Hawkeyes Travel to No. 27 Ohio State for Season Finale

May 12, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

HAWKEYES THIS WEEK: Iowa will travel to Columbus, OH, to take on the second place Ohio State in a three-game series Thursday-Saturday. This series will conclude the Hawkeyes’ season and decide whether or not the Buckeyes claim the Big Ten title. No. 27 Ohio State is 36-14 with a 15-6 Big Ten record. The Buckeyes are coming off of a 2-1 series win over No. 25 Illinois at Champaign, IL, and play Eastern Michigan on Tuesday before hosting Iowa.

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. Thursday and Friday’s games will be broadcasted on the radio. Saturday is internet only.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE: No. 27 Ohio State is 36-14 with a 15-6 Big Ten record. The Buckeyes are coming off of a 2-1 series win over No. 25 Illinois at Champaign, IL and play Eastern Michigan on Tuesday before hosting Iowa. Offensively, the Buckeyes are in the top three in nearly every statistical category in the conferece except triples, hits, hit-by-pitches, sacrifice flies and stolen bases. They are led by Ryan Dew who is in the top five in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage and total bases when being compared with other Big Ten hitters. Dew is hitting a high .393. Other Buckeye sluggers are Dan Burkhard with a team-high 55 RBI and Michael Stephens with a team-best 11 home runs. The team is hitting .330 with 11 players hitting over .300. The Buckeye pitching staff has a 4.71 ERA in the conference and are led by starter Dean Wolosiansky with a 6-0 record in seven starters. Starter Alex Wimmers has a team-best 61 strikeouts in 49.1 innings pitched and Eric Best is the other Buckeye starter. Iowa trails the all-time series between the two schools, 42-64-1.

PROBABLES THIS WEEK:THURSDAY, 5:30 PMIA - Nick Brown (RHP, FR, 6-3, 245)OSU-  ALEX WIMMERS (RHP)NOTING: Nick Brown went five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with fivestrikeouts in his first appearance since April 17th last Friday.
FRIDAY, 5:30 PMIA - Phil Schreiber (RHP, FR, 6-0, 190)OSU - DEAN WOLOSIANSKY (RHP)NOTING: In a no decision against Penn State, Schreiber went a season-best sixinnings and allowing only three runs on eight hits with a career-high seven strikeouts.
SATURDAY, NOONIA - Jarred Hippen (LHP, FR, 6-3, 190)OSU - ERIC BEST (LHP)NOTING: Hippen got the win in Sunday's contest against Penn State. The southpawwent a career-high seven and one-third innings.="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>

FLANAGAN AS A STARTER: Freshman Sean Flanagan has taken advantage of his opportunities and has made the transition from starting left fielder to starting first baseman. Flanagan is hitting .306 with four home runs and a .556 slugging percentage.

HITS, HITS, HITS! Seventeen Hawkeyes have recorded at least one multi-hit game this season. Leading the team is Ryan Durant with 21, followed by Justin Toole with 17 and Kurtis Muller with 15. Seven players are hitting above .300 so far this season, four of which are freshmen who have capitalized on their chances to play.

OFFENSIVE FINAL HOMESTAND: The Iowa offense put on a show at home last week, despite going 2-2, as a team the Hawkeyes hit .366 with eight doubles, two triples and four bombs. Kurtis Muller also contributed by stealing four of Iowa’s six stolen bases of the week. 7:1 HBP LAST WEEKEND: Last week, in the Hawkeyes’ four contests against UW-Milwaukee and Penn State, the Iowa pitching staff hit only one batsman, whereas the opposing pitchers hit seven Hawkeyes.

PENN STATE SUMMARY: Iowa dropped its final home series to Penn State, 2-1 last weekend. The Hawkeyes beat Penn State, 5-3, Sunday. A four-spot in the bottom of the seventh inning helped snapped Iowa’s eight-game losing skid in the Big Ten. Starter Jarred Hippen went a career-high seven one-third innings and earned the victory, his third of the year. He allowed only three runs, one earned, on four hits with six strikeouts. Hippen’s teammates helped the freshman southpaw with their defense, registering three double plays the first three innings. The Iowa bullpen featured Steve Turnbull, who went the final one and two-third innings, collecting a save and three strikeouts. The Black and Gold dropped an extra innings thriller, 5-4, to Penn State Saturday. It was the first extra inning contest of the year for the Hawkeyes. Starter Phil Schreiber got the no decision despite throwing a season-best six innings and allowing only three runs on eight hits with a career-high seven strikeouts. Hawkeye closer Mike Schurz got the loss, pitching a career-high five innings allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Iowa dropped game one of the three-game weekend series to Penn State, 8-5, Friday night after a two hour rain delay. The Hawkeyes plated one run in five consecutive innings and an additional run in the ninth. Six of the Nittany Lions’ eight runs were driven in by a home run. Four different players for Penn State hit a round tripper. Last weekend Ryan Durant went 8-for-14 with two RBI to lead Iowa. Kurtis Muller went 5-for-11 with two runs scored, two RBI, three walks and two stolen bases. Wes Freie went 5-for-11 with a double, two homers and three RBI.

BURKE TAKES CATCHING ROLE: Freshman catcher Dallas Burke has seen a lot of action this season due to the injuries of Tyson Blaser and Kody McManis however, he has stepped up to the plate and exceled, offensively, for the Hawkeyes. Burke has hit 13-for-29 (.448) the past two weeks as a starter, manning the two-spot. He is hitting .316 this season.

YOUNGSTERS GET CHANCE: Last week at Duane Banks Field only three upperclassmen were in the lineup. Six freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and two seniors got at least one at bat this past week. IOWA OFFENSE GETS GOING IN 2ND: The Hawkeyes have out scored opponents 56-37 in the second inning. The Iowa bullpen is able to seal the deal and get the win if the team is winning after the seventh inning, Iowa is 13-0 in that situation.

HIPPEN PITCHES A GEM: Freshman southpaw Jarred Hippen said his arm felt good Sunday after seven days of rest, to his normal five days. The starter went a career-high seven and one-third innings getting his third win of the season against the Nittany Lions.

SCHURZ GOES FIVE INNINGS: Typical ninth inning go to guy, Mike Schurz, got the call to the bullpen in Saturday’s game — in the seventh inning. Despite getting the loss, Schurz pitched a career-high five innings allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in the 11 inning game.

Kevin Lee SHINES: Pitcher Kevin Lee has seen action in 15 games this year and leads the team with a 3.38 ERA. Lee has pitched 13.1 innings and has 11 strikeouts.

OFFENSE HITS OVER THE FENCES: Iowa currently has 36 home runs on the year, which is 14 more than all of last year. Wes Freie leads the way with eight and T.J. Cataldo has five bombs to lead the squad. (Freie had a total of four last season.) 12 Hawkeyes have recorded a round-tripper. Wes Freie, Mike McQuillan and Kurtis Muller all hit big flys last week in Iowa’s final homestand.

DURANT STRONG IN BIG TEN: Ryan Durant has put together a solid junior campaign, including a season in conference play. When compared with other players at his position in the Big Ten, Durant ranks second– just behind Purdue’s Brandon Haveman. Durant is hitting .392 in the conference with 10 RBI and five stolen bases.