Iowa Hawkeyes hang on to beat North Carolina in NCAA baseball first-round game

CEDAR RAPIDS — The early lead was a factor. So were the two late runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Marcus Morgan gutting threw five innings as starting pitcher and making pitches when he had to with opponents all over the bases was big. Jack Whitlock’s multi-inning, effective bullpen performance was significant.

Reliever Luke Llewellyn’s back-to-back strikeouts to end the game were clutch as heck and then some. But you’ve gotta give Brayden Frazier some love, too.

It might go sort of unnoticed in the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 5-4, hang-on-by-your-fingernails win Friday night over North Carolina in an NCAA baseball tournament regional first-rounder at Terre Haute, Ind. But consider the defensive play the Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad was able to make.

With one out in the top of the ninth inning and two on in a 5-3 game, North Carolina’s Jackson Van De Brake lined a sinking and slicing drive to the left of Frazier in right field. He made a full-out dive for the ball that came up empty but only partially.

No, Frazier didn’t make an amazing catch, but he got enough of the hit with his glove that he kept the baseball relatively close behind him. He was able to scramble back up, retrieve the ball, and hold Van De Brake to a run-scoring double and most importantly the tying run at third base.

Had Frazier gotten no leather on the liner, it certainly would have rolled all the way to the right-field fence for a two-run, game-tying triple. Instead the tying run remained at third, and Llewellyn picked up back-to-back strikeouts to end what turned out to be a thriller and send Iowa (43-14) to a winner’s bracket game Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT) against host Indiana State (ESPN+).

Iowa is one win from tying the school record for most victories in a season, and to tie it needs to beat a school Iowa Coach Rick Heller was at for four years before coming to Iowa City. That’s a delicious subplot to this whole thing.

Top-seeded Indiana State (43-15) rallied in the eighth inning to come from behind and steal a 6-5 first-round win over Wright State earlier Friday. Fourth-seeded Wright State (39-22) and third-seeded North Carolina (35-23) play a loser’s bracket game Saturday prior to the Iowa-ISU game.

The tournament is double-elimination.

“It’s going to be a good battle. Indiana State is a very good team,” Heller said. “I watched them play today. Their kids play hard and believe in one another and found a way to come back like they did today. Now, it’s both of us going to battle doing everything we can possibly do to win this next game. Both teams will be as prepared as anyone out there. It should be a really good game in a great environment with a lot of people watching.”

Iowa scored right away in the bottom of the first inning, getting a two-out, two-run double down the left-field line by Sam Hojnar. The Hawkeyes have been gold much of this season with two-out hitting.

A Ben Wilmes run-scoring single made it 3-0 Iowa in the second, with North Carolina scoring a run in the top of the fourth, though Morgan left the bases loaded by getting a routine grounder to second to end the inning.

The former Iowa City West prep allowed just two hits in five innings but walked four, hit two batters and threw two wild pitches. He did strike out eight and wiggled his way out of trouble consistently, holding UNC to one run.

“I think Marcus showed his maturity,” said Heller. “Even though there were a couple of baserunners, I didn’t really feel like he was losing it. I felt like he had good stuff and was around the zone. He was throwing competitive pitches. The big thing Marcus was able to do tonight was put zeroes up and get shutdown innings after we scored. It has been a work in progress, but I really like where he is at and the progress he’s made in the last month.”

Things remained 3-1 until Iowa picked up needed insurance in the eighth on a Frazier RBI hit and Ben Moss run-scoring squeeze bunt. Will Christophersen came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth for Iowa but hit the first Tar Heels batter and gave up a two-run home run that made it 5-3.

Then it was a single to left-center, bringing the tying run to the plate. A fielder’s choice grounder eliminated a runner at second base, but a walk put UNC guys at first and second.

Llewellyn came on to relieve Christophersen and immediately gave up a double. But he struck out cleanup hitter Tomas Frick looking and No. 5 hitter Hunter Stokely at a 1-2 breaking ball down and in.

Game over. Take a deep breath, Hawkeyes.

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