lineup.
The Hawkeyes wouldn’t record a hit until the third inning, when Andy Nelson reached on a ground ball to shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who airmailed the throw to first base.
This slow start caused Iowa to fall behind early, as the Bruins posted two runs in the third and five more in the fourth. The Hawkeyes knew there would be few opportunities against a team like UCLA, but they couldn’t capitalize before it was too late.
Iowa finally cracked the scoreboard in the fifth inning, where Nelson cranked a two-run homer to left field to cut the deficit to 7-2.
“[Blake Guerin’s] at bat before me was a big one, really,” Nelson said after the game. “Worked for him and got walked. I was trying to tell guys all day, ‘just find a way to get on base.’ We’ve got to start with that. On my end, I was lucky enough to get the pitch I was looking for and hit it out.”
“After that, you try to get guys fired up in the dugout,” Nelson added. “Try to wake them up a little bit, but I guess we couldn’t really flip that offensively today and they held us down. It’s frustrating.”
Tough breaks
Iowa was also victims of extremely tough breaks that went UCLA’s way. In the second inning, center fielder Miles Risley swiped second base, but a batter’s interference on Jaixen Frost after he swung and missed at strike three wiped away both Risley and Frost.
In the third inning, a line drive to second baseman Caleb Wulf narrowly escaped his grasp as he descended from a leap to make the catch, resulting in a hit for Dean West.
The very next batter, Cholowsky, pushed a bunt through the right side for a double, as the Hawkeyes were shifted to the left with Guerin holding the runner on first. Both runners would later score in that inning, giving UCLA a cushion they wouldn’t relinquish.
The breaks didn’t end there, as Wulf would be made victim of a perfectly placed, high-bouncing ground ball that forced him to navigate the baserunner and lead to an untimely infield single. Cholowsky would then crush a three-run homer to cap off a five-run fourth inning.
Cholowsky rochs the Hawkeyes
“Why do they keep pitching to me?,” Cholowsky yelled to his dugout after ripping a run-scoring double in the sixth. That hit gave him his fourth run batted in of the game, as he went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a three-run homer.
Hawkeye fans probably asked the same question, as Cholowsky has been one of the nation’s best players throughout the season. The sophomore shortstop was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year this season and could lead the Bruins to a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
Cholowsky entered the contest hitting .370 with a .779 slugging percentage. The sophomore also came into the game with 22 home runs, and his aforementioned three-run blast in the fourth moved him to the top-ten on UCLA’s all-time list.
Up Next
Iowa was a trendy pick to sneak into the NCAA tournament three weeks ago, but a 2-10-1 finish resulted in many outlets leaving the Hawkeyes out of their projected fields. Iowa’s chances of being selected are low, as its Rating Percentage Index was in the 70 range coming into the semifinal game.
Selection Monday will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPNU at 11 a.m. CST.