A day after falling to Sam Houston, 6-0, Iowa (4-1) made up for its first loss of the season quickly by toppling previously unbeaten and No. 1 LSU.
The win over the top-ranked Tigers is believed to be Iowa’s first-ever win over the nation’s No. 1 team in program history. It was also the first matchup against the nation’s No. 1 team since a 2-1 loss against Arizona State in the 1972 College World Series.
“Really proud of our team,” Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller said. “After a rough night last night, and a quick turnaround. How we bounced back and competed.”
“We have a really good team. A tough team. A team that puts in great effort every single day. Awesome makeup, good culture, good teamwork. Everything that you want to say is good from a culture standpoint these guys have that.”
Iowa jumped on LSU starter Riley Cooper in the top of the first, plating three runs. The Hawkeyes didn’t stop there.
Iowa put up a season high 12 runs on 16 hits. Eight different Hawkeyes tallied hits in the upset victory with six different players notching multi-hit games.
Brennen Dorighi was 3-of-4 with a pair of doubles, a home run and five RBIs. Michael Seegers was 3-of-5, and Keaton Anthony and Sam Petersen were 2-of-5 with 2 RBIs apiece. Raider Tello and Kyle Huckstorf both also tallied two hits for the Hawkeyes.
“I think it was our coming out party,” Dorighi said. “Just to show how dynamic our offense was from hitter one through nine. We had guys producing all the way through. Brayden even in the eight hole hitting home runs and driving in runs. We were able to drive runs in throughout all nine spots and be tough outs.”
Meanwhile, Hawkeye starter Brody Brecht escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first with three straight strikeouts. He ended his day with six strikeouts against eight walks and a pair of earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Jared Simpson went long relief for the Hawkeyes, scattering just three hits in 4 2/3 innings while racking up eight strikeouts. Then, Will Cristophersen recorded the game’s final three outs for Iowa.
It’s a monumental win for an Iowa team that just missed out on the NCAA Tournament a season ago in part because there just wasn’t a ton of beef on the résumé outside of Big Ten play.
The win drew plenty of social media reaction. Here’s some of the best.