Iowa baseball offense storms back in Game 2 victory, Hawkeyes claim series vs. Nebraska
Iowa baseball offense storms back in Game 2 victory, Hawkeyes claim series vs. Nebraska
Iowa baseball (22-10, 14-3 Big Ten) stormed back late vs. Nebraska (15-20, 4-10) to claim its sixth conference series win of the season with an 11-6 Game 2 victory over the Cornhuskers from Duane Banks Field Saturday afternoon.
Junior right-hander Aaron Savary (5-0, 4.02 ERA) started on the hill for the Hawkeyes, having up five runs on five hits and striking out four in five innings of work. Chas Wheatley (2-0, 2.45 ERA) entered and gave the Hawkeyes two solid innings of work, allowing one run on one hit while striking out one. Brant Hogue (2-1, 2.87 ERA) threw the final two innings and earned the win, striking out three and not allowing a hit.
Given the rivalry series between the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers, the crowd at Duane Banks Field on Saturday reached 2,654, making it the largest crowd in head coach Rick Heller's tenure.
"Hawk fans didn't disappoint," said Heller. "Had a great night last night, and an even better crowd today. They were into the game, and it really helps out when you have that kind of support."
In terms of scoring, the Hawkeyes took the lead in the first inning when Daniel Rogers hit a single up the middle to score Gable Mitchell. Nebraska would answer with a two-run shot in the second inning to take the lead.
In the third, Mitchell tied the game by smacking the 11th pitch of his at-bat over the right field wall. Unfortunately, the tie game did not last long as Nebraska responded again in the fourth inning, taking a 5-2 lead with a three-run bomb.
Miles Risley would bring Iowa within one with a two-run dinger in the fifth inning. The two-run homer is his fifth of the campaign.
Nebraska would add another run in the seventh inning to make it a 6-5 game before Kooper Schulte would tie the game at six on an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning that scored Risley.
In the eighth inning, the Hawkeyes would erupt for five runs to break the game to take a commanding 11-6 advantage. The offensive outburst started with a game-tying leadoff homer from Ben Wilmes, followed by a bases-loaded RBI sacrifice fly from Rogers and a two-out Caleb Wulf RBI single, bringing in two more runs for Iowa.
Andy Nelson put an exclamation point on the inning when he clobbered a three-run blast to deep left field, bringing home Wulf and Risley to give the Hawkeyes a few more insurance runs.
'Down 5-2, to come back and find a way to win, especially after we had squandered some opportunities and didn't execute very well all day long, was impressive,' said Heller. 'One of the big goals for us every game is to try to win the last three innings, we just kept telling them keep pushing.'
With the series victory secured, Iowa will look to complete a three-game sweep over Nebraska today from Duane Banks Field with Reese Bueter (4-0, 4.21 ERA) on the mound for the Hawkeyes. Game 3 will start at 1:02 p.m. CT and broadcast on the Big Ten Network (BTN).
Watch Iowa vs. Nebraska (Game 3)
As always, fans can listen to the action alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans on the Hawkeyes Radio Network.
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Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
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