May 16, 2008
IOWA CITY — The Iowa baseball team won the nightcap of a doubleheader tonight against Ohio State at Duane Banks field, 7-4. In the win, the Hawkeyes took an early lead and never looked back. Outstanding pitching and aggressive bats kept the Buckeyes at bay.
Michael Jacobs earned his third win of the season pitching five and two-third solid innings. The sophomore faced 24 batters yielding four runs, two earned, on five hits.
“Our starting pitching has been outstanding this series,” said Head Coach Jack Dahm. “Our guys are going out and throwing the ball well. They’re giving us a chance to win and it’s fun to watch.”
Kyle Riffel played outstanding defense in the doubleheader with two web-gems at the fence in right field, robbing the Buckeyes of two clutch extra base hits. Offensively for Iowa, Kurtis Muller led the way going 2-for-3 with a grand slam. Caleb Curry went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, two runs scored and two stolen bases. Justin Toole went 1-for-3 and scored a game-high three runs. After walking three times in game one, Freie walked two more times in game two.
Iowa took an early 4-0 lead in style. Justin Toole reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second. With two outs, Caleb Curry singled to right and then swiped second base. Wes Freie loaded the bases with a walk. Muller hit a bomb to right field to record his first career grand slam, the team’s first four-run dinger of the season and in the process establish a new single-season true freshman RBI record of 47.
The Hawkeyes (22-32, 10-21) kept at it in the second, plating two to make it 6-0. Toole reached base on a fielder’s choice. With two outs, Curry hit a two-run shot to left center. The bomb was his seventh of the season, a team high.
Ohio State (29-23, 14-15) chipped away at the Iowa lead. The Buckeyes scored an unearned run in the third and one in the fourth to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
The Black and Gold added an insurance run in the fourth, to increase their lead, 7-2. With two outs, Toole tripled to left center and Curry hit the ball in play and Toole scored on a throwing error by the Buckeye third baseman. Curry stole his 41st base of the season, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Curry is now only one theft from matching Tony Burley’s Iowa single-season stolen base mark of 42.
The Buckeyes continued to chip away in the sixth, plating two on a Justin Miller two-run homer to cut down the Iowa lead to 7-4.
Brock Alberts finished up the game for the Hawkeyes, pitching one and one-third innings. He recorded two strikeouts and picked up his first save of the season.
“We could have just rolled over after game one,” Dahm said. “But our guys wanted to accomplish something. We worked the count, saw a lot of pitches and wore their pitchers out.”
Iowa will conclude its season vs. Ohio State at Duane Banks Field tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. The game will be “Senior Day” and will be televised on the Big Ten Network (HD).
GAME SUMMARY
Ohio State 001 102 0 - 4 6 1
Iowa 420 100 x - 7 7 2
WP - Jacobs (3-5)
LP - Wolosiansky (7-3)
SV - Alberts (1)