For the first time in six years, Iowa Hawkeyes baseball took part in the NCAA Tournament.
So far, so good.
Though he worked around trouble, Iowa right-handed pitcher Marcus Morgan threw five innings of two-hit, one-run baseball versus North Carolina to key the 5-4 win.
The sophomore struck out five to work around four walks and leave six Tar Heel runners stranded. In the first, Morgan induced a fly out and a ground out from UNC juniors Tomas Frick and Hunter Stokely to strand a pair aboard.
Then, in the fourth, Morgan avoided the big inning. With the bases loaded, Morgan got North Carolina’s Alberto Osuna to fly out to center for a sacrifice fly. Then, after a hit by pitch of UNC’s Colby Wilkerson, Cook grounded out to end the threat.
Meanwhile, redshirt junior second baseman Sam Hojnar got the party started offensively right away with a two-out double into left field to plate fifth-year senior first baseman Brennen Dorighi and sophomore left fielder Sam Petersen. Just like that it was 2-0 Iowa.
The Hawkeyes extended their lead to three runs when redshirt junior right fielder Brayden Frazier and junior catcher Cade Moss delivered a one-out single and double, respectively, to put a pair in scoring position. Sophomore designated hitter Ben Wilmes’ infield single plated Frazier to pad the Iowa lead at 3-0.
The Hawks tacked on a pair of what proved to be game-winning insurance runs in the eighth with a Frazier RBI single to bring home junior shortstop Michael Seegers and a RBI sacrifice bunt from Moss to plate redshirt junior center fielder Kyle Huckstorf. That made it a 5-1 Iowa advantage.
It grew plenty stressful late, though. The Hawkeyes turned to redshirt junior reliever Will Cristophersen to record the game’s final three outs. It didn’t go according to plan.
Cristophersen walked the first batter he saw, North Carolina’s Johnny Castagnozzi. Osuna promptly delivered a two-run blast to halve the deficit. After Wilkerson singled, Christophersen induced a ground ball fielder’s choice to get the inning’s first out at second base.
After UNC’s Mac Horvath walked, Iowa made the decision to look Luke Llewellyn’s direction to save the day.
Jackson Van De Brake doubled to bring North Carolina back within one run, but Llewellyn calmly responded by striking out Frick and Stokely to send Iowa into the winners’ bracket. The Hawkeyes will meet host Indiana State at 5 p.m. Saturday night from Bob Warn Field.
As you’d expect, Twitter was jumping for joy and then pulling its hair out late. In the end, Hawkeye Nation was more than happy with how things turned out.
Here’s the best social media reactions.