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KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Four Hawkeye pitchers combined for a one-hitter and they punched out 16, leading the University of Iowa baseball team to a 10-0 shutout victory over Marshall on Sunday morning in the Diamond 9 Sunshine Series Classic finale at Osceola Heritage Park Stadium.
Junior starter Grant Judkins (1-0) pitched a career-high six no-hit innings, striking out a career-high 11 batters, and sophomore Cam Baumann, freshman Duncan Davitt, and senior Jason Foster combined for the Hawkeyes’ first shutout of the season.
Davitt gave up the Thundering Herd’s only hit in the eighth, but he struck out the side in his first collegiate appearance.
Iowa’s offense pounded out 10 hits, led by seniors Chris Whelan (3-for-4, 3 doubles, 2 RBIs) and Tanner Wetrich (2-for-3, HR, 3 runs). The Hawkeyes had seven extra-base hits in the game to finish the opening weekend with a 2-1 record and Iowa outscored its final two opponents, 20-1.
The Hawkeyes grabbed the early lead, scoring three runs in the first two innings. Senior Mitchell Boe walked on four pitches, Izaya Fullard followed with a single through the left side, and Whelan launched a two-out double to the left-centerfield wall to record his first two RBIs of the season.
Whelan came around to score on a Marshall throwing error to put Iowa ahead 4-0 in the middle of the second.
In the fifth, junior Matthew Sosa laid down a squeeze bunt to score Ben Norman from third and with two outs and two strikes, Boe laced a triple to deep right field.
After striking out five strikeouts through three, Judkins reached double-digit strikeouts in the bottom of the sixth, overcoming back-to-back walks to start the inning. After a fielder’s choice on a near double play, Judkins stranded two Marshall base runners with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Hawkeyes tacked on two runs in the seventh and eighth to score 10 for a second straight game. Wetrich hit a solo home run to left to lead off the seventh, his first of the season and third for Iowa on the weekend.
QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER
“I was happy with how the guys came out and played today. It was the third game of the weekend and they had good energy. We had three morning games in a row and we handled that well. We got a tremendous pitching effort from Grant Judkins. He was striking guys out right and left all day long. The pitching staff, as a whole, did a great job. Cam Baumann, Duncan Davitt, and Jason Foster did a super job out of the bullpen, only giving up one hit up on the day.
“Our hitters had a lot of extra base hits today and we played good defense. It was a good way to end the weekend heading into the Hawaii series next week.”
OF NOTE…
- Iowa pitchers struck out 16 batters, while only issuing three free passes. The Hawkeyes struck out 10 or more batters in every game, finishing the weekend with 41 strikeouts.
- Iowa’s hitters walked 14 times, including three from Wetrich.
- Whelan’s three doubles tie a single-game school record. Tyler Cropley had three doubles against Coe College last season.
- Judkins became the second straight Hawkeyes starter to pitch five or more innings with 10 or more strikeouts.
- Junior Tanner Padgett led all Hawkeyes with five hits in 11 at-bats this weekend. Seven Hawkeyes had at least three hits.
- Iowa nearly threw its first combined no-hitter in program history.
UP NEXT
Iowa returns to action Feb. 22-24, heading to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a four-game series at Hawaii.
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