Baseball February 25, 2008

Hawkeyes to Travel to Nashville, TN

Feb. 25, 2008

Big Ten Network: Programming Schedule
24 Hawkeyes to Watch
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Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
SERIES INFORMATION
The Hawkeyes will be traveling to Nashville,TN to compete at the Music City Classic.

vs. Xavier, Noon, Friday (Nashville, TN)
vs. Vanderbilt, 4 p.m., Saturday (Nashville, TN)
vs. Kansas, Noon, Sunday (Nashville, TN)
*All times central

HAWKEYES ON THE AIR
Starting with Iowa’s first home game on March 22, tune into AM- 800 KXIC. Voice of the Hawkeyes Brent Balbinot will call the play-by-play, with former Hawkeyes Troy Wulf and Kurt Vitense supplying color commentary.

HAWKEYES ON THE NET
Iowa baseball fans can follow the Hawkeyes this week, as live stats will be available on www.hawkeyesports.com. Just click on the Gametracker link found on both the front page and the baseball schedule page.

HAWKEYES THIS WEEK
Iowa will take on Xavier Muscateers, a team in 2007 went to the Atlantic-10 Championship for the first time since the 2003 season. The Hawkeyes will then compete against the Vanderbilt Commodores, a team that’s the defending 2007 SEC Champions and were NCAA Tournament qualifiers. Lastly, the Black and Gold will take on the Kansas Jayhawks, which will be their first meeting since 1995.

SCOUTING XAVIER:
The Musketeers are 1-2 on the season. Xavier was led by Bobbie Kelley who was 5-for-10 last weekend, which included two doubles and a home run.
Xavier is picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season. In 2007, Xavier finished fourth in the A-10 and had a 29-31 overall record.
The Musceteers return five starters and eight pitchers from the last season, while welcoming 16 newcomers.
Iowa leads the series, 1-0.

SCOUTING VANDERBILT:
#7 Vanderbilt is 2-1 on the season, defeating two ranked teams last weekend. (#9 Miami and #12 Oregon State) The Commodores hit .288 on the weekend.

The Commodores have eight position starters returning from the 2007 NCAA Tournament qualifying and SEC winning team, three of which are preseason All-Americans.

Offense is the team’s strength with All-Americans Pedro Alvarez, Dominic de la Osa and Ryan Flaherty returning to the lineup.

The Commodores finished the 2007 season with a 54-13 record. They made it to the NCAA Regional Final.

The series is tied at 1-1 with the Commodores.

SCOUTING KANSAS:
The Jayhawks are 2-3 after a weekend in Kona, HI. Kansas was plauged by errors, averaging two per game.

Kansas finished the 2007 season with a 28-30 record.

The young team returns seven of its position starters and nine pitchers, including their three weekend starters

The Jayhawks will be led by senior outfielder John Allman and MLB draftee shortstop Erik Morrison.

Kansas leads the series 8-7.

CLEARWATER INVITE SUMMARY:
The Hawkeyes went 1-2 on the weekend in Clearwater, FL.

Iowa won its first game against Albany 8-3. Leading Iowa in the win was senior Caleb Curry with three hits, three stolen bases and a double. Nick Erdman had a solid start also for the Black and Gold.

Iowa’s second game, Notre Dame scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the 10th to lift the Irish to a 14-13 victory over the Iowa.

In Iowa scored 10 of its 13 runs with two outs and recorded six extra-base hits. Four Hawkeyes had multiple hit efforts: Matt Mossey and Curry, Justin Toole and Kurtis Muller.

The Hawkeyes dropped their second game of the Clearwater Invitational in a 3-1 loss to Liberty.

The Hawkeyes scored its lone run in the first inning, when Toole reached first on an error, advanced to second on a wild pitch and Curry hit him in with a single to center. Curry went 2-for-4 and had the single Iowa RBI.

In the Iowa loss, Michael Jacobs threw six innings, allowing two earned runs. The Hawkeye defense committed no errors.

ON DECK FOR THE HAWKEYES:
vs. Missouri State- Mar. 7-9
Springfield, MO – Hammons Field

The Bears are picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference this season after finishing with a 23-34 record in 2007.
SMS will be led by senior outfielders Nolan Keane and Ben Woodbury, and by senior catcher Kyle Paul.
The series is even, 5-5.

BREAKING THE RECORD BOOK:
After being hit by two pitches in the Clearwater Invitational, junior Kevin Hoef tied former Hawkeye, Ian Mattice, as the Iowa all-time leader of career hit-by-pitches with 31.

DIAMOND THIEVES:
This weekend the Hawkeyes were 10-11 in stolen bases, compared to their opponents weekend total of two. Senior Caleb Curry led the aggressive Hawkeyes with five.

TWO-OUT TRIUMPHS:
The Hawkeyes hit .415 with two-outs at the Clearwater Invitational, driving in 15 runs. In contrast, Iowa’s opponents hit a mere .161 against the Hawkeyes. Iowa pitchers only allowed three runs with two-outs.

HOT HITTING:
Senior Caleb Curry had a monster opening weekend. Curry hit 9-for-13 (.692) in the tournament with five RBIs. On top of that, Curry stole five bases, had three doubles and is currently on a three-game multi-hit hitting streak.

DOUBLING UP:
The Hawkeyes had an impressive opening weekend, hitting nine doubles compared to their opponenets three. Leading the effort was senior Caleb Curry, with three.

HAWKEYE SIGN EIGHT FOR 2009:
The Iowa Baseball program has signed eight recruits for next year. Nick Brown, Sean Flanagan, Cory Glieden, Jarred Hippen, Mike McQuillan, Zach Robertson, Phil Schreiber and Chett Zeise all signed national letters of intent to attend Iowa.

SCHEDULE STRENGTH:
Iowa will play one of its toughest schedules in 2008 as it will face nine teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. The Hawkeyes will welcome NCAA Tournament teams Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio State to Iowa City and will take on Albany, Creighton, Michigan, Rutgers, Stetson and Vanderbilt on the road. Iowa will face three teams in conference action that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

LAST SEASON:
Iowa posted a 31-23 record in 2007, the Hawkeyes placed fourth in the Big Ten Conference at 17-13, and earned their second trip to the conference tournament in the last three years — this after going just once the previous 15 years.

During the season, Iowa defeated five teams (Nebraska, Fresno State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan) that reached the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes also posted a 12-game winning streak, which is the second-longest in school history. Included in the streak was a school-record 10-game Big Ten winning streak.

THE 30-WIN CLUB:
The Hawkeyes’ 31 wins in 2007 were the most under Coach Jack Dahm, in his career at Iowa, and the most at Iowa since 1993. The 1993 squad posted a 32-20 record under Duane Banks.