Game Notes -- at Hawaii

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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa baseball team travels to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a four-game series against Hawaii from Feb. 22-24. The Hawkeyes will play Friday at 10:35 p.m. (CT), a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 5:05 p.m. and wrap up the series Sunday at 5:05 p.m. All four games will be played at Hawaii’s Les Murakami Stadium.

FOLLOW ALONG
• Friday’s game will be streamed live on BigWest.TV. Games two, three, and four will not be streamed.
• All Iowa games will also be available via the Hawkeye Radio Network with Zach Mackey on the call. The games can be heard on Hawkeye All-Access and on stations across the state, including KMJM 1360 AM in Cedar Rapids, KCHE 1440 AM in Cherokee, KDEC 100.5 FM in Decorah, WDBQ 107.5 FM in Dubuque, KKFD 95.9 FM in Fairfield, and AM 800 KXIC in Iowa City.
• Live stats are available on hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow along on Twitter @UIBaseball.

LEADING OFF
• The Hawkeyes bounced back from a season-opening 7-2 loss to George Mason by out-scoring Pittsburgh and Marshall, 20-1, in the final two games of the Diamond 9 Sunshine State Classic to finish the weekend 2-1.
• Iowa leads the Big Ten with 41 strikeouts and is fifth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (14.2) Individually, Grant Judkins leads the Big Ten in strikeouts (11) followed by sophomore Jack Dreyer’s 10, which are tied for the second most in the conference. Judkins’ 11-strikeout performance tied for the fifth-most in the nation during opening weekend, while Dreyer’s 10 tied for 14th nationally. 
• Offensively, Iowa’s .283 (30-for-106) batting average is third-best in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes’ 10 doubles are tied for the most in the conference. Iowa walked 25 times in three games, the second-most in the Big Ten and 14th most in the country. 
• Over three games, Iowa’s 3.46 hits allowed per nine innings rank second-best in the conference and fifth best in the nation.
• Grant Judkins earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week, and NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week  after throwing a career-high six innings of no-hit ball with a career-high 11 strikeouts against Marshall.
• Three Hawkeye hitters — Tanner Padgett (.455), Ben Norman (.444), and Chris Whelan (.400) — are hitting .400 or better. Padgett ranks fifth in the conference in batting average, Norman ninth, and Whelan 14th. Whelan’s three doubles are tied for the Big Ten lead. 
• The Hawkeyes were picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten by Perfect Game, sixth by D1 Baseball, and sixth by Baseball America in 2019.
• Two new faces — hitting coach Robin Lund and volunteer pitching coach Tom Gorzelanny — joined the Hawkeye coaching staff in January. Gorzelanny is a 12-year MLB veteran.
• With 15 newcomers,the Hawkeyes will need to replace three first-team All-Big Ten selections (Nick Allgeyer, Tyler Cropley, and Robert Neustrom. Chris Whelan (third team) is Iowa’s only All-Big Ten selection returning. 
• The Hawkeyes will play 28 games at Duane Banks Field during the 2019 season. Last season, Iowa went 20-6 at home, improving to 72-20 in Iowa City since the start of the 2015 season.  
• Iowa has won 143 games since the start of the 2015 season, the best four-year stretch in school history. The Hawkeyes have won 173 games in the Rick Heller era (2014-present), which is the third-best five-year stretch all-time.  The  Hawkeyes won 178 games from 1981-85 and 175 from 1977-1981 under Duane Banks. 

QUICK HITTERS
• Three Hawkeyes — seniors Cole McDonald and Chris Whelan and sophomore Jack Dreyer — were selected to the Big Ten Preseason Honors list. 
• Iowa hit three home runs in the Diamond 9 Sunshine State Classic, all coming from different Hawkeyes. Junior Austin Martin hit his first career home run for the team’s first round-tripper of the season against George Mason. Junior Ben Norman homered two right field for his second career blast during his four-RBI game against Pittsburgh, and senior Tanner Wetrich hit a solo blast against Marshall.
• Senior Chris Whelan has reached base safely 10 straight games, dating back to last season. Mitchell Boe has a team-high four-game hitting streak, dating back to 2018.
• On Sunday against Marshall, Iowa pitchers were one hit away from throwing their first combined no-hitter in program history. Grant Judkins allowed zero hits in six innings. Freshman Duncan Davitt gave up Iowa’s lone hit, but struck out the other three batters he faced.
• The Hawkeyes return four starters, their designated hitter, 2/3 of their starting rotation, and 19 total letterwinners in 2019.
• Iowa will play 12 games on the road against four 2018 NCAA Tournament teams this season (at Oklahoma State, at Indiana, at Purdue, and at Ohio State). 

SCOUTING HAWAII
• Hawaii sits at 1-3 after dropping a four-game series to Portland to begin the season.
• As a team, the Rainbow Warriors are hitting .212 (28-of-132) with nine extra-base hits (five 2Bs and four HRs). Catcher Dallas Duarte has paced the Hawaii offense, hitting .467 (6-of-13), while first baseman Alex Baeza and outfielder Adam Fogel have two home runs each.
• On the mound, Hawaii has given up 25 earned runs in 37 innings on 43 strikeouts. 
• LHP Jeremy Wu-Yelland will start on Friday, followed by RHP Aaron Davenport and Li’i Pontes on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is TBA. Pontes didn’t allow a run on two hits with two strikeouts in his first start of the season against Portland.

SERIES RESULTS
• The Hawkeyes are 2-1 all-time against Hawaii.
• Iowa last beat Hawaii, 7-6, in 2017 in Minneapolis at the Dairy Queen Classic. Nick Gallagher was the winning pitcher and Jake Adams hit a three-run home run in that contest. 
• Iowa’s other two matchups with Hawaii came in 1983. 

3 ACCOLADES FOR JUDKINS
Junior Grant Judkins earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, Collegiate Baseball Player of the Week by Diamond Sports, and NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week honors following his unhittable performance against Marshall on Feb. 17. Judkins frustrated hitters over six no-hit innings, while striking out a career-high 11 batters. It was Judkins’ first career quality start.
 • Judkins’ 11 strikeouts were the most by a Hawkeye since Brady Schanuel struck out 11 in seven innings last season in a victory over Indiana.

OFFENSIVELY SPEAKING
• The Hawkeyes are slashing .283/.434/.481 after three games at the Diamond 9 Sunshine State Classic. 
• Iowa is averaging 7.3 runs per game, the third most in the Big Ten. 
• Iowa’s .283 batting average is third best in the Big Ten and its .434 on-base percentage ranks second best in the conference. 
• The Hawkeyes have drawn 25 walks, the second most in the Big Ten and 14th most nationally. Mitchell Boe leads Iowa with five base-on-balls. 
• Iowa’s 10 doubles are tied for the conference lead. Chris Whelan and Ben Norman are tied for the team lead with three extra-base hits. 

ON THE BUMP
Over 26 innings, the Iowa pitching staff is holding opposing hitters to a .114 batting average. Iowa’s 3.46 hits allowed per nine innings and 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings both rank fifth best in the country. 

DOUBLES MACHINE
Senior Chris Whelan became the 10th Hawkeye in program history to record three doubles in one game. Against Marshall, Whelan went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Tyler Cropley was the last Hawkeye to do so, hitting three doubles against Coe College a season ago. 

DREYER, JUDKINS DOMINATE
After Iowa’s, season-opening 7-2 loss to George Mason, Iowa starting pitchers Jack Dreyer and Grant Judkins put on a dominant display. The two combined to allow no runs on two hits over 11 1/3 innings, while punching out 21 of the 44 batters they faced. Iowa outscored its last two opponents of the Diamond 9 Sunshine State Classic, 20-1.

HAVE A DAY, BEN NORMAN
Junior Ben Norman did it all for the Hawkeyes on Saturday against Pittsburgh. His day started with a two-run homer to right field, followed by a two-RBI double in the third inning. The Des Moines, Iowa, native added a single in his next at-bat and finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a career-high four RBIs, three runs scored, and two stolen bases. 

A LOOK A THE BULLPEN
The Hawkeye bullpen has held opposing hitters to an .086 clip, giving up only four runs on two hits over 10 2/3 innings with 16 strikeouts.
• Junior Trace Hoffman was the only Iowa reliever to make two appearances. He struck out three in 1 2/3 innings, while allowing one run.
• Seven Hawkeyes threw up scoreless frames during opening weekend.

HAWKEYE NEWCOMERS
Nine Hawkeyes — Tanner Padgett, Izaya Fullard, Austin Martin, Matthew Sosa, Zeb Adreon, Duncan Davitt, Drew Irvine, Jason Foster, and Trace Hoffman — made their Hawkeye debuts during opening weekend. 
• Padgett leads all Hawkeye hitters with five hits and a .455 batting average. 
• Fullard is hitting .308 and is riding a three-game hitting streak to start his Hawkeye career. 
• Two of Austin Martin’s three hits have gone for extra bases.
• In two starts at third base, Sosa’s four RBIs are tied for the team lead. Two of which came on a sacrifice fly and a squeeze bunt.
• Adreon recorded his first Hawkeye hit and RBI in Iowa’s 10-0 win over Marshall on Sunday with a single through the right side. 
• Davitt struck out three of the four batters he faced against Marshall.
• Irvine and Foster each pitched scoreless innings, while recording one strikeout.

COACHING STAFF CHANGES
Iowa welcomed Robin Lund and Tom Gorzelanny to the Hawkeye coaching staff after Desi Druschel and Joe Migliaccio accepted positions within the New York Yankees organization. Lund, who served as the volunteer hitting coach for the Northern Iowa softball program in 2018 and UNI’s volunteer strength and conditioning coach under Heller in 2005-06, will replace Migliaccio as the team’s hitting coach. Gorzelanny, who pitched for six MLB teams over a 12-year span, will replace Druschel as the team’s volunteer pitching coach. 

TEAM CAPTAINS
Three seniors — Mitchell Boe, Cole McDonald, and Chris Whelan — and redshirt junior Kyle Shimp were voted team captains in January. Shimp is a team captain for a second straight season. 

2018 RECAP
Led by three first-team All-Big Ten selections in Nick Allgeyer, Tyler Cropley, and Robert Neustrom, Iowa finished the 2018 season 33-20  to reach the 30-win mark for the fifth straight year under Rick Heller. Iowa’s 13-9 Big Ten record placed them sixth in the conference standings to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament for a record fifth straight season. The Hawkeyes posted three series wins over ranked foes (at No. 22 Illinois, No. 7 Michigan, and No. 12 Oklahoma State) last season. 

30 X 5
Iowa has won 30 or more games in each of head coach Rick Heller’s five seasons. It is the program’s longest such stretch since posting seven straight 30-win seasons from 1979-85.

2014: 30-23
2015: 41-18 (2nd-most wins all-time)
2016: 30-26
2017: 39-22 (5th-most wins all-time)
2018: 33-20

IOWA BY THE NUMBERS
• Offensively, Iowa returns 41.9 percent (133-317) of its runs, 46.1 percent (218-472) of its hits, 38.9 percent (37-95) of its doubles, 21.9 percent (9-41) of its home runs, 40.3 percent (113-280) of its RBIs, and 58.9 percent (23-39) of its stolen bases.
• On the mound, Iowa has three starters — RHP Cole McDonald, LHP Jack Dreyer, and RHP Grant Judkins — and 10 pitchers returning. The Hawkeyes have 45.4 percent (15-33) of their wins, 45.4 percent (214 of 471 1/3) of their innings, 46.2 percent (231-499) of their strikeouts, and 18.1 percent (2-11) of their saves back in 2019.

CHAMPIONSHIP HAWKEYES
• Chris Whelan and Lorenzo Elion won a Prospect League championship with the Terre Haute Rex in 2018.  The Rex defeated Kokomo, 11-3, to claim their second title in four seasons.
• Mitchell Boe led the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders to their first Northwoods League title with a 4-3 victory over Duluth. 

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
• Iowa’s 35-man roster features six freshmen, eight sophomores, 14 juniors, and seven seniors. Fifteen newcomers (five freshman and 10 transfers) joined Iowa’s roster this season. 
• The Hawkeyes come from seven different states: 22 from Iowa, eight from Illinois, and one from Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, and California. 
• Iowa has two sets of junior college teammates. Zeb Adreon, Austin Martin, and Trace Hoffman were teammates at Southeastern CC, while Izaya Fullard, Hunter Lee, Adam Ketelsen, and Jake McLaughlin were teammates at Kirkwood CC.  Junior Lorenzo Elion also played with Lee, Ketelsen, and McLaughlin at Kirkwood in 2017.
• The Hawkeyes also have two sets of teammates who played together in high school. Freshmen Brendan Sher and Duncan Davitt were teammates at Indianola, while Izaya Fullard and Connor McCaffery were teammates at Iowa City West. 

STRIKEOUT KINGS
The Hawkeyes led the Big Ten with a school record 499 strikeouts in 2018. Iowa’s 204 strikeouts in Big Ten action also led the league. The 499 strikeouts shattered the previous single-season school record of 470 that Iowa set in 61 games last season. Iowa’s 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings ranked 18th nationally.

COMEBACK KIDS
• The Hawkeyes posted 15 come-from-behind victories in 2018, including five walk-off victories.  The five walk-off victories were tied for the second most in the nation.
• Iowa has overcome deficits to win 33 games since the start of the 2017 season and posted nine walk-off victories.
• Twenty of those victories have come with Iowa trailing or being tied entering or through seven innings and 14 have come in the final at-bat.

#HELLERBALL
• UI head coach Rick Heller is one of nine coaches all-time to lead three different NCAA Division I teams to regional play.
• Heller recorded his 800th career win against Lehigh on March 12 at the Snowbird Classic in Florida.
• The Hawkeyes have won 30 or more games in each of Heller’s five seasons as the helm of the program. It’s a first for the team since winning 30 or more in seven straight seasons from 1979-85.
• Heller has led the Hawkeyes to two NCAA Regional appearances in three seasons; the program had three regional appearances in its history prior to his arrival.
• Heller is fourth in school history in career wins with 173 in his four seasons at Iowa, including the second (41) and fifth-most (39) in school history.
• Heller led Iowa to its first Big Ten Tournament title in 2017 — the first conference title since 1990 — and he guided the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Tournament title game in consecutive seasons. Iowa has advanced to the league tournament in five straight years for the first time in program history.
• Heller has coached at least one first-team All-Big Ten selection each season, and has 20 Major League Baseball Draft picks in four seasons — the most in a five-year stretch in school history.
• Iowa had a school-record six All-Big Ten selections in 2015 and five in 2017. The Hawkeyes have had 22 All-Big Ten honorees in five seasons under Heller.
• Iowa has posted winning streaks of nine games (in 2015) and eight games (in 2017) — the longest streaks for the program since 2012.

FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Iowa baseball fans can follow the Hawkeyes on Facebook @iowabaseball, Twitter @UIBaseball, and Instagram @UIBaseball in addition to coverage on hawkeyesports.com. 

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE
Season tickets for the 2019 season home schedule are on sale now through the UI Athletics Ticket Office online at hawkeyesports.com or at 800-IA-HAWKS. Reserved and general admission adult tickets are $75, while general admission youth tickets are $40. Fans can also purchase a “30-block” season ticket, priced at $99, where tickets can be used at any game or combination of games throughout the season. Iowa will play 28 home games in 2019.