Hawkeyes Return To Big Ten Play

April 15, 2004

HAWKEYES RETURN TO THE ROAD AGAINST INDIANA
The Hawkeyes head to Bloomington, IN, for a four-game series against the Hoosiers. All four games will be played at Sembower Field on the IU campus beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Friday and Sunday’s contest are nine inning games, while Saturday’s doubleheader will be seven innings.

LIVE STATS UNAVAILABLE
Live stats for the weekend series against Indiana will not be available throught www.hawkeyesports.com. Fans wishing to follow the Iowa games can follow live at www.iuhoosiers.com.

JOIN COACH DAHM AT FLANNIGAN’S
Every Monday night from 6-7 p.m. during the Iowa baseball season Iowa Head Coach Jack Dahm will join KXIC’s Brent Balbinot for a call-in show at Flannigan’s Bar & Grill for “Hawk Talk with Jack Dahm”.

Fans can attend the show or call-in and talk Hawkeye baseball with Coach Dahm. Can’t attend? Listen to the broadcast on the radio at KXIC (AM 800).

HAWKEYES FALL TO PANTHERS
The Hawkeyes gave up two four-run innings to Northern Iowa Wednesday night and it was enough as the Panthers came away with an 8-6 victory.

Iowa scored first as they put two runs on the board in the first. Luis Andrulonis hit a bloop single to right field to plate knock in two runs.

The Hawkeyes added a run in third inning. Jesse Brownell led off the inning with a stand-up triple and crossed the plate on a Nate Yoho sacrifice fly.

Northern Iowa scored four runs in the fourth inning off Iowa starter Casey O’Rourke to take the 4-3 lead. Reliever Scott Brune got the Hawkeyes out of the jam without any further damage and pitched 4 1/3 innings before being pulled.

In the fifth, Yoho put the final three Iowa runs on the board when he teed off on Panther starter Eric DeJong. Yoho drilled a home run over the 375 mark in left centerfield to give the Hawkeyes the 6-4 lead.

The Panthers never gave up as they added another four spot in the eighth. Reliever Aaron Reasland was within one strike of getting the Hawkeyes out of the inning, but UNI got a two-RBI base knock by Armando Lara to take the lead.

STUCK ON TWELVE
Iowa junior Kris Welker is still looking to try and break an Iowa record. Welker has gone nine games without being plunked.

Welker has tied an Iowa record of being hit two times in one game three times this season with the last time being against Michigan State in the series opener.

Welker leads the Big Ten with 12 HBP thru 28 games. He needs to be hit four more times this year to tie former Hawkeye Ian Mattice’s record of 16 HBP in a single season that was set in 2002.

BACK ROAMING CENTERFIELD
Sophomore L.J. Mims missed the first game of his Hawkeye career on Wednesday against Northern Iowa. Last Sunday against Michigan, Mims was injured after he squared to bunt and the ball fouled back into his face.

Mims is expected to see action this weekend against Indiana. He is batting .274 with 11 RBIs, one double and one triple and has swipped 4-of-7 bases on the season.

YARD WORK = YOHO
Right fielder Nate Yoho hit Iowa’s fourth home run of the season in the 8-6 loss to Northern Iowa on Wednesday. The lefty drilled the ball over the 375 mark in left center field. On the night, Yoho had four RBIs and scored two runs to lead the squad.

This season, the junior is batting .257 with a team high eight doubles and 17 RBIs. He has also been successful in 5-of-8 steal attempts.

JOHNSON TIES CAREER HIGH IN K’S
Iowa starter Nathan Johnson tied a career-high with nine strikeouts in Friday’s no-decision against Michigan. Earlier this season, Johnson also struck out nine batters in the win over Bucknell in Florida.

On the year, the senior righthander is 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA. He has struck out 35 batters in 45 2/3 innings pitched.

In Big Ten games only, Johnson is fourth in the conference with 16 1/3 innings pitched. He has punched out 13 batters (T6th) and is seventh with a 1.65 ERA.

LEFTY VS. RIGHTY
The Hawkeyes are hitting .276 against left handed pitchers and .236 against righthanders. Kris Welker has the top average against the southpaws (.412), while Jesse Brownell is tops on the team against righties (.288).

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
This season, Iowa has come to the plate 19 times with the bases loaded. Over these 19 at-bats, the Hawkeyes have come up with the clutch hit only four times. With runners in scoring position, Iowa has a .240 average. Mike Best and Nate Yoho are Iowa’s best hitters in these situations. Best is batting .391 (9-23) and Yoho has a .325 (13-40).

FALLING BEHIND
The Hawkeyes are 6-5 this season when scoring the game’s first run. In 27 games this season, Iowa has been outscored 35-15 in the opening two frames.

BROWNELL STREAK HAULTS AT NINE GAMES
Iowa’s longest hitting streak of the season was halted in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Michigan. Junior Jesse Brownell used a seventh inning single to extend the streak to nine games, but he went hitless in the final two contests against the Wolverines.

Brownell is leading the team with a .303 average (min. 15 at-bats). He has ten RBIs, four doubles, three triples, two homeruns to go along with a team-high 12 walks.

HOOSIERS SWINGING HOT BATS
The Hawkeyes hold a 60-47 advantage in the all-time series against Indiana. Last season, the Hoosiers won the first three games of the series in Iowa City, but the Hawkeyes came away with an 8-5 victory in the finale.

Indiana enters the contest with a 19-12 overall record and a 3-5 mark in the Big Ten. In the conference, the Hoosiers split with Northwestern and dropped three-of-four to Minnesota last weekend. The mid-week game scheduled for April 13 at Wright State was cancelled due to the threat of rain in Ohio.

Indiana has belted 26 home runs and has a .304 team average with five players above the .300 plateau. Shortstop Seth Bynum is batting a hefty .391 with a whopping 40 RBIs, while lefttfielder Kevin Mahar is leading the Big Ten with 11 jacks.

On the pitching staff, reliever Matt Saba is leading the team with a perfect 5-0 record and a paltry 0.86 ERA in 31 1/3 innings of work. Starters John Lewis has a 3-3 record and a 4.81 ERA in 43 innings pitched, while RHP Nick Vitielliss has a 3-2 record to go along with a 5.14 ERA.

The Hoosiers are led by 21st year Head Coach Bob Morgan.

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