Game Notes -- vs. No. 21 Indiana (B1G Tournament)

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THIS WEEK
• The University of Iowa baseball team heads to Omaha, Nebraska, for the 2019 Big Ten Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park. The eighth-seeded Hawkeyes face top-seeded and 21st-ranked Indiana on Wednesday at 5 p.m. (CT).
• Iowa will face either No. 4 Minnesota or No. 5 Nebraska in its second game Thursday. 

FOLLOW ALONG
• The duration of the Big Ten Tournament will be televised live on BTN. Kevin Kugler, Scott Pose, and Danan Hughes will be on the call for Wednesday’s opener. 
• All Iowa games will also be available via the Hawkeye Radio Network with Zach Mackey and Steve Duncan on the call. The games can be heard KJAN 1220 AM and 101.1 FM Atlantic, KDEC 1240 AM Decorah, KKFD 95.9 Fairfield, KMJM 1360 AM Cedar Rapids, Hawkeye All-Access, and TuneIn Radio.
• Live stats are available on hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow along on Twitter @UIBaseball.

LEADING OFF
• The Hawkeyes finished the regular season 30-22 overall and 12-12 in conference play to earn the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. It is the sixth straight season head coach Rick Heller has won at least 30 wins and qualified for the Big Ten Tournament. 
• Iowa is making its 14th appearance in the conference tournament, having won the Big Ten Tournament in 2017 with a runner-up finish in 2016.  The Hawkeyes were the eight seed in 2016. 
• Junior closer Grant Leonard (2-3, 2.84 ERA) was named second-team All-Big Ten after going a perfect 13-for-13 in save opportunities during the regular season. Leonard’s 13 saves are the second most in the Big Ten and are tied for the most in a single season in Hawkeye history. 
• The Hawkeyes are 9-3 against top-30 opponents (at No. 19 Oklahoma State, vs. No. 23 Illinois, vs. No. 30 Nebraska, and vs. No. 18 UC Irvine). 
• Iowa won six straight series from the end of March to early May over No. 23 Illinois, Rutgers, Purdue, No. 30 Nebraska, Ohio State, and No. 18 UC Irvine. 
• Iowa finished the home slate 19-7 at Duane Banks Field this season, running its home record to 91-27 since 2015.  
• Senior Tanner Wetrich hit two home runs and recorded seven RBIs in game three at Maryland, becoming the first Hawkeye to have six more RBIs in one game since Matt Hoeg did so last season against Oklahoma State. 
• Junior Grant Judkins is second in the Big Ten with a 2.32 ERA, having allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11 of his 14 starts. Judkins’ eight quality starts are tied for the team lead with senior Cole McDonald. 
• Sophomore Izaya Fullard (.310) and junior Austin Martin (.307) rank in the top 13 in the Big Ten in batting average. Iowa’s .269 team batting average is the fourth-best in the Big Ten, while its .365 on-base percentage ranks third-best. 
• Senior outfielder Chris Whelan is fourth in the Big Ten in on-base percentage (.437), tied for fourth in walks (35), and tied for sixth in hit-by-pitches (12). 
• Iowa has 15 come-from-behind victories this season with four walk-off winners. 
• Iowa is 18-9 in games decided by two runs or less and 17-4 when scoring first. 

QUICK HITTERS
• Senior Tanner Wetrich took over the team lead in home runs after hitting two home runs — his sixth and seventh of the season — at Maryland.  The two blasts accounted for seven RBIs. Ben Norman (6) and Izaya Fullard (5) trail Wetrich in home runs.  
• Sophomore Izaya Fullard owns a 10-game hitting streak, which is one game shy of tying Iowa’s longest of the season set by Tanner Wetrich. Fullard’s current 21-game on-base streak is tied for the longest of the season by a Hawkeye. 
• Junior catcher Austin Martin, who was named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch List, leads all Big Ten catchers in batting average (.307) and leads Iowa in multi-hit games (18) and  multi-RBI games (8), 
• Junior outfielder Ben Norman, who is the only Hawkeye to start all 52 games, leads Iowa in RBIs (34), and stolen bases (12).
• The Hawkeyes have recorded 24 games of 10+ hits. Iowa’s seasons highs in hits (19) and runs (18) came against Evansville on March 9. 
 • Iowa’s 57 stolen bases are the fifth-most in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes only swiped 39 bags last season. Ben Norman leads Iowa with 12 steals and Tanner Wetrich has nine, while seven other Hawkeyes have swiped at least three bags. 
• Iowa’s 43 double plays turned rank second-most in the Big Ten and 53rd nationally.

 IOWA B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• The Hawkeyes are making their sixth straight Big Ten Tournament appearance — a program record — and the 14th in school history. Iowa is 16-24 all-time in tournament history, including its first ever Big Ten Tournament title in 2017. The Hawkeyes have made championship appearances in 1983, 2010, 2016, and 2017.
• In 2016 as the eight-seed, Iowa took down top-seeded Minnesota, 8-2, followed by a 5-4 victory over fourth-seeded Ohio State. Iowa beat sixth-seeded Maryland,11-0, before falling to Ohio State, 8-7, in the championship game.
• Iowa has won at least one game in four of the five last tournaments and is 7-4 over the past three Big Ten Tournaments. 
• Head coach Rick Heller owns a 9-8 career record in the Big Ten Tournament.

BACK FOR AN ENCORE
• Four Hawkeyes — Mitchell Boe, Luke Farley, Cole McDonald, and Shane Ritter — were on the 2016 team that advanced to the Big Ten Tournament final as a No. 8 seed.
• Eleven players on the current roster — Boe, Farley, McDonald, Ritter, Justin Jenkins, Grant Judkins, Derek Lieurance, Chris Whelan, Grant Leonard, and Kyle Shimp — were on the roster when Iowa won the Big Ten Tournament title in 2017.

IOWA VS. B1G FIELD
• Iowa played five of the other seven Big Ten Tournament qualifiers this season, going 7-8 against the tournament field: at Indiana (0-3), Illinois (3-0), Nebraska (2-1), at Ohio State (2-1), and at Maryland (0-3). 
• The Hawkeyes haven’t faced the Hoosiers in the Big Ten Tournament since 2015 when Iowa lost 10-2.

REMATCH WITH THE HOOSIERS
• The Hawkeyes will get another crack at top-seeded Indiana on Wednesday.  The Hoosiers swept Iowa in the Big Ten opening series from March 22-24 in Bloomington. 
• Indiana is ranked No. 21 by D1Baseball.com and Collegiate Baseball, 22nd by Baseball America, and 25th by the NCBWA.
• Indiana leads the nation with 90 home runs with three players connecting on 12 or more home runs. 
• The Hoosiers also lead the Big Ten in runs per game (7.1) and slugging percentage (.464), while also owning the second-best ERA (3.58) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.7).
• Senior Pauly Milto (8-5, 3.51 ERA), who Iowa faced in game one of the regular-season series, will start for the Hoosiers. Milto worked into the ninth inning, allowing seven hits with 10 strikeouts in a no-decision. Last season, Milto only lasted 1 2/3 innings in Iowa 5-1 win over then-ranked No. 11 Indiana as Iowa scored three runs on five hits off the right-hander. 

ALL-B1G TEN HONORS
• Junior closer Grant Leonard was named second-team All-Big Ten and senior Mitchell Boe was Iowa’s Sportsmanship Award honoree.
• Leonard’s went a perfect 13-for-13 in save opportunities during the regular season — the second most saves in the Big Ten. The right-hander from Mokena, Illinois, finished the regular season with a 2.84 ERA in 26 appearances spanning 31 2/3 innings with 32 strikeouts and only nine walks. 
• Leonard becomes Iowa’s 23rd All-Big Ten selection during head coach Rick Heller’s six-year tenure. 

TANNERS RAKE AT MARYLAND
• Redshirt sophomore Tanner Padgett (7-for-14) and senior Tanner Wetrich (5-for-10) both hit .500 during Iowa’s three-game series at Maryland.
• Padgett, a Wichita, Kansas, native hit his first career home run on a 4-for-5 day in Iowa’s 10-8 loss to Maryland in the series finale.
• Wetrich’s damage also came in game three with two game-tying home runs. The Moberly, Missouri, native launched a three-run home run to dead center to tie the game at four in the third inning and added a grand slam to nearly the same spot to tie the game at eight in the eighth inning.
• Wetrich’s seven-RBI game are the most by a Hawkeye this season, becoming the first Hawkeye with six or more RBIs in a game since Matt Hoeg’s six-RBI game against Oklahoma State last season. 

FULLARD HEATS UP
• Sophomore infielder Izaya Fullard is riding career-long hitting (10) and on-base streaks (21). 
• Over his last 10 games, Fullard is hitting a team-best .400 (16-for-40) with four extra-base hits and eight RBIs. He had his first career four-hit game in Iowa’s series-opening victory over Michigan State on May 10.
• The North Liberty, Iowa, native leads the team in batting average (.310), is tied for the team lead in hits (58), and tied for second in runs (32) and RBIs (30). 
• Fullard became the first Hawkeye this season to hit two home runs in the same game against No. 18 UC Irvine on May 3.  They came against the Anteaters’ Trenton Denholm, a potential first-round MLB Draft pick. 
• Fullard has hit safely in 38 games and reached safely in 45 of 49 games played.

30 WINS X 6
With Iowa’s 7-5 win over Michigan State on May 10, Iowa reached the 30-win plateau for the sixth straight season. It is the program’s longest 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
2019: 30-19

THE HAWKEYES ARE…
• 11-5 in night games.
• 18-9 in games decided by two runs or less.
• 17-4 when scoring first.
• 25-6 when allowing five or fewer runs.
• 17-4 when scoring 6+ runs and 7-0 when scoring 10+ runs.
• 19-3 when leading after six innings.

HELLER JOINS IOWA’S 200-CLUB
• In Iowa’s 8-7 win over Western Illinois on May 1, head coach Rick Heller became the fourth Hawkeye to reach 200 wins at the University of Iowa.
• It took Heller just six seasons to amass 200 wins, winning at least 30 games in each of his first five seasons, including a career-best 41 wins in 2015.
• Heller is only seven wins from 900 career victories. 

FRIDAY NIGHT STARTER COLE MCDONALD
• In 14 total starts this season, Friday night starter Cole McDonald’s ERA sits at 3.78  with a team-leading 74 strikeouts. 
• In six Big Ten starts, McDonald went 3-0 with a 3.28 ERA, striking out 48 in 49 1/3 innings. McDonald’s 48 strikeouts in league play were tied for the 10th-most. 
• In four starts against ranked opponents, McDonald is 1-0 with a 2.88 ERA, while holding hitters to a .242 average. 
• The senior from New Hampton, Iowa, went 1-3 in five nonconference starts with a 5.47 ERA.
• McDonald had a streak of five straight quality starts and is tied for the team lead with eight total. 

BACK AT THE TOP
• Senior Chris Whelan saw his name appear in five different spots in the Hawkeyes’ batting order before returning to the top of the lineup April 2 against Clarke.   Whelan was Iowa’s primary leadoff hitter in 2018.
• In 27 games since returning to the leadoff role, Whelan is hitting .330 (34-for-103) with a .442 on-base percentage, both of which lead the team. Whelan was hitting .210 (13-for-62) with a .430 OBP in 25 games not in the leadoff spot.
• Whelan’s .285 average has risen 85 points since March 26 when his average dipped to a season-low .200.
• The Hawkeyes are 15-12 since Whelan’s return to the leadoff role and Iowa has averaged 5.6 runs in those games, compared to 4.9 when he was not batting leadoff. 
• Whelan leads the team in on-base percentage (.437), walks (35), hit-by-pitches (12), and doubles (12). 

LEONARD LOCKS DOWN THE NINTH
• Redshirt junior Grant Leonard has relished in Iowa’s closer role, going a perfect 13-for-13 in save opportunities, to earn a spot on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason List. 
• The junior right-hander has a team-leading 13 saves, which are the second-most in the Big Ten and tied for the seventh-most in the nation. 
• Leonard’s 13 saves this season are tied for the single season school record with Kevin Lee (2010), while his 15 career saves are the fifth-most in school history.
• He recorded his second save of 2+ innings in Iowa’s 1-0 win over No. 18 UC Irvine. 
• Leonard’s 14-inning scoreless streak was snapped against Western Illinois on May 1. He owns a 2.84 ERA in 26 appearances, spanning 31.2 innings with 32 strikeouts and nine walks. 

IOWA SINGLE-SEASON SAVES 
1.    Kevin Lee (2010)    13
    Grant Leonard (2019)    13

IOWA CAREER SAVES
1.    Kurt Belger (1993-97)    22
2.    Tim Gudex (2004-06)    20
3.    Reed Pawelk (2000-03)    18
4.    Nick Hibbing (2012-15)    17
5.    Grant Leonard (2017-pres.)    15

JUNIOR GRANT JUDKINS… 
• is second in the Big Ten with a 2.32 ERA. 
• has posted eight quality starts (vs. Marshall, vs. CSUN, at Indiana, vs. Illinois, at Purdue, vs. No. 30 Nebraska, at Ohio State, vs. Michigan State) in 14 chances. 
• has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11 of his 14 starts.
• pitched five or more innings in 12 of 14 starts along with four starts of seven or more innings. 
• ranks ninth in the Big Ten, allowing 7.19 hits per nine innings.
• owns a .219 batting average against, which is the best amongst Iowa’s starting pitchers and tied for ninth in the Big Ten.

SHER NAMED BACK-TO-BACK B1G FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
• Freshman infielder Brendan Sher became the first Hawkeye ever to earn two consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on April 29 and May 6. 
• Sher is one of three Hawkeyes to earn Big Ten weekly awards. Grant Judkins was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on February 18 and Zeb Adreon was named Big Ten Player of the Week on April 28. 

ARMS OUT OF THE ‘PEN
• After closer Grant Leonard, junior Trace Hoffman (28 appearances), senior Jason Foster (23 appearances), and Kyle Shimp (20 appearances) have been Iowa’s go-to guys out of the bullpen. Hoffman has the fourth-most appearances in the Big Ten.
• Junior left-hander Adam Ketelsen has settled in as a nice bullpen piece, allowing only one earned run in his last seven appearances, spanning seven innings. 
• Freshman Duncan Davitt pitched 4 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in game two against Maryland on May 17, tying a career-high six strikeouts with only one run allowed on two hits. In relief, Davitt has struck out 31 batters in 24 innings. 

JENKS MAGIC
Senior outfielder Justin Jenkins was Iowa’s hero in its 5-4 walk-off in 12 innings over Milwaukee. The Terre Haute, Indiana, native hit Iowa’s first walk-off home run since Tyler Cropley’s in 2018 over No. 7 Michigan to win the game. Jenkins’ heroics started in the top of the 12th by preserving a 4-4 tie after making a catch in shallow center field and firing home to gun down a Milwaukee base runner at the plate to complete the inning-ending double play. 

NOW THAT’S A 2-OUT RALLY
During Iowa’s 17-9 victory over No. 30 Nebraska on April 20, the Hawkeyes scored eight runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth — all with two outs.  Iowa had 16 two-out RBIs in the game, hit .565 with two outs, and had a .529 average with runners in scoring position in the game. 
• The eight-run inning was Iowa’s largest of the season and the 17 total runs were the most scored in a Big Ten game since beating Purdue, 17-5, on May 17, 2014.

MCCAFFERY’S DOUBLE DUTY
Redshirt freshman multi-sport athlete Connor McCaffery made his Iowa debut against Cal-State Northridge on March 16 as a pinch hitter.  McCaffery made his first career start in game three of the series, finishing 3-for-4 with two doubles.
• McCaffery was a reserve guard for the Iowa men’s basketball team that nearly completed a 25-point comeback win over second-seeded Tennessee on March 24, but fell in overtime in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. McCaffery finished the season averaging 4.4 points and 3.0 assists in 34 games. 
• McCaffery is believed to be the first Hawkeye since the late 1980s to play both basketball and baseball at Iowa since Randy Norton (79-82), Todd Berkenpas (82-85) Tom Norman (1979), and Kurt Stange (1983-86).
• Basketball-baseball combinations are rare.  A select few who have done it recently are Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton and Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson as pitchers.  Other notables are Chris Young (Princeton), Kenny Lofton (Arizona), and Tony Gwynn (San Diego State).

DON’T COUNT ‘EM OUT
The Hawkeyes have posted 15 come-from-behind victories this season, including four in walk-off fashion.
• Trailing 3-1 through three innings, Iowa came back against Western Illinois, scoring four runs in the fourth inning and three in the sixth to win 8-7.
• Iowa’s first walk-off home run since 2018 came off the bat of senior Justin Jenkins in the bottom of the 12th against Milwaukee. It was Jenkins’ second career home run that lifted Iowa to a 5-4 win. 
• Junior Zeb Adreon added his name to the list of walk-off heroes with a single in the bottom of the ninth to beat No. 30 Nebraska in game one of the series. 
• Junior Grant Judkins had a pinch-hit, RBI double, giving the Hawkeyes a 5-4 walk-off win over Cal-State Northridge on March 17.  Iowa trailed 4-3 heading into the ninth.
• Iowa posted its second walk-off win of the season against Chicago State.  Trailing 4-3 entering the ninth, Austin Martin’s RBI double tied the score at four and Ben Norman’s fly ball to center field was misplayed, giving the Hawkeyes their 11th win.
• The Hawkeyes have overcome deficits to win 44 games since the start of the 2017 season and posted 11 walk-offs.  Twenty-four of those victories have come with Iowa trailing or being tied entering or through seven innings.  Sixteen have come in the final at-bat.

BANKS MAGIC
• The Hawkeyes are 91-27 at home since the start of the 2015 season.  
• Iowa won 20 games last season, the second-most in a single-season in school history, trailing only the 22 wins in 1977.
• Iowa has 16 walk-off victories at Duane Banks Field since the start of 2015.

ON THE MEND
• Sophomore Ben Probst will miss the remainder of the season with a partial tear to his UCL.  He suffered the injury at Hawaii on Feb. 23.
• Junior Hunter Lee made just two appearances before going down because of injury.  He had season-ending surgery in March.
• Sophomore Jack Dreyer is out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.  He left his start at Hawaii after three innings.
• Sophomore Tanner Padgett re-injured his hamstring on March 20.  He initially suffered the injury in the series finale at Oklahoma State.
• Senior Mitchell Boe missed the UC Irvine series after suffering four facial breaks, which required surgery, on April 28 at Ohio State. He collided with Zeb Adreon on a shallow fly ball in right field. 
• Redshirt junior Kyle Shimp will not be available at the Big Ten Tournament because of a nerve issue in his pitching arm.

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. 

#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.  Heller won his 200th game at Iowa on May 1 in a victory over Western Illinois.
• The Hawkeyes have won 30 or more games in each of
Heller’s six 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; the program had three regional appearances in its history prior to his arrival.
• Heller is fourth in school history in career wins with 203 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 six straight years for the first time in program history.
• Heller has coached at least one first-team All-Big Ten
selection in five of his first six seasons, and has 20 Major League Baseball Draft picks in five 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 23 All-Big Ten honorees in six 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.

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