March 23, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format
SERIES INFORMATION: Iowa vs. Coe College
HAWKEYES THIS WEEKEND: The Iowa Hawkeyes will take on Coe College for the second time in school history Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City. Last season, Iowa won 7-2.
FROM THE COACHES BOX: “Every game is imporant to us, because our goal is to get better every day. Coe played well against us last year and we expect to see the same from them Wednesday. To me, every game is an opportunity for us to get better and to play good solid baseball — no matter if we are playing Nebraska, Western Illinois or Coe. So this week’s game against the Kohawks is a chance for our team to continue to play good baseball.”
HAWKEYES ON THE NET: Iowa baseball fans can follow the Hawkeyes, as live stats will be available on hawkeyesports.com. Just click on the Gametracker link found on both the front page and the baseball schedule page.
HAWKEYES ON THE AIR Hawkeye fans can catch most Hawkeye games on AM-800 KXIC. The Voice of the Hawkeyes, Brent Balbinot, will call the play-by-play. KXIC will braodcast Wednesday night’s gave vs. Coe.
PROBABLE WEDNESDAY STARTER
L Zach Robertson Jr. LHP Des Moines, IA Iowa Central CC
THREE THINGS TO WATCH:
1. Phil Keppler is red-hot since entering the lineup in Louisville. Watch the redshirt freshman to make a difference in the middle of the lineup.
2. Justin Toole is streaking, with a six-game hitting streak. The senior is hitting .500 at the top of the lineup (10-for-20) and the Hawkeyes are 4-1 with him leading off.
3. The current leader in career hit-by-pitches, Kevin Hoef, is six shy of his own single-season record of 20. The NCAA record is 33 set by Andrew Slater of University of Richmond in 1997 (56 games).
SCOUTING COE COLLEGE: Iowa played Coe College last season for the first time in school history and came out on top with a 7-2 win. Coe went 20-22 last season and have several key players returning. Ryan Baranowski returns after leading the team with a .374 batting average and Tyler McAllister returns for his senior season after leading the team with 17 stolen bases in 2008. This is the second meeting between the two schools, Iowa leads 1-0.
WESTERN ILLINOIS SUMMARY: The Hawkeyes went 2-1 with the Leathernecks last weekend. Iowa won game one of a doubleheader Saturday against Western Illinois at Duane Banks Field, 9-4. In the win, head coach Jack Dahm surpassed Dick Schultz as the third-most victorious Iowa baseball coach with a 130-162 record as a Hawkeye. The Hawkeyes dropped the nightcap of a doubleheader, 7-3. The Leathernecks broke the game open in the fourth and never looked back despite a ninth inning attempt from Iowa. The Hawkeyes out-hit Western Illinois in the loss. Iowa won game three Sunday at Foyer Stadium Sunday, 11-1. Receiving the win was starter Wes Freie. Freie held the Leathernecks to one unearned run in five innings. Jarred Hippen and Nick Erdman threw four scoreless innings of solid relief. In the series, Tyson Blaser went 5-for-8 with a double to lead Iowa’s offense. Phil Keppler went 4-for-7 with two walks. Ryan Durant went 4-for-8 with three runs scored. Kurtis Muller and T.J. Cataldo led the team with four RBI each.
IOWA GETS THE WIN OVER NO. 25: Iowa finished a three-game series against No. 25 Louisville, 1-2. Iowa upset the Cardinals on March 15 with a 2-1 score in Louisville, KY. The Hawkeye pitching staff held Louisville to its lowest scoring output since April 20, 2008, against Villanova in a 3-1 loss. Starter Michael Jacobs earned the win with a solid outing, going six innings and allowing just one run. Jacobs also earned Iowa’s last win against a ranked opponent (6-3 win at No. 5 Vanderbilt last season). Patrick Schatz pitched one and two-third solid innings of relief — forcing four Cardinal groundouts. Mike Schurz recorded the save going one and one-third innings with two strikeouts.
OFFENSE GETS HOT AT SKYHAWK: Iowa crushed Tennessee-Martin at Skyhawk Field March 18, 25-6. In the win, Iowa’s bats came alive recording 25 hits, two from the school record (27 in 1986). Five Hawkeyes recorded home runs (the record is eight in a game) and nine had multi-hit games. It was the highest scoring Iowa game since 1989 (W, 32-0 vs. Quincy College).
DAHM TAKES OVER #3: Head Coach Jack Dahm suprassed Dick Schultz for the third-most victorious coach in Iowa history Saturday in the 9-4 win over Western Illinois. Dahm currently has 131 wins at Iowa. Last season, Dahm captured his 400th career victory on April 23 against UNI. Dahm recorded 283 victories at Creighton and has won 122 at Iowa. Dahm started in 1994 with his alma mater, Creighton University, and moved on to coach the Hawkeyes in 2003.
CATALDO PUTS 17 CARDINALS OUT: T.J. Cataldo recorded 17 putouts in the win against Louisville March 15. That is the most a Hawkeye has recorded since Dusty Napoleon putout 15 in the loss against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament in 2007. (The record is 20 set in 1975 by Steve Stumpff.)
TOOLE NAMED BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Justin Toole scored nine runs while driving in six and raising his batting average 51 points to .353 mark. The senior tallied four multi-hit games in six contests and racked up four extra-base hits. For the week, Toole batted .440 with a .680 slugging percentage and a .533 on-base percentage to combine for an OPS of 1.213. he is currently on a six-game hitting streak.
SCHATZ EXCELS ON THE MOUND: After seeing limited time on the mound a year ago, Patrick Schatz has made himself into one of Iowa’s go-to guys in the long reliever role. Schatz has a team-best 2.25 ERA in 16 innings pitched and has allowed only four earned runs all year — which is saying something, considering Schatz has come into the game in some stickey situations.
OFFENSE HITS OVER THE FENCES: Iowa currently has 17 home runs on the year, four shy of the season total in 2008. Wes Freie and T.J. Cataldo lead the Black and Gold with four bombs, respectively. (Freie had a total of four last season.) Nine Hawkeyes have recorded a round-tripper.
HAWKEYES ARE STREAKIN’: Nine Hawkeyes are currently on a hitting streak. Leading Iowa is Justin Toole with a six-game string. Followed by Tyson Blaser, Kevin Hoef, Phil Keppler and T.J. Cataldo with a five-game hitting streak.
OFFENSE HITS OVER THE FENCES: Iowa currently has 17 home runs on the year, four shy of the season total in 2008. Wes Freie and T.J. Cataldo lead the Black and Gold with four bombs, respectively. (Freie had a total of four last season.) Nine Hawkeyes have recorded a round-tripper.
HOEF REMAINS IOWA’S “HUMAN PINATA”: The senior career hit-by-pitch leader has constistantly been beamed by pitches all season. Kevin Hoef leads the Big Ten with 14 hit-by-pitches this season, tying his season total as a sophomore.
TOOLE LEADS OFF: Since taking the leadoff spot in the lineup against Tennessee-Martin, Justin Toole has gone10-for-20 with nine runs scored to lead Iowa. On top of that, the Hawkeyes are 4-1 with Toole starting the battery off.
HIPPEN MAKES IMPACT: Freshman southpaw Jarred Hippen has been consistent for the Hawkeyes on the mound. The Iowa reliever has appeared in seven games for 18 innings, the most of any reliever. Hippen is third on the team with a 3.0 ERA.
KEPPLER CRUSHES THE BALL: Phil Keppler got his chance to play against Louisville last week and hit in the two runs that propelled Iowa to its win against No. 25 Louisville. He’s gone red-hot since, having gone 10-for-20 with eight RBI and .750 slugging percentage since.
ZEISE CONTINUES TO SHINE: Chett Zeise made his first career start as a Hawkeye against Georgetown and has played in every game since. The versatile freshman (who can play infield and outfield) is hitting .355 on the year to lead all freshman on the team.
BURKE COMES THROUGH: With starter Tyson Blaser injured during the Louisville series, freshman Dallas Burke was asked to step up — and he did. Burke went 5-for-19 in the past week, with two doubles and four walks.
TRANSFER SWINGS THE BAT: Iowa Central Community College junior transfer, Ryan Durant, has made a difference in the Iowa batting lineup– with a .339 batting average and five doubles.
MULLER RETURNS: Sophomore Kurtis Muller returned to action in the win against No. 25 Louisville March 15, after a two-week hiatus with an injury. Muller went 4-for-11 against Western Illinois this past weekend — with four RBI.