A day after rallying from a 4-0 ninth-inning deficit to beat Ohio State 5-4 in 10 innings, the Hawkeyes piled on 11 runs on 14 hits for an 11-0 semifinal win over Maryland. Later, Austin Guzzo smacked an RBI single to score Joel Booker.
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The Gophers starting pitcher didn’t have as strong a start, as Matt Fideler went just 2.1 innings, giving up eight hits and five runs while striking out nobody.
After Minnesota failed to even get a hit in their half of the first, Iowa came back to the plate.
The Buckeyes grabbed the early lead in the fourth, when Craig Nennig scored on a Troy Kuhn fielder’s choice.
The Hawkeyes have won five of their last six games overall, including wins in four of its final five Big Ten games which gave Iowa a berth in the eight-team Big Ten tourney for the third straight year, a first in the program’s history. Senior Calvin Mathews and sophomore Nick Gallagher, who have had the most innings as day three guys this year, were the obvious options.
Nennig followed with a sacrifice fly to center that brought Leffel plateward, and it was a 3-0 Ohio State advantage. They added another run when Booker singled to right field, scoring Peyton, and moving the lead up to an 8-2 margin. Blake Hickman was Iowa’s only first-team selection a year ago, while Eric Toole, Calvin Mathews, and Nick Hibbing earned second-team honors and Tyler Peyton and Roscetti earned third-team honors. He had a career-high nine strikeouts and faced just three batters over the minimum. Schaefbauer had just one hit, which was his home run.
Iowa coach Rick Heller preached to his players to stay the course and trust in themselves, and the Hawkeyes are beginning to see a payoff. He posted hits in all four games, including a four-hit game against Western Illinois and two-hit and three-hit games against Penn State.
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The Hawkeyes loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th, McCoy had the game-winning hit. He did not get any help on offense, as Pettersen was the Gophers best hitter, going 2-3 with a double. “Everybody was hoping to get off to a good start and win game one then game two is important if you want to make a run”.
