April 17, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, IN – The Hawkeyes split the doubleheader against the Hoosiers on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Sembower Field. Iowa lost a heartbreaker in the opener and rebounded to salvage a split by winning a slugfest in game two.
After falling behind 4-2, the Hoosiers answered Iowa’s rally with three runs of their own to come back and hand the Hawkeyes a stinging 5-4 defeat in game one. Indiana started the inning with three straight hits, including an RBI triple by Jay Brant. With one out, Iowa reliever Tim Gudex intentionally walked Seth Bynum to bring designated hitter Ryan Parker to the plate. Parker delivered the game-winning single through the right side to drive in Corby Heckman for the win.
The Hawkeyes used a three-run seventh inning to take a 4-2 lead over the Hoosiers. Pinch hitter Jeff Gremley got plunked to lead off the seventh giving the Hawkeyes their all important base runner. Gremley advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andy Cox and moved to third on a groundout by pinch hitter Jesse Brownell. Freshman Jason White came to the plate and laced the first pitch he saw up the middle to tie the game. Second baseman Andy Lytle followed with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a throwing error by Indiana centerfielder Reggie Watson before senior Jim Reid came up with the clutch two-out single to give Iowa the two-run advantage.
The Hoosiers took a 2-1 lead with a run in the third. With one out, Iowa starter Austin Seward walked two Hoosier batters. Brant tagged up and advanced to third on a Joe Kemp fly out and scored the go ahead run on a balk by Seward.
Iowa catcher Kris Welker, who went 2-for-3 in the game, tallied his first homerun of the season in the top of the second. The junior led off the inning with a solo homerun that barely cleared the left field fence to even the score at one.
Seward allowed two earned runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three batters, but walked a season-high five.
The Hawkeye bats started where they left off in game two. Iowa scored a season-high 12 runs on 13 hits to come away with a 12-7 win over the Hoosiers.
In the opening frame, Lytle singled to leadoff the game and Reid followed with a stand-up RBI triple into the right field corner. Right fielder Nate Yoho knocked in the second run with an RBI groundout to second base giving Iowa the 2-0 lead.
Indiana got its bats rolling in the second with three straight hits to start the inning. Bynum doubled to the right centerfield gap and left fielder Kevin Mahar followed with an RBI single to centerfield. Designated hitter Ryan Donley collected the third straight hit before Iowa starter Ryan Dupic induced Richardson to ground into the RBI 4-6-3 doubleplay.
Iowa’s bats answered with five runs on four hits in the third. White doubled over Mahar’s head to lead off the inning and scored on Reid’s double to left center field. After a Welker walk, Gremley hit an RBI single to left field to chase Hoosier starter Matt Saba from the contest. Brownell welcomed reliever Doug Fleenor to the mound with a three-run home run over the right centerfield fence to give the Hawkeyes a 7-2 lead.
The Hoosiers chased Dupic out of the game in the bottom half of the inning and cut the deficit to 7-4. Watson led off the inning with a double and crossed the plate later on Kemp’s double down the right field line that led to Dupic’s removal. Reliever Chris Maliszewski entered with two runners on and struck out Bynum on a nasty curveball down and in, but the senior southpaw then walked a pair of batters to force in another run.
The Hawkeye bats pushed their lead to 11-4 after adding four additional runs in the fourth. Centerfielder L.J. Mims and White hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. After two Indiana errors, Yoho knocked in two runs with a single to right field and Welker followed with an RBI double to left field to record Iowa’s fourth run of the inning.
Indiana scored two runs on four hits in the fifth inning to chase Maliszewski out of the contest with one out. Heckman singled to lead off the inning and scored on Bynum’s RBI double down the left field line. Mahar knocked in the second run of the inning with an RBI single to left. With two runners on, reliever Scott Brune entered and struck out both batters he faced to get out of the inning.
The Hawkeyes added a run in the seventh inning to make the score 12-6. Mims hit a two-out RBI single to right field to knock in Gremley.
Indiana threatened in the seventh as they pushed one run across the plate, but the Hoosiers couldn’t serve up the rally as they left the bases loaded to end the game.
Five Hawkeyes each collected two hits in the contest. In the two games on the day, Welker went 4-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the squad.
The Hawkeyes will look to win the series over the Hoosiers tomorrow afternoon at Sembower Field beginning at 1 p.m.