Iowa can’t completely withstand an opponent’s rally this time

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Iowa Hawkeyes barely prevented a late-inning rally from overtaking them in their first NCAA baseball tournament game Friday night.

They weren’t so fortunate Saturday night.

Indiana State scored five times in the bottom of the eighth inning and downed Iowa, 7-4, in a thriller at Bob Warn Field in Terre Haute, Ind. A nightmare, actually, for the Hawkeyes, whose path to winning this four-team regional just got more difficult.

Way, way more difficult.

Iowa (43-15) drops to the loser’s bracket for a game Sunday morning at 11 against North Carolina (36-23). These two teams met Friday night, with Iowa hanging on for a 5-4 win, the Tar Heels scoring three runs in the ninth inning but stranding the tying run at third base and go-ahead run at second.

North Carolina eliminated Wright State with a victory earlier Saturday. Indiana State (44-15) gets to sit back and watch who wins the Iowa-North Carolina game Sunday, as it’ll take on the winner Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m.

The Iowa-North Carolina winner must beat Indiana State twice to win the regional. An if-necessary deciding game would be Monday at a time to be determined.

Back to this heartbreaker.

Iowa got another early run, this time on a Raider Tello RBI single in the top of the first inning. Adam Pottinger’s solo home run to right in the second got Indiana State on the board against hard-throwing Hawkeye starting hurler Brody Brecht.

Indiana State went back ahead in the third, 2-1, only to have Iowa tie it at 2 with a run in the top of the fourth. Sam Hojnar’s run-scoring double and Kyle Huckstorf’s sacrifice fly put the Hawkeyes on top, 4-2, in the sixth.

That’s the way things stayed, as Brecht put together a brilliant start that saw him go seven innings, give up just two hits and four walks, while striking out eight.

His fastball reached as high as 99 miles per hour. He also had a wipeout slider and changeup.

“Brody went out and did everything he could do to give us a chance,” Iowa Coach Rick Heller said. “Offensively, we battled all game and finally broke through with a couple runs to give us a two-run lead in the eighth.”

Indiana State got a hit by pitch, infield single and bloop single to short left field to load the bases with one away against Iowa relief pitcher Jared Simpson. An ensuing bases-loaded walk made it a 4-3 game, and Iowa went to the bullpen for Luke Llewellyn, who saved Friday night’s game with back-to-back strikeouts.

He got another huge K here for the second out, but Miguel Rivera lined a two-run double that bounced off the right-field wall to put Indiana State in front, 5-4. Grant Magill followed with a clutch two-run double to right-center field for a 7-4 Sycamores lead.

Indiana State scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat Wright State, 6-5, in its first game Friday afternoon.

“Unfortunately, it didn't go well when we went to the bullpen with a couple free bases and some bad luck on a few plays,” Heller said. “Luke came into a tough situation where he had to pound the strike zone, and they made us pay with two big hits to break the game open.“

“I certainly felt better when Brecht left the field,” said Indiana State Coach Mitch Hannahs. “He was phenomenal, he was landing three pitches. As good as we’ve seen by a large margin.”

Simpson took the loss for Iowa. Indiana State starter Connor Fenlong threw eight innings to get the victory.

Kyle Huckstorf walked leading off the Iowa ninth against Indiana State reliever Jared Spencer and Brayden Frazier followed with a long drive to the fence in left-center field that ISU left fielder Pottinger leaped at the fence and caught. Cade Moss then banged into a 4-6-3 game-ending double play.

“We rallied a little in the ninth, but their left fielder made an awesome play,” Heller said. “We gave them a few things in the eighth, and they took advantage of the opportunities, and you have to tip the hat to them on that.”

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