Baseball April 10, 2008

Hawkeyes Travel to Bloomington, IN

April 10, 2008

SERIES INFORMATION ? The Hawkeyes travel to Bloomington, IN to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in a four-game series.

HAWKEYES THIS WEEKEND ? The Hawkeyes will travel to Sembower Field to take on Indiana in hopes of winning their first Big Ten series. Iowa is only two games behind a five-way tie for third place in the Big Ten, and a good weekend at Bloomington with a home series against Northwestern coming up could move them up in the conference rankings. The Hoosiers are 3-5 in the Big Ten after going 1-3 against Illinois this past weekend. Iowa leads the all-time series between the schools, 71-51.

HAWKEYES ON TELEVISION ? Big Ten and Hawkeye fans can catch Saturday’s doubleheader on the Big Ten Network (HD). It is two of three Iowa games the network will be covering this season. Saturday’s broadcast will feature play-by-play by Mike Crispino and analyzing by Scott Pose.

HAWKEYES ON THE AIR ? Hawkeye fans can catch every Iowa game at AM-800 KXIC. The Voice of the Hawkeyes, Brent Balbinot, will call the play-by-play.

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 INDIANA: The Hawkeyes will take on Indiana this weekend in Bloomington, IN. The Hoosiers are 3-5 in the Big Ten after going 1-3 against Illinois last weekend. The Hoosiers are led by Josh Phegley, who is hitting a Big Ten-best and 17th nationally, .436 on the year. He has 10 doubles, 26 RBI and a .660 slugging percentage. The doubleheader on Saturday will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network (HD). Iowa leads the all-time series between the schools, 71-51.

TEAM COMPARISONS: The Hawkeyes lead the Hoosiers in hit-by-pitches, 42 to 34. Iowa is slightly more patient at the plate, walking 95 times to Indiana’s 90. The Hoosiers lead the Hawkeyes in doubles, 52 to 45. The two ball clubs are similar in RBI, Indiana has the advantage 152 to 137 on the year. Iowa is more aggressive on the base path with 66 stolen bases to Indiana’s 41. Overall, the Indiana lineup is more consistent with a .325 batting average to the Black and Gold’s .285. Pitching, the two teams are similar. In earned run average, Indiana has the advantage with a 5.34 to Iowa’s 5.73. Iowa’s defense is a bit more rock solid, the Hawkeyes have committed 36 errors on the year to Indiana’s 56.

IOWA OFFENSE IS STREAKING: Caleb Curry is currently on a seven-game hitting streak, which is a new season high for Curry. Kyle Riffel and Justin Brauer also havebeen swinging the bat well, having gone the last five games with a hit.

Justin Toole leads the team in multi-RBI games with eight, followed by Curry who has seven. Kevin Hoef has had 11 multi-hit games this season to lead Iowa, followed by Curry with 10 and Toole with nine.

HAWKEYES ON THE TUBE: Saturday’s match up will mark the first time Iowa baseball has been broadcasted on the Big Ten Network. The network will broadcast one other Hawkeye game this season. The Iowa vs. Minnesota game on May 2 at Duane Banks Field will also air later this season.

SUCCESSFUL WITH RUNNERS: Several Hawkeyes have taken advantage of baserunners this season. Caleb Curry is hitting .473 with runners on to lead the Black and Gold. Kurtis Muller is hitting .833 when runners are on third, while Justin Toole is 43-for-69 in advancing runners. Kevin Hoef and Kyle Riffel are hitting .500 with the bases loaded.

WEARING PITCHES:Iowa has no problem taking one for the team. The Hawkeyes have 42 hit-by-pitches on the year which is more then any other team in the Big Ten and enough to rank them 37th in the country in the category. To lead the Black and Gold is Kevin Hoef with 11, followed by Caleb Curry and Kyle Riffel with six each.

DIAMOND THIEVES: This season the Hawkeyes have out-run their opponents, going 61-for-74. Leading Iowa in steals is Caleb Curry with 21. Followed by Justin Toole and Kyle Riffel with 10. Iowa ranks first in the Big Ten and fifth nationally in thefts.

YOUR OUTTA THERE: Against the Kohawks, Wednesday, the Iowa pitching staff struck out a season-high 13 batters. The last time Iowa posted 10-or-more strikeouts was March 16th in a 16-14 win over Rutgers. For Iowa, Matt Mossey and Zach Kenyon had four strikeouts each, while Andrew Porter added three.

HAWKEYES GO YARD: The Hawkeyes ended a 20-game drought last weekend against Purdue, hitting three bombs in two games. Iowa now has five homers on the year. The last two hit by the Hawkeyes were in Florida during opening week (Freie and Geelan). Freshman Kurtis Muller and junior Kevin Hoef, hit the Black and Gold’s two homers in their lone win Saturday against Purdue. Caleb Curry also hit a shot to left field in Iowa’s loss against Purdue Sunday.

UTILIZING THE SAC BUNT: The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in sacrifice bunts this season with 21. Leading the Black and Gold is Kurtis Muller with five, and Justin Toole with four.

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 ten in: batting average (.391), on base percentage (.473), runs batted in (27), hit-by-pitches (6) and stolen bases (21).

Other Hawkeyes who rank well in the conference include: Justin Toole is second in runs batted in (26), Kevin Hoef leads the league in hit-by-pitches (11), is tenth in on-base percentage (.455) and is fifth in runs scored (27). Kyle Riffel is fourth in the league in hit-by-pitches (6) and Kurtis Muller is tied for third in sac flies (3) and leads the league in sac bunts (5). Andrew Porter is tied for first in appearances (16).

COE COLLEGE SUMMARY: Iowa took advantage of five Coe errors in a 7-2 victory over the Kohawks at Duane Banks Field Wednesday night. Only three of Iowa’s seven runs were earned. This was the first time the intrastate teams faced off in just over 20 years; the last time being in 1987 under former Head Coach Duane Banks. In the win, Iowa advances to 9-17 and Coe falls to 15-10. In the win, the Hawkeyes scattered 11 hits and the pitching staff picked-up a season-high 13 strikeouts. Seven different Hawkeyes recorded a hit in the contest, including redshirt sophomore Nick Muhlenbruch who recorded a double with his first Hawkeye hit. Zach McCool, Kyle Riffel, Caleb Curry and Wes Freie collected multiple hits Wednesday. Freie was 2-for-4 with a run scored, Curry was 2-for-3 with two runs and a pair of stolen bases, Riffel was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and McCool was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a stolen base.

ON DECK FOR IOWA: Creighton- April 11-13 Rosenblatt Stadium – Omaha, NE

The Bluejays are 22-8 on the season and 6-3 in the MVC. Creighton swept its 16th consecutive doubleheader Wednesday, defeating North Dakota State. To lead Creighton offensively are Steve Winkelmann and Darin Ruf. Together they account for 11 home runs, 66 RBI and 38 walks. Winkelmann leads the team in slugging percentage (.584) while Ruf leads the team in on-base percentage (.477). The Bluejays are set to take on Wichita State in a four-game series this weekend. The all-time series between the two schools is tied, 1-1.

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