Iowa travels to Bradley to take on the Braves at 6 p.m. from Dozer Park in a midweek contest before this weekend’s series against Illinois. The Hawkeyes (14-10, 2-1 Big Ten) travel to Peoria, Ill., to face the Braves (8-14, 1-2 Missouri Valley Conference) after splitting their Saturday doubleheader at Michigan and then winning the rubber match on Sunday with an offensive explosion.
Iowa redshirt freshman Keaton Anthony picked up his third Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor after slashing .462/.769/.500 last weekend against Michigan. The Hoschton, Ga., native went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double in game two of the series versus the Wolverines. Then, in the series finale, Anthony batted 3-for-5 with four RBIs, including a three-run homer.
On the season, Anthony is hitting a team-best .364 and leads the Hawkeyes in doubles (12), RBIs (21), walks (13) and is tied for the team lead with 32 hits. He’s also second on the team with 19 runs scored and four home runs.
Iowa’s pitching staff was tremendous at Michigan. The Hawkeyes limited Michigan to just seven runs on 15 hits over 26 innings. Iowa pitchers had a 2.42 ERA, racked up 32 strikeouts and held the Wolverines hitters to a .163 average in the three-game series. Iowa leads the nation in strikeouts per nine innings with 12.7 and is second in hits allowed per nine innings with just 6.1 surrendered.