Baseball / March 24, 2008

Iowa Scheduled to Play First Two Home Games This Week

March 24, 2008

HAWKEYES THIS WEEK ? The Hawkeyes will take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks in their home opener Tuesday. The Leathernecks have a record of 1-13 Iowa leads the series between the two schools is tied, 56-26-2.

Iowa will then take on Northern Illinois Wednesday. The Huskies’ record is 7-10. Under Coach Jack Dahm, Iowa is 2-1 against the Huskies. In the school series, Iowa leads 18-7.

HAWKEYES ON THE AIR ? Starting with Iowa’s first home game on March 25, 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.

SCOUTING WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Leathernecks have a 1-13 record. They have dropped seven of their last eight games. Their lone win of the season was against Long Beach State who was then ranked seventh at the time. Western Illinois is led by Kenny Price who is hitting .396 and leads the team in doubles (4).

SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The 7-10 Huskies are led by Jeff Thomas who is hitting .388 on the year with 16 RBI and Dave Reynolds who is hitting .354 with five doubles. The Huskies are a perfect 3-0 in the MAC. In the school series, Iowa leads 18-7.

RUTGERS SUMMARY: The Hawkeyes won their first series of the year against Rutgers in DeLand, FL. The teams competed in three games, and Iowa came out on top in two. The Hawkeyes fell to Rutgers in the first game of a double header March 15, 8-6. In the loss, Iowa scattered 14 hits. Justin Toole led the Hawkeyes and continued his hitting streak to five games, going 3-for-5 with a RBI. Caleb Curry hit well also, going a perfect 3-for-3 with a RBI. The Hawkeyes took the second game of the double header against Rutgers, 9-2. Iowa out-hit the Scarlet Knights, 15-6, in the win and Michael Jacobs threw seven solid innings. In the win, Curry continued to swing with bat well going 3-for-5 with three RBI. Toole continued his hitting streaking going 2-for-3 and scoring two runs. And three Hawkeyes (Muller, Riffel and Freie) went 2-for-5. Iowa defeated Rutgers, 16-14, March 16. The Hawkeyes’ bullpen kept the Scarlet Knights at bay while Iowa’s offense scattered 14 hits and capitalized on five errors. Iowa hit .383 and swiped 13-14 bases in the series. The Hawkeyes had four doubles, a triple and six steals in the win. Curry continued his hitting rampage, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs. In the three game series, Curry went 8-for-13 to lead Iowa. Matt Mossey also swung the bat well, going 3-for-3 and scoring three runs with two RBIs. Muller had a big day at the plate going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Willis had three walks. Blaser was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

STETSON SUMMARY: The Hawkeyes split with the Hatters’ in a two game series in DeLand, FL last week. Iowa lost 9-6 at Stetson Tuesday night. The Hawkeye offense erupted in the third inning, but was unable to win their third straight game. In the Iowa loss, Caleb Curry continued his hitting rampage, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base. Curry is 10-for-17 in DeLand. Kevin Hoef swung the bat well for the Black and Gold going 2-for-4 with a walk and Trevor Willis went 1-for-3 and scored a run. The Hawkeye bullpen had another strong outing in the loss. The pitching staff included; Kyle Heim, Jason Belk and Andrew Porter. They pitched four innings allowing two runs on five hits and struck out five. Iowa won 5-4 Wednesday against Stetson. In the game, Iowa had no errors and its pitching staff threw six scoreless innings. The Hawkeye bullpen threw well in the win. The pitching staff included, Tony Manville, Andrew Porter and Matt Mossey. They pitched five and one-third innings allowing four runs on five hits and struck out five. Mossey recorded the final three outs to collect his second save. In the Iowa win, the Hawkeyes took advantage of six walks and two Hatter errors. Toole went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Cataldo was 1-for-2 with a run. Zach McCool was 1-for-1 as a pinch hitter.

HOT HITTING: Senior Caleb Curry had a hot bat in Florida, going 10-for-20 (.500) with a team-high nine RBIs. Senior Kyle Riffel also continued to swing the bat well for the Hawkeyes. Riffel hit 7-for-21 (.333) in Florida. Junior Justin Toole also continued to be an offensive force, on the week, hitting 8-for-20 (.400) with two doubles and four RBIs.

SOLID RELIEF: In last week’s five games, eight pitchers were used in the Hawkeye bullpen. Together they pitched 20.2 innings only allowing 12 runs on 25 hits and striking out 18.

ON DECK FOR THE HAWKEYES: Michigan – Mar. 28-30 Ann Arbor, MI – Ray Fisher Stadium

To open Big Ten play, Iowa will travel to Ann-Arbor to compete against Michigan. The Wolverines are currently 9-6 and are led by Nate Recknagel who is hitting .393 on the year with 56 hits, 7 homeruns and 22 RBIs. In the series between the two schools, Iowa Hawkeyes are trailing, 40-92.

HAWKEYES SWING THE BAT: The Hawkeyes are hitting .309 as a team on the year. The Black and Gold is led by Caleb Curry who is hitting .491 and by freshman Trevor Willis who has hit .375 in his first six games as a Hawkeye.

IOWA OFFENSE IS STREAKING: After a week in Florida, Kyle Riffel is currently on a seven game hitting streak, going 7-for-21 on the week. On top of that, Caleb Curry leads the team with nine multi-hit games, followed by Justin Toole and Kevin Hoef who have seven. Toole and Curry both lead the team with multi-RBI games with six.

CURRY RECEIVES HONOR: Senior Caleb Curry received CollegeBaseballHub.com’s Heartland Hitter of the Week honor for his performance against Rutgers. Curry went 8-for-13 with seven RBI, two walks and three runs scored in the series.

DIAMOND THIEVES: This season the Hawkeyes have out-run their opponents, going 39-for-50. Leading Iowa in steals are Caleb Curry with 12 and Kyle Riffel with six.

BY THE NUMBERS IN THE BIG TEN: Caleb Curry has taken the Big Ten by storm, when compared with the league’s players he ranks in the top three in: batting average (.491), on base percentage (.547), hits (27), runs batted in (21) and stolen bases (12). Other Hawkeyes who rank well in the conference include: Justin Toole is tied for fourth in runs batted in (18), Kevin Hoef leads the league in hit-by-pitches (6) and Kyle Riffel is second in the league in hit-by-pitches (5). Andrew Porter is second in appearances (9).

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