FRISCO, Texas – Wichita State rallied from a 4-0 deficit to hand the University of Iowa baseball team a 6-4 defeat on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the 2022 Frisco College Baseball Classic at Riders Field.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first courtesy of a Keaton Anthony RBI double and a Sam Hojnar sacrifice fly. Iowa doubled its advantage in the third when Peyton Williams connected on a solo home run – a 407-foot blast to right center – and on doubles from Anthony and Brayden Frazier.
Redshirt sophomore Adam Mazur was cruising, tossing 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before the Shockers started to rally. Wichita State strung together four straight singles to plate its first run in the sixth before Payton Tolle lifted a ball to left field that carried to the wall.
Frazier had a beat on the ball, jumped and collided with the wall, jarring the ball loose. The result was a bases-clearing double, one that tied the game at four.
Wichita State took the lead in the eighth when Brock Rodden tripled to start the inning – a gapper that caromed off Anthony’s glove while in pursuit. Rodden scored on Sawyre Thornhill’s RBI single through the right side with the infield in and Chuck Ingram’s RBI single pushed the lead to 6-4.
Iowa threatened in the ninth with Will Mulflur and Kyle Huckstorf reaching on one-out singles. Shocker closer Connor Holden plunked Williams to load the bases before getting Anthony to fly out to center field to end the game.
Mazur allowed four runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. The righthander retired 15 straight batters from the first to fifth innings. Redshirt sophomore Will Christophersen (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits over two innings.
Iowa finished with 11 hits in the game with four Hawkeyes – Michael Seegers, Williams, Anthony and Huckstorf — tallying multi-hit games.
QUOTING COACH HELLER
“That’s the story of the game. Plays we normally make, they weren’t easy plays, but we didn’t make them. We have one in right field that costs us a run, one in left that cost us three runs. Not an easy, play, but we don’t make a play a third to start that inning off and Will didn’t cover first and that cost us a run later in the game.
“It wasn’t winning baseball. We’re not the type of team that is going to be a juggernaut offensively, but we’re going to be scrappy and find a way to get runs. If we play sloppy like that, we’re not going to beat anybody.”
OF NOTE…
– Iowa finished with six strikeouts on the mound. It was the first time this season the team didn’t fan 10 or more batters.
– Anthony hit safely in his sixth straight game and he has reached base safely in all nine games.
– Mazur has had streaks of retiring 10 or more consecutive batters in each of his first three starts (16 vs. Air Force, 10 vs. Pepperdine, 15 vs. Wichita State).
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes (5-4) return to action Saturday, facing Texas A&M at 6 p.m. (CT) at Riders Field. The game will be streamed on FloBaseball.
