Iowa Baseball falls to Illinois State
Baseball is a funny game. On Friday and Saturday, the Iowa offense put up 43 runs on 42 hits over three games against Western Michigan. Today, the Hawkeyes mustered just three runs on five hits against Illinois State. The Redbirds were able to take advantage of some baserunners in the eighth inning and scored three runs to pull off a 5-3 upset over the 25th ranked Hawkeyes.
“We didn’t play very well tonight,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Some bad baseball in the fourth and in the eighth did us in. It was one of those games tonight where neither team was putting up a lot of hits. Their starter Sinisko really gave us trouble for five innings. Still, we had a three-run lead in the fourth. One of those nights where it needed to be a close game type win, and we had the opportunity to do it and we made some mistakes.”
Illinois State went with Sean Sinisko on the mound and credit to him, he pounded the zone with strikes for the majority of his 5.0 inning outing. He threw 44/77 (57.2%) of his pitches for strikes and threw first pitch strike to the first five batters of the game.
The Hawkeye bats did get to him in the second inning with two outs. After a pair of strikeouts to begin the frame, Sam Petersen reached base via a five-pitch walk. Sam Hojnar did not waste any time in his at-bat and took Sinisko deep to centerfield for his third home run of the season to put Iowa up 2-0.
The Hawkeyes added on in the fourth inning, and once again it was two out hitting. Raider Tello got on base with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on a Sam Petersen RBI double. That put Iowa up 3-0, but that is all Sinisko allowed over 5.0 innings. He struck out nine and walked just two after entering the night with a 15.95 ERA.
Jared Hart came out of the bullpen in relief of Sinisko and retired nine of the ten batters he faced over three innings of work. He came in with a 12.46 ERA, but like the starter, he threw strikes. Hart threw 25/37 (67.6%) of his pitches for strikes and struck out two.
On the mound for Iowa, Keaton Anthony got the start and he got through two innings cleanly, but ran into the some trouble in the third. He allowed a double and hit a batter, but Cade Obermueller came in to put out the fire. Cade got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat, but then ran into his own trouble in the fourth inning.
Judah Morris reached via error by Raider Tello and then Cade Obermueller put Dylan Swarmer on with a hit by pitch. Daniel Pacella was able to make the free bases hurt and drove in Morris with an RBI double. Jacob Henderson came on from the bullpen to try to navigate the rest of the inning and he did, but not before an RBI groundout from Auggie Rasmussen cut the Hawkeyes lead to 3-2.
Nick Gotilla and Will Christophersen combined for three straight scoreless innings to get Iowa into the eighth inning, but the Hawkeyes were still clinging to a one-run lead. The Redbirds were able to manufacture the game changing runs in the eighth.
A leadoff groundball single up the middle for Judah Morris got the rally wheels in motion. Dylan Swarmer tried to advance Morris with a sacrifice bunt, but found himself safe at first when no one covered first base. Daniel Pacella followed with a flare single that landed about ten feet into the outfield to load the bases with no outs. Auggie Rasmussen drew a walk to tie the game at four apiece and Christophersen gave way for Luke Llewellyn. He got out of the inning, but a third run came in on a passed ball to make it 5-3 Illinois State.
Elijah Dale came in for the Redbirds in the ninth and worked around a leadoff single from Keaton Anthony. The final out was had a bit of luck involved. Sam Hojnar scorched one up the middle, but it kicked off of Dale’s leg and redirected straight to the 1B Lawrence for the final out. Illinois State has now defeated Iowa three straight times in the series.
Keaton Anthony had two of the five hits for Iowa, while the rest of the team was just 3/28 (.107). The offense struck out 12 times and drew just two walks.
“Just got beat,” said Heller. “They played better than we did tonight. Our top three hitters didn’t get on base and the bottom two guys didn’t get on so that’s stringing five hitters in a row that didn’t reach. They didn’t walk us, they didn’t make any errors, they played way cleaner baseball.”
Up next for the Hawkeyes…
The loss snaps a nine-game winning streak for Iowa and moves them to 19-4 on the season. Up next, the Maryland Terrapins come to Iowa City for the first, and maybe most important series of Big Ten play. The Terps are 15-9 on the season and have won 11 of their last 13 games. They defeated Georgetown 10-7 this evening. First pitch on Friday is set for 3:30pm on Big Ten Network, but there is a chance of severe thunderstorms, which could change the schedule.
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