Game Notes -- at Penn State

May 18, 2016

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Iowa (25-24, 10-11) at Penn State (27-25, 11-10)
Dates	May 19-21, 2016
Location	University Park, Pa. | Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
Game Notes	Iowa | Penn State
Statistics	Iowa | Penn State

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa baseball team heads to University Park, Pennsylvania, for its Big Ten regular season series finale at Penn State from Thursday through Saturday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Thursday and Friday’s games begin at 5:30 p.m. (CT), while Saturday’s finale is set for an 11 a.m. start.

GAME COVERAGE
? All three games of the weekend series will be broadcast on AM-800 KXIC and audio streamed on Hawkeye All-Access with Brent Balbinot and Ray Gilmore on the call.
? Live statistics will be available at www.hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow the action via Twitter/UIBaseball.

WIN SERIES AND WE’RE IN… ALMOST
With a series sweep at Penn State, Iowa will guarantee itself a spot in the 2016 Big Ten Tournament for a school-record third straight season.
? Iowa will be in a good position to claim a spot by winning 2-of-3 games against the Nittany Lions unless Illinois sweeps Michigan in Champaign. The Hawkeyes hold tiebreakers over Michigan State, Maryland, and Illinois.

IOWA TIDBITS
? Iowa finished with a season-high 20 hits in its 12-0 victory at Ohio State on May 7. It was the team’s first 20-hit game since May 17, 2014, at Purdue. The Hawkeyes had seven doubles in the game — a season high.
? The Hawkeyes have had nine or more hits in six of the last eight games. Iowa has 15 games with 10 or more hits this season.
? Senior Jimmy Frankos departed the series-opening game against Michigan State on May 13 with a hamstring injury. He isn’t available this weekend at Penn State.
? Iowa has 83 doubles in 49 games; the team had 84 doubles in 59 contests last season.
? The Hawkeyes are hitting .299 over their last 10 games with five regulars hitting over .300. Iowa posted a .324 average at Ohio State — its best weekend of the season — and had 35 hits, tying a season-high for a three-game series.
? Three players — Joel Booker, Nick Roscetti, and Mason McCoy — have started every game this season.
? Iowa is 5-14 in true road games in 2016 and 8-17 in games played away from Iowa City.
? The Hawkeyes have 26 home runs in 49 games — the sixth-most in the Big Ten — this season with 10 different players hitting at least one home run. Senior Joel Booker has a team-high five home runs.
? The Hawkeyes have a +70 run differential this season. Iowa is 17-2 when scoring at least six runs and 1-16 when scoring 0-2 runs. The team is 5-4 in one-run games in 2016.
? Iowa is 7-12 against left-handed starting pitching.
? Iowa is 19-1 when leading after six innings, 21-1 after seven, and 22-0 after eight innings. The Hawkeyes are 4-21 when trailing after six, 3-21 after seven, and 1-23 after eight.

PENN STATE NOTABLES
? The Nittany Lions are 27-25 overall and 11-9 in Big Ten play. Penn State is 3-7 in its last 10 games with four straight series losses — at Rutgers, Maryland, TCU, and at Nebraska.
? Penn State is 14-9 at home in 2016, but has lost six of its last seven games.
? The Nittany Lions are hitting .262 as a team with four players hitting above .300. Jim Haley is leading the team with a .330 average with 12 doubles, three triples, and 44 runs. Greg Guers has a team-high 37 RBIs, six home runs, 18 steals, and 39 runs scored.
? Penn State will start senior LHP Nick Hedge (5-2, 2.75 ERA) Thursday, sophomore RHP Sal Biasi (5-5, 3.90) on Friday, and freshman RHP Justin Hagenman (6-3, 3.50 ERA) Saturday.
? The Nittany Lions have a 3.76 team ERA and have 319 strikeouts in 457 innings. Defensively, Penn State is last in the Big Ten with a .956 fielding percentage, committing 87 errors in 52 games.

SERIES RECORD
? Penn State leads the all-time series over Iowa, 38-28. This is the first meeting between the two schools since 2013 when the Nittany Lions won two of three games in University Park.

CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS
? Senior Nick Roscetti ranks ninth all-time in school history with 141 singles, while senior Tyler Peyton is 13th with 123 base hits.
? Senior Tyler Radtke is ninth with 54 career appearances, while Peyton and Calvin Mathews are 10th and 11th all-time in innings pitched with 223 and 220.2, respectively.
? Senior Joel Booker has 17 doubles, the most by a Hawkeye since Tyson Blaser had 18 in 2011, and tied for the eighth-most all-time. Booker’s 70 hits are five shy from being in the top 15 in a season in school history.

PITCHING STAFF EMERGES
Over the past three series, Iowa’s pitching staff has stepped up. The Hawkeyes have posted a 2.51 team ERA and are limiting hitters to a .226 average.
? Iowa posted 2.00 ERA in the three-game series against Kansas State (matching the season-best weekend ERA from the series win against Maryland). The Hawkeyes had a 2.33 ERA in the series win against Michigan State and limited the Spartans to a .204 team batting average. MSU entered the weekend with a .298 team average.

ROSCETTI MAKES CUT ON BROOKS WALLACE WATCH LIST
Senior Nick Roscetti made the first cut for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award Watch List. He is one of 26 players (one of two in the Big Ten Conference) remaining for an award that is presented to the best shortstop in collegiate baseball. The Illinois native is hitting .320 with 35 runs and 34 RBIs in 2016 and he has just four errors in 49 games.

WHY HELLO TYLER
Senior Tyler Peyton has won back-to-back starts in dominating fashion. The right-hander is riding a 14-scoreless innings streak, where he has scattered just five hits. Peyton went seven shutout innings in back-to-back starts in victories at Ohio State and against Michigan State.

RUNNIN’ WILD
The Hawkeyes had a season-high and Big Ten-high nine steals — one off the single-game school record — in a 10-4 victory over Western Illinois on May 3. Six different players had at least one steal and senior Joel Booker had a career-high three steals.

TRADING PLACES
The batting order swap between seniors Tyler Peyton and Joel Booker is paying off.
? Peyton is hitting a team-best .407 (22-of-54) in 13 games since making the move to the leadoff position. He has nine extra base hits, scored 14 runs, and driven in five. Peyton has a .648 slugging and .492 on-base percentage during the stretch.
? Booker is hitting .382 in the three hole with a team-high 11 RBIs and 10 runs scored. He is 8-for-9 on the base paths.

PEYTON SIZZLES
Since seeing his average dip to .244 on April 3, senior Tyler Peyton has rebounded in a big way. The first baseman has 13 multi-hit games and has seen his average climb 75 points to .319. Peyton has hits in 17 of the 22 games.
? Peyton is hitting nearly .400, posting a .391 average with 36 hits with 13 extra base hits, including nine doubles since the beginning of April. He has scored 21 runs and driven in nine during the stretch.
? He had his third career four hit game in the series opener against Kansas State and back-to-back three-hit games at Ohio State. Peyton has a career-high 19 multi-hit games this season.

THE REAL MCCOY
Junior Mason McCoy hit Iowa’s first cycle since 2007 when he finished 5-for-7 with three runs and six RBIs in a 22-2 victory over Air Force on April 13. The third baseman had a bunt single in the first, an RBI triple in the second, an RBI double in the fourth, and a two-run home run in the sixth. He added a two-run double in the seventh to tie the program record for hits in a game.
? Jason White was the last Hawkeye to hit for the cycle on April 22, 2007, against Illinois. That was 3,276 days and 479 games ago.
? McCoy is the second documented player to hit for the cycle in program history and the first by a Big Ten player since 2013 (Justin Parr, Illinois).
? McCoy became the 16th player to tally a five-hit game and the first since Eric Toole in 2013 at Purdue.

BANKS MAGIC
Iowa has gone 33-10 at home since the start of the 2015 season. The Hawkeyes went 17-3 last season for the most home victories since 1996. Iowa has six walk-off victories at Duane Banks Field since the start of 2015.

GALLAGHER IN RELIEF
Sophomore Nick Gallagher, who is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA in his last two relief appearances, is available this weekend after missing the Michigan State series because of injury. The right-hander went seven innings in back-to-back wins against No. 18/21 Michigan and Kansas State.
? Gallagher retired the first 13 batters he faced and pitched seven shutout innings in a 2-1 win over K-State to record his sixth victory on May 1. He had five strikeouts without issuing a walk.
? It came on the heels of a seven inning outing in a win over the Wolverines. He tossed six shutout innings before surrendering his only run in the ninth. He fanned a career-high seven batters and scattered six hits over seven innings.
? The Iowa City, Iowa, native has been superb in relief this season. He is 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA over 41 1/3 innings. He has 36 strikeouts to nine walks.
? In Big Ten play, Gallagher is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in five appearances. He has 22 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings.
? Gallagher started the series finale and took the loss at Ohio State. He left the game in the third inning because of injury.
? Overall, Gallagher is 6-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 12 appearances (four starts) . The six wins are tied for seventh in the Big Ten and his ERA ranks 13th.

BOOKER’S BREAKOUT
Senior outfielder Joel Booker is hitting .345 with 70 hits, 41 runs and 32 RBIs. He has a team-best 17 doubles, two triples, and five home runs. The 17 doubles are the most by a Hawkeye since 2011.
? Booker ranks in the top-12 in the Big Ten in seven different offensive categories. He is tied for fourth in doubles (17) and steals (19), sixth in hits (70), seventh in total bases (106), ninth in batting average (.345) and slugging percentage (.522) and 12th in runs (41).
? Booker is second on the team with 21 multi-hit games, including six three-hit and three four-hit contests. He has three straight multi-hit games heading into this weekend’s series at Penn State.
? Booker is 19-of-21 on the base paths this season. The outfielder had been successful in 14 straight attempts before being caught May 13 against Michigan State.
? He had a career-best 14-game hitting streak and reached safely in 18 consecutive games earlier this season. He has hit safely in 38 games and reached safely in all but five contests.

THINGS ARE “ROSEY”
? Senior Nick Roscetti has a team-best 23 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI contests. He had a career-best 15-game hitting streak from Feb. 26-March 22.
? He is currently riding a 17-game reached base streak — the second-longest of his Iowa career.
? Roscetti is as good of a defensive shortstop as there is in the Big Ten. He has four errors in 216 chances for a .981 fielding percentage. Roscetti has two error in his last 44 games.
? The shortstop has 11 games with two or more RBIs, including a four-RBI performance, tying a career-high, in Iowa’s 7-6 walk-off victory over Bradley on March 22.
? Roscetti posted his second four-hit game of the season, tying a career-high, in the series finale at Indiana. He scored the game-winning run in the 10th inning in a 6-5 win.
? The Illinois native is 14th in the Big Ten in hits (65).

OF NOTE…
? Senior Eric Schenck-Joblinske has hit safely in four straight games. He had the first two back-to-back multi-hit games of this career against Michigan State, and he hit .455 in the three-game series. The outfielder was 2-for-3 with a career-high three RBIs in game two, which included a two-run home run.
? Junior Mason McCoy tallied his 11th multi-hit game in a road win at Western Illinois. He finished 4-for-5 with two runs to bump his average up to .273. He is one of four Hawkeyes to score 30 runs this season.
? Freshman Robert Neustrom is hitting .367 over his last 10 games with 11 hits in 30 at-bats. The outfielder has a .291 average for the season with nine multi-hit games, including six three-hit contests.

BALLS & STRIKES
? Iowa’s pitching staff has three shutouts this season — the most since 2007.
? Freshman Cole McDonald earned his fourth win, tossing a career-high five innings and fanning five in a win over Grand View. The New Hampton, Iowa, native has emerged as Iowa’s midweek starter, going 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts). He has 29 strikeouts to six walks in 24 1/3 innings.
? McDonald had a career-high six strikeouts May 17 at Western Illinois.
? Senior Calvin Mathews had his best start of the season May 15 in his final game at Banks Field. The right-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced and allowed one walk and a hit before leaving after 3 2/3 innings.

SOPHOMORE C.J. Eldred…
? is 2-8 with a 3.67 ERA in 13 appearances, including a team-high 12 starts. He took over as Iowa’s Friday night starter on March 4 at Southern Illinois after starting the season in the bullpen.
? has 57 strikeouts to 23 walks in 81 innings — tied for the eighth-most innings and 14th-most strikeouts in the Big Ten.
? has a team-best six quality starts, three coming in Big Ten play. He has allowed three runs or fewer in eight of his 12 starts and he has gone at least seven innings in four starts.
? pitched back-to-back complete games against Maryland and at Minnesota — the first Hawkeye to accomplish the feat since 2011.
? pitched his first career complete game against the Terps, allowing one run on six hits and striking out nine to out duel Maryland All-American Mike Shawaryn. He went eight innings at Minnesota, allowing four runs on seven hits in a 4-1 loss.
? posted back-to-back quality starts against Southern Illinois and Omaha… threw nine innings of two-hit, one run ball against the SIU. He had a no-hitter through 7 2/3 innings, but wasn’t involved in the decision. He allowed three runs in six innings in a 3-2 loss to Omaha.
? picked up his first career win against Dartmouth in his first career start, allowing one run on four hits over five innings, fanning five.
? sat out the 2015 season after transferring from Indiana University, where he redshirted in 2014.
? is the son of former Hawkeye first round MLB Draft pick and Major Leaguer Cal Eldred.

SENIOR Tyler Peyton…
? Is 3-5 with a 5.02 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts)… the right-hander has three quality starts this season.
? Riding a 14 scoreless innings streak in his last two starts — wins at Ohio State and over Michigan State… scattered two hits and fanned three against Buckeyes and allowed three hits and struck out two against Spartans.
? Earned his first victory of the season at Minnesota on April 3, allowing one run on five hits over five innings.
? logged a quality start at Dallas Baptist, going 6 1/3 innings, scattering two hits, and striking out six. Both runs were unearned, as he took the loss.
? had his best outing since the series opener in game two against Maryland. He pitched five innings, allowing one run on three hits and struck out seven, but wasn’t involved in the decision.
? is 15-10 in his Iowa career with a 4.12 ERA in 40 starts. Peyton has 17 quality starts and has pitched into the seventh inning 16 times in his career.
? has logged 223 innings in two-plus seasons, where he has 157 strikeouts to 76 walks.
? earned third-team All-America honors by D1Baseball.com and the USBWA as a junior.
? has the best change-up in the Big Ten Conference according to Baseball America.

IN RELIEF…
Iowa’s relief corps has been a strength of the 2016 pitching staff. The Hawkeye relievers are 15-4 with a 2.62 ERA and 10 saves over 223 1/3 innings this season. The relievers have 174 strikeouts and are limiting opposing hitters to a .229 aeverage.
? In his last three relief outings, senior Ryan Erickson is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA in appearances against Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan State. He has allowed one run on seven hits over 14 innings and is limiting hitters to a .152 average. Erickson earned wins at Indiana and against Michigan State.
? Redshirt junior Josh Martsching has emerged as a closer. He is 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 13 appearances, fanning 13 in 13 2/3 innings. The Bloomfield, Iowa, native is tied for the team-high with four saves.
? Freshman Zach Daniels is 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 13 appearances, fanning 14 in 15 2/3 innings. Daniels hasn’t given up a run in his last seven appearances, spanning 8 2/3 innings.
? Sophomore Nick Allgeyer hasn’t surrendered a run or hit in his last four appearances, spanning five innings. He has six strikeouts during the span.