B1G Tourney Preview-- vs. Nebraska

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NEXT UP
• The eighth-seeded University of Iowa baseball team will face No. 5 seed Nebraska in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.  First pitch is set for 9 p.m. (CT). 

FOLLOW ALONG
• Thursday’s game will be televised live on BTN with Kevin Kugler, Scott Pose, and Danan Hughes on the call.
• 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 on AM 800 KXIC in Iowa City, 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 (by searching Iowa Hawkeyes).
• Live stats are available on hawkeyesports.com and fans can follow along on Twitter @UIBaseball.

LEADING OFF
• Iowa completed its 16th comeback win of the season in Wednesday’s opening round 4-2 victory over top-seeded Indiana. Senior Cole McDonald matched a career-high going eight innings with nine strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the season, while junior Justin Jenkins recorded his first career three-hit game from the nine-hole.  
• It’s the third time since 2016 Iowa has defeated the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. 
• Junior closer and second-team All-Big Ten selection Grant Leonard earned his 14th save of the season in as many chances to break Iowa’s single-season saves record set by Kevin Lee in 2010. 
• With yesterday’s win, Iowa improves to 5-3 in Big Ten Tournament games as an eight seed. The Hawkeyes had a runner-up finish in 2016 as the No. 8 seed. It also marks the fifth time in the last six seasons the Hawkeyes have won at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament. 
• The Hawkeyes won the regular-season series, 2-1, over the then 30th-ranked Cornhuskers, including a 17-9 victory in game two. Iowa’s series win over Nebraska was the fourth in the midst of a six-series winning streak — the program’s longest streak since 2015. In the three-game series versus Nebraska, Iowa hit .296 with a .361 on-base percentage, while limiting Nebraska to a .212 batting average. 
• Junior Grant Judkins, who is second in the Big Ten with a 2.32 ERA, will start for the Hawkeyes
• In head coach Rick Heller’s six seasons at Iowa, he is 11-4 against Nebraska with sereies wins in 2014, ’15, ’17, and ’19. The Hawkeyes own a 22-20 all-time record over the Huskers. 
• Since 2014, Iowa has only faced Nebraska once in the Big Ten Tournament. The matchup came in 2017 with fifth-seeded Iowa winning 2-0 over top-seeded Nebraska. 
• Sophomore Izaya Fullard extended his hitting streak to 11 games and his on-base streak to 22 games, both of which are team and career-bests. 
• The Hawkeyes are 10-3 against top-30 opponents (at No. 19 Oklahoma State, vs. No. 23 Illinois, vs. No. 30 Nebraska, vs. No. 18 UC Irvine, vs. No. 21 Indiana).  
• Senior Tanner Wetrich hit two home runs and recorded seven RBIs in Iowa’s regular season finale at Maryland, becoming the first Hawkeye to have six more RBIs in one game since Matt Hoeg did so last season against Oklahoma State. 
• Iowa is 19-9 in games decided by two runs or less and 11-5 in night games this season.

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.