Tag: 2022 Iowa Hawkeyes Baseball

Iowa baseball enters as the favorite to win the Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship

Iowa baseball has the highest win probability to capture the Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship.

With the Big Ten Tournament starting this week, the Iowa Hawkeyes are seen as one of the favorites to win the tournament. According to statsowar, the Hawkeyes have the highest probability of taking home the Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship with a win probability of 26.5%.

The Hawkeyes currently sit third in the Big Ten rankings behind regular-season winner Maryland and second-place Rutgers. Iowa finished the season with a 33-17 overall record, going 17-7 in conference play.

The Hawkeyes enter the Big Ten Baseball Tournament fresh off a sweep of Indiana. Iowa thrashed Indiana in each of the series’ first two games, 30-16, and 12-0 before winning the final game 2-1 in their final series of the season.

Iowa is a team that is getting hot at the right time. They’ve only lost four games in the month of May and haven’t lost a series against a Big Ten opponent since Illinois in early April. In fact, the Hawkeyes won each of their final six Big Ten series.

Iowa’s portion of the Big Ten bracket includes No. 2 seed Rutgers, No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 seed Purdue.

Iowa will play sixth-seeded Penn State for the first time this season in the first round at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning. It’s the first appearance in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament for Penn State since 2012. The Hawkeyes need to take care of business against Penn State to help their at-large NCAA Tournament chances.

After that, it’s a likely date against second-seeded Rutgers. The Hawkeyes took two of three from the Scarlet Knights in their late April series.

From the looks of it, the Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship will be a slugfest between Maryland, Rutgers, and Iowa. According to statsowar, Rutgers has the second-best chance to win the Big Ten Baseball Tournament with a 26.2% win probability and Maryland has the third-best chance with a 24.3% win probability.

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Iowa baseball has a compelling at-large NCAA Tournament resume

After polishing off a sweep of Indiana, Iowa bolstered its already compelling NCAA Tournament at-large resume.

After finishing off a sweep of Indiana with a 2-1 victory in a pitcher’s duel, Iowa made one of its final statements for an at-large berth into the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Iowa starting pitcher Ty Langenberg delivered five shutout innings with four strikeouts. Then, Hawkeye pitchers Connor Schultz and Ben Beutel threw the final four innings, surrendering just a lone run and combining for seven strikeouts to lock down the sweep of the Hoosiers.

Iowa right fielder Keaton Anthony hit a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning to stake the Hawkeyes to a 1-0 lead over Indiana. It was the third straight day Anthony homered and his 14th bomb of the season. Then, Kyle Huckstorf scored what proved to be the game’s winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Hawkeyes’ RPI ranking of No. 54 leaves Iowa in limbo as they head into the Big Ten Tournament. Some corners of the college baseball world will feel like their at-large NCAA Baseball Tournament work is still unfinished. That will be especially true if Iowa drops its Big Ten Tournament opener as the No. 3 seed against sixth-seeded Penn State.

Consider for a moment, though, that Iowa won seven of the eight Big Ten series it played this season and each of its final six Big Ten series. The one Big Ten series that the Hawkeyes didn’t win included an extra-innings loss versus the fourth-place finisher Illinois.

A slow start to the season that saw Iowa limp out to an 8-8 start is part of what’s anchoring the Hawkeyes’ RPI down. That stretch included losses to  Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Loras College, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Iowa also lost a pair against Wichita State and its series versus UC-Irvine.

The Hawkeyes have gone 25-9 since and made a compelling case with their 33-17 overall record and 17-7 finish in Big Ten play that their finish to the season is more indicative of the team they have than the season’s first 16 games.

First things first, Iowa needs to take care of business versus Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. After that, though, if the Hawkeyes pair it with one win over Rutgers, then how many teams can say they finished third in a Power Five league and ended the regular season 25-9?

Iowa baseball, Kyle Huckstorf make history in record-breaking day in series-opening win over Indiana

Redshirt sophomore Kyle Huckstorf had a day for the ages as Iowa erased an 11-run deficit and rallied to top Indiana, 30-16.

To say the Iowa offense was on Thursday night would be a massive understatement. Pitching was thrown out the window on both sides as the Hawkeyes started off their final series of the regular season with a 30-16 victory.

Yes, you read that right. There were 46 combined runs in this contest. Everything started out wrong for the Hawkeyes. Despite ace Adam Mazur on the mound, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a home run on just the second batter of the game.

Iowa would trail 4-0 at the end of the first inning and the deficit snowballed to 13-2 after three innings. The game looked more like batting practice for the opposition.

Normally, this would be the end of the story. A deficit of 13-2 is typically the time you turn off the TV or radio, but, if you did last night, you truly missed something special. The Hawkeyes brought the deficit to within one run in the fourth inning thanks to some home runs of their own. Iowa would take the lead and then some, thanks in large part to redshirt sophomore Kyle Huckstorf’s big day.

Early in the contest, it seemed that Huckstorf’s big highlight was going to be a SportsCenter top-ten-worthy diving catch in centerfield, a nice little sparkle of magic in a blowout loss. Instead, Huckstorf just decided to break nearly every record available to him on the night.

Almost like he went into the settings and turned down the sliders, Huckstorf had a Big Ten record six hits, driving in a Big Ten record 12 runs. He homered three times in only two innings. It was a truly legendary performance.

Iowa Hawkeyes earn No. 3 seed in Baseball America’s latest 2022 NCAA Tournament field

In Baseball America’s latest projection for the 2022 NCAA baseball tournament field, the Hawkeyes earned a No. 3 seed.

With selection Monday for the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament less than three weeks away, Iowa is squarely on the bubble. At least one projection paints an optimistic picture.

Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill has the Hawkeyes as his second-to-last team in his projected field of 64. Iowa checks in as the No. 63 team according to Cahill’s projection and would earn the No. 3 seed in the South Bend, Ind., regional.

Naturally, Notre Dame would host that regional as the No. 10 overall seed. Joining the Fighting Irish and Hawkeyes in Cahill’s projected South Bend Regional are No. 2 seed Texas State and No. 4 seed Ball State.

At this point, the Hawkeyes would gladly sign up in an NCAA Tournament regional anywhere. In D1Baseball’s latest field of 64 projection, Iowa was noticeably absent.

In fact, the Hawkeyes weren’t even among the D1Baseball staff’s first four out. Instead, D1Baseball’s last four in included San Diego, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana and North Caroline and its first four out were UTSA, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Old Dominion.

Wake Forest, UCLA and Louisiana Tech joined Iowa as the last four in according to Baseball America and Pittsburgh, Louisiana, North Carolina and Kentucky were the first four out. The next four out according to Baseball America included Kennesaw State, Texas-San Antonio, Alabama and Clemson.

Maryland and Rutgers were the only other Big Ten teams that made the cut in either of the two 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament projections. Maryland was the No. 12 overall seed according to D1Baseball and the No. 15 overall seed according to Baseball America. Meanwhile, Rutgers was a No. 3 seed in both projections.

With the Hawkeyes’ RPI at No. 64 entering this weekend’s slate against Michigan State, it’s likely that Iowa needs to win out over the remainder of the regular season in order to keep an at-large berth in play. Iowa’s remaining regular season opponents can really only hurt the Hawkeyes’ RPI standing.

Michigan State checks in as the No. 160 team in the RPI, Illinois Chicago is No. 177 and Indiana is No. 103.

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Iowa versus Michigan State: How to watch, listen, stream Hawkeye baseball against the Spartans

Iowa heads to East Lansing, Mich., for a pivotal three-game series. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream the Hawks against the Spartans.

After securing a fourth consecutive Big Ten series win with a 9-1 rubber game victory over Purdue, Iowa (28-16, 12-6 Big Ten) hits the road for East Lansing, Mich., for a three-game series against Michigan State.

With the Hawkeyes sitting at No. 64 in the RPI and tied for third in the Big Ten standings with a 12-6 mark in league play, Iowa needs to play well in this three-game series against the Spartans in order to enhance its case for an at-large bid into an NCAA Regional.

In Iowa’s series-clinching win over the Boilermakers, sophomore Ty Langenberg registered a career-long seven innings start where he surrendered just one run and struck out seven.

“We gave a mature, professional effort today. After a tough day yesterday, we came out with a lot of energy. We were really dialed in against a good team and we needed a good start. Ty Langenberg delivered with that; he was solid today,” Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller said after capturing the series over Purdue.

After recording 12 strikeouts in the Mother’s Day win, Iowa ran its strikeout total to 507 to set a single-season program record. Redshirt freshman Keaton Anthony hit his 10th home run of the season and finished with a pair of RBIs. Sophomore Cade Moss added two RBIs as well.

Meanwhile, Michigan State (22-25, 6-12 Big Ten) was swept by Penn State. A pair of games originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday were postponed. The Spartans played a Sunday doubleheader, losing both against Penn State by scores of, 15-3, and, 10-4. Then, Michigan State dropped the Monday contest against the Nittany Lions, 10-9, in 11 innings.

The Spartans split their midweek games at Notre Dame and at Western Michigan, losing to the Fighting Irish, 15-6, before topping the Broncos, 3-1.

Here’s how to watch, listen and stream the Hawkeyes’ series against Michigan State.

Iowa rocks Purdue, 9-1, captures fourth straight Big Ten series win

Iowa used a five-run fifth inning to rock Purdue, 9-1, on Sunday. As a result, the Hawkeyes have now won four consecutive Big Ten series.

A Saturday hiccup couldn’t stop Iowa from unleashing on Purdue on Sunday. The Hawkeyes scored two runs in the first, two more in the third and then used a five-run fifth inning to race away from the Boilermakers en route to a 9-1 rubber game win.

The series win is Iowa’s fourth consecutive Big Ten series win and the Hawkeyes’ sixth series win over the past seven weekends. Iowa improved to 28-16 overall and 12-6 in Big Ten play with a pair of weeks remaining in the regular season.

Sophomore right-hander Ty Langenberg struck out seven Purdue batters over a career-long seven innings of work to pick up the Mother’s Day win from Duane Banks Field. The Urbandale, Iowa, native allowed just five hits and surrendered only the lone walk. In the process, Langenberg improved to 5-1 on the season.

It was a great day for the Iowa pitching staff in general. Redshirt junior righty Duncan Davitt came on in relief and pitched a pair of scoreless innings and struck out five of the final six Boilermaker batters. With the Hawkeye pitchers 12 strikeouts on the day, Iowa ran its season total to 507 to set a new single-season program record. The previous mark was 499 strikeouts by the 2018 squad.

Redshirt freshman Keaton Anthony got the scoring started for Iowa in the first with a two-run homer after Purdue plunked Iowa’s Peyton Williams. Then, in the third, redshirt junior Brendan Sher added a two-run double into left center to plate Anthony and redshirt senior Izaya Fullard.

The Hawkeyes officially broke things open in the fifth. Sher drew a bases-loaded walk and Williams scored on a wild pitch to give Iowa a 6-0 lead. Freshman Ben Wilmes followed with a two-run single and sophomore Cade Moss’ single to right made it 9-0 Hawkeyes.

WATCH: Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano toss out first pitches for Iowa baseball

Iowa women’s basketball stars Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano threw out the honorary first pitches for Hawkeye baseball with mixed results.

Around Iowa City, there are few bigger stars than those on the Iowa women’s basketball team. The Hawkeyes electrified the fan base with a 24-8 season that included a Big Ten regular season co-championship and the Big Ten Tournament crown outright.

How the women’s basketball team captured the hearts of Iowa City is perhaps best illustrated by the Carver-Hawkeye Arena attendance numbers during the NCAA Tournament. Iowa fans packed down Carver-Hawkeye Arena to the tune of back-to-back sellouts of 14,382.

Iowa’s season ended in a shocking second-round upset loss against 10th-seeded Creighton, 64-62. With star point guard Caitlin Clark and star forward Monika Czinano back in the fold for the 2022-23 women’s basketball season, optimism is high that the Hawkeyes can enjoy a deeper NCAA Tournament run in 2023.

Given their star status, it makes sense why Clark and Czinano were natural candidates to throw out the honorary first pitches ahead of Iowa baseball’s rubber game versus Purdue. To be kind, the results from Clark and Czinano were mixed.

HawkeyeReport’s Kyle Huesmann may be on to something here. After Czinano airmailed the pitch to home plate, it might be time to think about better ways to use that arm strength somewhere other than on the pitcher’s mound. Her toss to home plate had to make Harry Doyle from Major League smile. It truly was “just a bit outside.”

Meanwhile, Clark delivered a pretty good pitch to home plate and showcased some velocity as well.

In all seriousness, it was great to see both Clark and Czinano out to support Iowa baseball. The pair of stars are two of the biggest reasons why Iowa will be one of the favorites to repeat as the Big Ten regular season and tournament champions in 2022-23.

After averaging 27 points, eight assists and eight rebounds per game, Clark was up for all of the national player of the year awards last season. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year, the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year, the Big Ten Player of the Year and earned Big Ten Tournament MVP.

Czinano had a fabulous season as well. The Watertown, Minn., product led the nation in field goal percentage and ranked sixth in field goals made. Czinano finished the 2021-22 season averaging 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. In the NCAA Tournament, Czinano connected on an astounding 18-of-26 field goal tries. She scored 18 points against Illinois State in the tournament opener and then 27 points against Creighton.

Here was some of the other reaction to the pair’s first pitches on Sunday.

Best photos of Iowa baseball versus Illinois State

Here were some of the best photos of Iowa baseball’s recent game against Illinois State.

Iowa suffered a 3-2 loss against Illinois State for a rare midweek setback after Illinois State scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning to propel the Redbirds to victory.

After Iowa’s Brody Brecht got two quick outs to start the seventh, he issued a walk and Illinois State’s JT Sokolove followed with a softly hit ball to shortstop. Michael Seegers’ throw to first was errant and went past Peyton Williams down the right field line, allowing Kayden Beauregard to score from first.

Iowa (26-15) had their chances late. Brett McCleary led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, the Hawkeyes had runners on the corners in the eighth after a Keaton Anthony walk and a Ben Wilmes single and Kyle Huckstorf was hit by a pitch in the ninth. Unfortunately, Iowa couldn’t find the big hit and the Redbirds dropped the Hawkeyes to 7-2 on the season in midweek contests.

As a result, Iowa’s postseason chances took a hit. D1Baseball has the Hawkeyes on the outside of their latest field of 64 projections. Iowa will look to get right beginning with a three-game series against Purdue this weekend.

In the meantime, here’s a glimpse of some of the best photos from the contest against the Redbirds from Duane Banks Field.

Iowa baseball tumbles out of D1Baseball’s latest field of 64 projection

Iowa’s postseason chances took a hit after losing to Illinois State, 3-2. D1Baseball dropped Iowa out of its latest field of 64 projection.

For one of the rare instances this season, Iowa just wasn’t themselves in a midweek contest. The consequence was a 3-2 loss against the Illinois State Redbirds.

It’s just the Hawkeyes’ second midweek defeat, but it’s a costly one given that Illinois State ranks just No. 175 in the Division I college baseball RPI rankings. The loss dropped Iowa nine spots in the RPI to No. 71 nationally.

For an Iowa team that has positioned itself nicely with its performance in Big Ten play, it’s especially disappointing to plummet in the RPI with this Illinois State setback because of its larger ramifications. After the midweek loss to Illinois State, D1Baseball’s latest field of 64 projection has the Hawkeyes on the outside looking in.

One week ago Iowa was the second-to-last team in the field according to D1Baseball’s April 27 projection, so it was clear that Iowa couldn’t afford any slip-ups in the midweek against a team like Illinois State. In its April 27 projection, D1Baseball had Iowa traveling to the Fayetteville Regional as the No. 3 seed alongside top-seeded Arkansas, second-seeded Texas Tech and No. 4 seed Southeast Missouri State.

Now, Iowa has some makeup work to do. The Hawkeyes close the regular season with three more Big Ten series against Purdue, at Michigan State and Indiana over the next three weekends. Iowa also plays one final midweek game against Illinois Chicago.

D1Baseball’s top eight seeds included No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Oregon State, No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Miami, No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Notre Dame. The only Big Ten teams listed in the field are Maryland and Rutgers. Maryland is the No. 2 seed in the Charlottesville Regional with top-seeded Virginia, while Rutgers is the No. 3 seed in the South Bend Regional with No. 1 seed Notre Dame.

Illinois was also listed as the No. 68 team and in the “First Four Out” section.

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Iowa baseball captures the series over Nebraska with a 5-3 extra-innings win

After a 1-0 win on Friday, Iowa won 5-3 in extra innings in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader to take the series from Nebraska.

After a forgettable first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, Iowa found its resolve early and then again late in the second game of the doubleheader to capture the series from the Nebraska Cornhuskers with a 5-3 extra-innings win.

With the win, Iowa has now secured three consecutive Big Ten series and four of the five conference series the Hawkeyes have played thus far.

Redshirt freshman Keaton Anthony delivered a first-inning blast to start the scoring for the Hawkeyes as Iowa’s designated hitter. Redshirt sophomore first baseman Peyton Williams added a two-run homer in the third to score himself and Kyle Huckstorf and Iowa led 3-1.

Then, after Nebraska evened the game at three runs apiece with a pair in the sixth, Iowa found the scoring it needed in extras to ensure it wouldn’t be a gloomy trip back to Iowa City.

The top of the tenth started with a pair of Hawkeye singles from sophomores Anthony Mangano and Michael Seegers. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and then the Huskers intentionally walked Williams.

Anthony followed the Williams’ walk with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Hawkeyes the lead back at 4-3 and then redshirt senior Izaya Fullard added an insurance run with his RBI single to score Seegers.

Sophomore right-hander Ty Langenberg delivered a solid start, tossing five innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts on 78 pitches.

Redshirt senior Dylan Nedved settled down after surrendering a pair of earned runs in his first inning of work in the sixth and added four innings in relief with three strikeouts. After Nedved allowed a leadoff single to Nebraska’s Cam Chick to start off the bottom of the 10th, Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller went into the bullpen.

It worked to perfection. Redshirt senior Ben Beutel got Garrett Anglim to srike out swinging and then induced a game-ending double play off the bat of the Huskers’ Griffin Everitt.